Fixing a form that isn’t receiving submissions

If a form seems to be missing responses, first check whether visitors can open it, whether their answers are accepted, and whether the response is already saved in Form submissions. A missing email notification is a separate problem from a missing submission.

Use the actual public page or form address when checking the problem. The form editor's design preview lets you rehearse questions and the thank-you screen without creating a submission.

Check whether the response is already saved

1. Open Forms and choose View submissions at the top of the overview.
2. Select All, clear the search, and choose All forms if a form filter is available.
3. Sort by Newest first. Search for a distinctive name, email address, or phrase from the response, and check other result pages where necessary.
4. Open a matching response and compare its form title, time, and saved answers with the inquiry you are investigating.

A response may have been marked read or done, so Unread and Needs follow-up do not contain every saved response. Opening an unread response marks it read when you have submission editing access. See Finding and managing form submissions for filters and status controls.

If the response is present, Cedros received it. Investigate any missing team alert, email acknowledgment, or mailing-list signup separately. The thank-you message shown in the visitor's browser does not configure an email notification.

If the list says Responses could not be loaded, choose Try again. A load failure is not evidence that no responses exist. Resolve the load error before asking someone to submit again.

Make sure visitors can open the correct form

1. In Forms, find the intended form and choose Edit form. Check that its title and questions match the form visitors should use.
2. Under On your site, check Live. To make an intended public form available, switch it on, choose the form-level Save, and confirm Changes saved. Check for Active in the overview.
3. Choose Open form and use that public address. Do not substitute the admin editing address or a design-preview link.
4. Follow the link from the actual public page, menu, or button where visitors start. Confirm that it opens the same form.

Saving a question in its dialog does not replace the form-level Save. Saving the form also does not publish a separate page that contains it or update a button that points somewhere else.

A page is missing or the form says “This form is not currently available.” Check that the form still exists and is active, then replace an outdated destination with the address from Open form. If you deliberately turned the form off, remove or update the links that still send visitors to it.

The form works for an administrator but visitors see a holding page, sign-in requirement, or access restriction. Test as the intended visitor in a signed-out browser window. Check the site's access mode and any access controls on the page that contains or links to the form. See Controlling when your site is public. Ask an administrator for help if you cannot inspect those settings.

Check an embedded form's placement

If Open form works but a form embedded in a website page does not, inspect that page's placement separately.

1. Open the page's editor and select the Form block in Visual Builder.
2. Check the inspector's Form picker. Select the intended saved form and verify its questions; a default or similarly named form may be selected instead.
3. Check that the block's Visibility includes the website and that the page layout leaves the questions and submit button usable on mobile.
4. Save or publish the page as appropriate, then revisit its public address and check the form again.

An embedded form normally shows its questions together, while the full-page form shows the configured question flow. That difference alone does not indicate a fault. The important checks are the selected form, its actual questions, and whether a submitted response reaches the intended form's submissions.

Follow Adding a form to your website for the placement and publication steps. If the page shows old questions after a form change, preserve any answers you need before reloading a fresh public page.

Resolve required-answer and validation messages

In the full-page flow, Next moves to the next question. It does not send the form. The visitor must reach the last question and use the form's submit button.

“This field is required” or a message asking you to review highlighted fields: Return to the indicated question and provide the missing answer. On a longer embedded form, check both the notice and the questions above the submit button. Some presentations show a general error rather than a separate message beside every field.

Email address errors: Check the Email answer for a complete address and typing mistakes. Even an optional Email question must contain an acceptable email address if the visitor fills it in. An ordinary contact form does not verify ownership of the address just by accepting it.

A checkbox prevents progress: A required checkbox must be checked. If both “Yes” and “No” should be valid responses, edit the question to use a Dropdown with those choices instead. Review the question's purpose before changing its required setting.

A dropdown answer is rejected: Choose one of the current options. If the form was edited after the visitor opened it, preserve needed answers and reload the public page before trying again.

An answer is too long: Shorten it to the limit shown in the message. Text, Long text, Phone, and Email answers are limited to 4,096 characters each.

If the questions themselves are wrong, correct them through Edit form, save the form, and retest. See Creating a contact or inquiry form for question types, required settings, and save steps.

Handle refresh, connection, and processing errors

“Please refresh the page” or “Please refresh the page and try again”: The form page may be out of date or its submission protection may have expired. Preserve any answers you need, reload the actual public form, and complete it again. Refreshing can clear unsent answers.

“Please wait a moment and try again”: Pause before retrying. Very rapid submissions can be rejected. Complete the form at a normal pace and avoid repeatedly pressing the submit button.

“This submission is still processing. Please try again shortly”: Wait, then check Form submissions before retrying. The earlier request may still complete. Do not open several copies of the form and submit them all.

“This submission was already received”: Look for the existing response before attempting another submission. Compare its time and answers to confirm it is the one you intended.

“This submission identifier was reused with different answers”: Check whether the earlier response was saved. If you still need to send a new or corrected response, preserve the intended answers, reload the public form, and submit once.

A connection problem, “Submission failed,” or a button that remains busy: Check the connection and wait for the pending request to finish. A connection error does not prove that the server failed to save the response. Check the submissions list before retrying. If the problem repeats, note the exact message and whether it affects the full-page form, the embedded page, or both.

“This form is configured incorrectly and cannot accept submissions yet”: Reopen Edit form, resolve the question or settings errors, and save. If the editor cannot resolve it, give the site administrator the form title and public address rather than repeatedly testing the broken form.

Check mailing-list behavior separately

If the form uses Add people to a mailing list, open that panel in Edit form. Check the selected Mailing list and the Advanced settings for the email question, name question, consent checkbox, and Require email confirmation.

After renaming or replacing questions, confirm that the subscription still uses the correct Email and consent questions. A saved inquiry does not by itself prove the visitor subscribed: signup may be optional, consent may not have been given, or email confirmation may still be pending.

“This form could not complete the email subscription” means the subscription step prevented completion for a form configured to require that action. Have an administrator check the mailing-list setup, email subscription service, and required subscription behavior. This message is different from an ordinary missing confirmation email; first check whether the form response was saved.

For a missing or pending subscription after the response is saved, use Creating a contact or inquiry form to review the form's signup settings. Verify the subscriber and confirmation result separately from the form response.

Run one controlled end-to-end test

1. Use an email address you control and a distinctive test message, such as “Website form check — 1 October.” Check whether the form also adds subscribers or triggers any configured follow-up before sending the test.
2. Open a fresh copy of the actual public page as the intended visitor. For a public form, use a signed-out window. Enter the visible answers manually and complete every required question.
3. Use the final submit button once. Wait for a confirmation or error, and note its wording and the test time, including your time zone.
4. In Forms → View submissions, use All, clear other filters, and search for the distinctive test message or email address. Verify the form title and complete saved answers.
5. If the form also subscribes the visitor, check that separate result. After verifying the test response, mark it done so it does not remain in the follow-up queue.

The test is complete when the expected response is saved with the correct answers. A previewed thank-you screen, page visit, or email alert alone is not sufficient evidence.

If a fresh public submission shows confirmation but remains absent after checking all responses, repeat the check in a clean browser window with manual entry. Autofill or browser extensions can interfere with form behavior, and spam protection can discard an automated-looking submission. If the result repeats, ask an administrator to investigate; do not rely on the success message alone.

Share useful details if the problem continues

Give your site administrator or support contact the public page address, form title, test time and time zone, browser/device, and exact visible error. State whether Open form works, whether an embedded placement fails, and whether the test response appears under All.

Include a screenshot of the error with private answers hidden. Report whether the issue affects all visitors or one browser, and whether it started after a form, page, domain, or subscription change. These details help narrow the problem without asking customers to repeatedly send the same inquiry.