Form publishing

Free feature

Form publishing is available to all Fomr users.

Publishing is how you make your form available to the world. Until a form is published, it exists only as a draft that you can edit and refine. Once published, your form gets a unique URL where respondents can access and submit their answers.

Understanding form status

Every form in Fomr has a status that indicates its current state:

Status	Description
Draft	Form has unpublished changes and is not publicly accessible
Published	Form is live and accepting responses at its public URL
Closed	Form is published but not accepting new responses
Archived	Form is inactive and hidden from your main forms list

The status is always visible in your form editor and dashboard, so you know exactly where each form stands.

Working with drafts

When you create a new form or make changes to an existing one, those changes are saved as a draft. Drafts are automatically saved as you work, so you never lose your progress.

Drafts can stay incomplete while you work. You can save and return to a form even if some pages, questions, or settings are not finished. Fomr checks the form when you publish it.

What makes a form a draft

A form enters draft status when:

• You create a new form (it starts as a draft)
• You make changes to a published form
• You add, remove, or modify any components
• You change form settings, design, or configuration

Draft indicator

When your form has unpublished changes, you’ll see a visual indicator in the editor. This reminds you that your latest changes aren’t yet visible to respondents.

Tip

Fomr auto-saves your work continuously. You can close your browser and return later—your draft will be exactly where you left it.

Publishing your form

Publishing makes your form live and accessible via its unique URL. Once published, anyone with the link can view and submit responses to your form.

How to publish

1. Open your form in the editor

2. Review your form to ensure everything is correct

3. Click the Publish button in the top toolbar

4. Your form is now live and accessible

When you click Publish, Fomr validates your draft against the structure used for live forms. If anything is missing, invalid, or over a supported limit, publishing is blocked until you fix it.

For multi-page forms, every normal page must include at least one question component. Intro pages can contain welcome text, images, dividers, and page actions, but they cannot contain questions. The final thank-you page can only contain the thank-you component.

Before you publish

Take a moment to verify these items before publishing:

Preview your form. Use the Preview button to see exactly what respondents will experience. Test the form flow, check for typos, and ensure all questions make sense.

Check your settings. Review notification settings, access controls, and other configurations to ensure they match your requirements.

Test on mobile. If possible, preview your form on a mobile device to ensure it looks good on smaller screens.

Verify required components. Make sure you’ve marked the right questions as required and that the form can be completed successfully.

If publishing finds issues

If Fomr finds problems during publishing, a modal lists the issues that need attention. These publish issues explain what to fix so you can update the affected page, component, or setting and try again.

Common publish issues include:

• Incomplete or invalid draft content
• A normal page that does not contain a question component
• An intro page that contains a question component
• Content that exceeds supported authoring limits
• Invalid component configuration

What happens when you publish

When you publish a form:

• The form becomes accessible at its public URL
• Any previous draft changes become the live version
• Respondents can start submitting answers immediately
• The form status changes from “Draft” to “Published”

Note

Publishing a form with existing responses doesn’t affect those responses. Previous submissions remain intact and accessible in your dashboard.

Previewing before publishing

Always preview your form before making it public. The preview shows exactly what respondents will see, including all styling, logic, and navigation.

1. Click the Preview button in the editor toolbar

2. A new tab opens with your form preview

3. Fill out the form as a respondent would

4. Check that everything works as expected

5. Close the preview and make any needed adjustments

Tip

Submit a test response in preview mode to verify the entire flow, including the thank you page and any confirmation messages.

Updating a published form

After publishing, you can continue making changes to your form. These changes are saved as a new draft until you publish again.

Making updates

1. Open your published form in the editor

2. Make your desired changes

3. The form status changes to “Draft” (indicating unpublished changes)

4. Click Publish to make your changes live

Live vs. draft versions

While you’re editing a published form:

• Live version: What respondents currently see (your last published version)
• Draft version: Your work-in-progress changes (visible only to you in the editor)

This separation means you can take your time perfecting updates without affecting the live form until you’re ready.

Unpublishing a form

Unpublishing removes your form from public access while keeping it in your dashboard. This is useful when you need to temporarily take a form offline.

How to unpublish

1. Open your form in the editor

2. Click the dropdown arrow next to the Publish button

3. Select Unpublish

4. Confirm the action

What happens when you unpublish

When you unpublish a form:

• The form URL becomes inactive
• Visitors see a “form not available” message
• All existing responses are preserved
• The form remains in your dashboard as a draft
• You can republish at any time

Tip

Unpublishing is reversible. If you need to bring the form back online, simply click Publish again.

Publishing best practices

Always preview first. Never publish without previewing. A quick review can catch embarrassing typos or broken logic.

Publish during low-traffic times. If updating a high-traffic form, consider publishing during off-peak hours to minimize disruption.

Communicate changes. If you make significant changes to a form people are actively using, consider notifying them about the updates.

Keep a publishing schedule. For forms that need regular updates, establish a routine for reviewing and publishing changes.

Test after publishing. After publishing, visit your live form URL to confirm everything looks correct in the production environment.

Form URLs

Every published form gets a unique URL where respondents can access it.

Default URL structure

Your form URL follows this pattern:

https://fomr.io/f/[form-id]

Custom domains

With Fomr Pro, you can use your own domain for form URLs, creating a more branded experience:

https://forms.yourdomain.com/f/[form-id]

Learn more about setting up custom domains.

Troubleshooting

Publish is blocked

• Review the publish issues shown in the modal
• Fix any incomplete, invalid, or over-limit content
• Check recently edited pages, options, matrix components, and long text content
• Try publishing again after saving your changes

Form not accessible after publishing

• Verify the form status shows “Published” in the editor
• Check that you’re using the correct form URL
• Ensure the form isn’t closed or scheduled to open later
• Clear your browser cache and try again

Changes not appearing on live form

• Confirm you clicked the Publish button after making changes
• Check that the form status changed from “Draft” to “Published”
• Clear your browser cache or try an incognito window
• Wait a few moments for changes to propagate

Can’t find the Publish button

• Ensure you have edit permissions for the form
• Check that you’re in the form editor (not the responses view)
• The Publish button is in the top toolbar of the editor