Pass form data to another form: Long Text Entry displays + smybol instead of %20 (space)

Long ago I set up a way to Prepopulating Fields to my JotForm via URL Parameters (following these instructions: https://www.jotform.com/help/71-Prepopulating-Fields-to-Your-JotForm-via-URL-Parameters. Basically, a customer fills out one form with some info. I pass that info to them so it will prepopulate fields on another form.

It has worked well, but recently, I'm getting a lot of "+' characters in fields with spaces (multiple words). I'm not sure why or how to fix this. 

The code I'm using to create the URL on the first form (https://www.300dollardatarecovery.com/your-chances-for-a-successful-recovery/) is:

https://form.jotform.com/60862487585975?firstName=%7ByourName:first%7D&lastName=%7ByourName:last%7D&email12=%7ByourEmail%7D&model=%7BwhatIs4%7D&whatKind149=%7BwhatKind%7D&howWas16=%7BpleaseDescribe14%7D&describePrevious=%7Bwhatif%7D&input29=%7BhowDid%7D

An example of this URL after the form is submitted is (I "XXX"ed some contact info): 

https://form.jotform.com/60862487585975?firstName=XXX&lastName=XXX&email12=XXX&model=ST1000LM024&whatKind149=Hard+Drive(s)&howWas16=Was+operating+computer+and+it+suddenly+froze.+%C2%A0Took+it+to+the+Apple+Store,+they+connected+it+to+some+diagnostic+equipment+and+they+said+the+hard+drive+had+failed.+%C2%A0The+computer+was+about+five+years+old+and+they+indicated+that+this+was+a+common+occurrence.+%C2%A0They+promptly+replaced+the+drive+and+said+they+could+not+extract+any+files+from+it+though+they+tried.&describePrevious=Apple+store+could+not+recover+data.+%C2%A0They+felt+that+a+professional+data+recovery+firm+might+be+able+to+extract+the+data.&input29=Google

When the customer clicks the link to submit our "Mail In Form" (https://www.300dollardatarecovery.com/mail-in-form/), it fills in fields like screenshot attached ("Describe previous data recovery attempts (if any)").  

What am I doing wrong? This used to work so I probably unintentionally broke something.

We would like to apologize for any inconvenience. But may I suggest that you use %20 instead of + to create a space in between words that you are passing to the fields in your form via URL parameters, please?

Here's an example:

https://form.jotform.com/60862487585975?firstName=XXX&lastName=XXX&email12=XXX&model=ST1000LM024&whatKind149=Hard%20Drive(s)&howWas16=Was%20operating%20computer%20and%20it%20suddenly%20froze.%20%C2%A0Took%20it%20to%20the%20Apple%20Store,%20they%20connected%20it%20to%20some%20diagnostic%20equipment%20and%20they%20said%20the%20hard%20drive%20had%20failed.%20%C2%A0The%20computer%20was%20about%20five%20years%20old%20and%20they%20indicated%20that%20this%20was%20a%20common%20occurrence.%20%C2%A0They%20promptly%20replaced%20the%20drive%20and%20said%20they%20could%20not%20extract%20any%20files%20from%20it%20though%20they%20tried.&describePrevious=Apple%20store%20could%20not%20recover%20data.%20%C2%A0They%20felt%20that%20a%20professional%20data%20recovery%20firm%20might%20be%20able%20to%20extract%20the%20data.&input29=Google

But, Jotform is the one creating the link with the "+" -- not me.

Do I need to change something on this link below to substitute "+" for "%20"? 

https://form.jotform.com/60862487585975?firstName=%7ByourName:first%7D&lastName=%7ByourName:last%7D&email12=%7ByourEmail%7D&model=%7BwhatIs4%7D&whatKind149=%7BwhatKind%7D&howWas16=%7BpleaseDescribe14%7D&describePrevious=%7Bwhatif%7D&input29=%7BhowDid%7D

Hi,

Please accept our apologies for the inconvenience this may have caused.

It appears that the issue happens only in the Text Area field wherein the %20 (space) are passed as + symbol to the second form. 

There's no action needed on your end for now as we've recently seen a similar issue that is currently being fixed by our backend (developers) team.

I will forward this as well for our backend team's checking. You will be notified via this thread as soon as we have updates.

Thank you for understanding.

Sweet, glad to hear it's a known issue and fix is being developed. Thank you!

Hi,

We apologize for the inconvenience caused so far.

We did the necessary changes for this not to happen again.

Let us know if there is still a problem.

Best.

Thank you!!