Save & Continue: let respondents finish later

Save & Continue lets respondents pause a survey and pick up where they left off, instead of losing their answers if they close the tab or run out of time. It’s one of the simplest ways to reduce drop-off on longer forms—applications, registrations, and detailed questionnaires where people sometimes need to step away and come back.

When to use Save & Continue

Turn it on when a respondent may not finish in one sitting:

Long surveys and forms (more than a few minutes to complete).
Application, registration, or intake forms where people gather documents or details.
Questionnaires that need lookups—order numbers, dates, invoices, or approvals.

For a short NPS or one-question pulse check, Save & Continue usually isn’t necessary. Keeping surveys short is still the best defense against fatigue—see length tips in the survey design guide.

Turn on Save & Continue

Open the survey you want to configure in the editor.
Go to the survey Settings.
Enable Save & Continue (exact wording may vary slightly in the app).
Save or publish as usual, then confirm the behavior with Testing the survey before you share the link.

How respondents resume

When Save & Continue is enabled, a respondent’s answers are remembered as they progress, so if they leave and reopen the survey they can continue from the unanswered questions rather than starting over.

Returning works most reliably from the same device and browser.
If you distribute the survey with a personalized link (for example using hidden variables or a unique code per respondent), progress is tied to that respondent, which makes resuming more dependable across sessions.

Save & Continue and your data

A response is only counted when the respondent submits. While they’re still working, the session stays in progress. If you review partial responses, an unfinished session may appear as partial until it’s completed—so mark questions as required only where an answer is genuinely essential, and let optional context stay optional.

If your goal is instead to stop the same person from submitting twice, that’s a different setting—see Prevent survey duplicate submissions.

Best practices

Show progress. Pair Save & Continue with a progress indicator so respondents know how much is left before they pause.
Front-load the essentials. Put must-have questions early, so even an interrupted session captures your core data.
Use personalized links for long B2B forms. Tying a session to a respondent makes resuming smoother than relying on the browser alone.
Test the round trip. Start the survey, close it, reopen it, and confirm you land back where you left off before launching.

Build the form with How to create a survey, keep responses unique with Prevent survey duplicate submissions, and require only the answers you truly need with Make your questions required.

FAQ

What does Save & Continue do in Responsly?

It lets respondents pause a survey and come back to finish later from where they stopped, instead of losing their answers and starting over. It's useful for longer forms and questionnaires that require gathering information.

How do respondents return to a partially completed survey?

When Save & Continue is enabled, their progress is remembered so they can reopen the survey and resume the unanswered questions. Returning works most reliably from the same device and browser; for surveys sent with a personalized link, the link ties progress to that respondent.

Does Save & Continue affect my collected data?

Progress is only stored while the respondent finishes. A response is counted once they submit. If you also track partial responses, an unfinished session may show as partial until completed—so use required questions only where an answer is truly essential.

When should I use Save & Continue?

Use it for long surveys, application or registration forms, and questionnaires where respondents may need to look up details (order numbers, dates, documents). For short pulse checks or one-question NPS, it usually isn't needed.