Choosing the right save option

Overview

Zoho Forms offers two ways to let respondents save their form progress and resume later. These options help prevent data loss and eliminate the need to re-enter information in long forms:

These options function differently and serve distinct purposes.

Save & Resume

This feature allows respondents to manually save a partially filled form securely on the server and resume it from any device anytime. Learn More

When to use

When respondents need to pause intentionally and return later — possibly from a different device.
When form owners need visibility into partially completed entries.
This is more of a permanent save mechanism and is ideal for planned pauses during form filling.

Browser Auto-Save

This feature allows respondents to automatically save form progress for up to 7 days in the browser to resume later. Learn More

When to use

When you want to provide a seamless experience for respondents filling long forms, protecting against accidental data loss from tab closures, browser refreshes, device power-off or brief internet disruptions.
This is more of a temporary save mechanism and is ideal for unplanned circumstances.

Using both features together

If needed, you can also enable both features simultaneously on the same form. Here’s how they work together:

If a respondent accesses a public form with both options enabled, Browser Auto-Save will work until the respondent clicks Submit or Save.
Until that point, Browser Auto-save works silently in the background to retain entered data — even if the respondent hasn’t saved manually.
Once the respondent clicks the Save button, Save & Resume feature stores the data on the server, allowing resumption from any device.
Browser Auto-Save only works on public form URLs and does not work on saved URLs generated via Save & Resume option.When respondents access a saved permalink, Browser Auto-save will not work, and they must click Save again to store any further progress.

Save & Resume vs Browser Auto-Save

	Save & Resume	Browser Auto-Save
User Action	Manual input – Respondents must click the Save button	None – Automatically saves progress during form filling
Data Storage location	On the server (Zoho Forms' servers)	In browser local storage on the respondent's device
Saved Data Retention	Permanent – Until form submission (no time limit)	Temporary – Up to 7 days or until form submission, whichever comes first
Cross-device access	Yes – Respondents can resume from any device using the save link	No – Must use the same browser session and device
How to resume later?	Multiple ways – using the resume URL (saved/emailed), saved entry popup or from All Entries tab.	Access the public form URL from the same browser, same device again.
Form owner visibility	Can view partially saved entries in All Entries section	Cannot view partially filled data
Unique URL for saved form	Yes – unique URL generated; can be emailed or noted manually.	Not available – Must access the public form URL to resume.
Supported fields	All fields except Signature	All fields except Upload fields and Signature
How to discard saved progress and start fresh?	Delete the respective saved entry from the All Entries section.	Clear browser local storage and reload the public form URL
Users supported	Public users	Public and Private users
Best for	Intentional pauses; gathering information over time; cross-device access	Unintentional/temporary pauses; Protecting against accidental interruptions, quick, seamless experience.

Choose the right save option for your requirements. Browser Auto-Save is ideal for automatically saving progress within the browser temporarily, with no manual action required whereas Save & Resume provides permanent saving on the server and allows cross-device access, though it requires manual saving each time.