Versions and publishing
How it works
Each form has versions, so you can change it without interrupting live submissions. A form is always in one of these states:
| State | What it means |
|---|---|
| Draft | Changes you're still working on. Customers don't see them. |
| Published | The live version, used for new submissions and for forms embedded on your store. Read only. |
| Archived | Older versions, kept for reference and for the entries created with them. |
A form has at most one draft and one published version at a time.
Edit
Preview
Publish
Archive
The top of the form builder shows the form's name and status. Publish appears while there are unpublished changes. The More actions menu has View entries, Duplicate and Archive.
Edit a draft
- Open the form from Forms (opens in your SparkLayer Dashboard in a new tab).
- Make sure you're editing the draft.
- Make your changes. They save automatically, and the live form stays the same.
When you start editing, SparkLayer creates the draft from the current published version. To look at what's live without changing anything, select Published.
Preview a draft
- Click the Preview tab.
- Fill in the form to test your changes, including validation and conditional logic.
Preview entries are marked separately from real entries. Preview whenever you change the structure, logic or workflows.
The preview has no logged-in customer. If your form uses customer or purchase data, test it on your store instead. Use a page where the SparkLayer Core Script is loaded, signed in as a customer. The page can be hidden while you test.
Publish changes
- Click Publish.
- Choose what to publish (see the table below).
- Add a summary of your changes. It's kept for future reference, which helps with audits.
- Confirm. The draft becomes the published version.
| Option | What it publishes |
|---|---|
| Form fields | The main form customers see. |
| Internal fields | The admin fields shown against entries. |
| Workflows | Your automations and their logic. |
The previous published version is archived, and all new submissions use the new version.
How versions affect entries
Publishing never changes entries you already have. Which version an entry uses depends on when it was started:
| Entry | Which version it uses |
|---|---|
| New submissions | Always the current published version, with its fields, validation and workflows. |
| Existing entries | The version they were created with. Their data structure and workflows stay the same. |
| In-progress entries | If a customer started the form before you published, they continue on the version they began with. They see your changes the next time they start a new submission. |
Tips
- Publish all affected areas (form fields, internal fields and workflows) together where you can.
- Always write a clear summary in the Publish dialog.
- Test a new version before you share the form.
- To completely rethink a form, create a new form rather than reworking the existing one.
Next steps
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