The notification email is not sending immediately after submission in kiosk mode

  • Inovatafoods
    Asked on October 26, 2020 at 12:12 PM

    I'd like to get the time submitted as a field that I can use in a confirmation email.

    I have added separate time and date fields, and they populate, however, if the form is open in kiosk mode, the time/date populate the time/date the form is refreshed, so if it's been sitting idle for any amount of time, then the time or date in the field will be the time the form first refreshed, and not the time when the form was submitted.

    In my example, I am creating a time punch clock.

    While I do get the date time in a report, I want to provide an email confirmation to employees that says "this is confirming your clock in at {time}" but when I do the value that shows is an older time/date.

  • Kat JotForm Support
    Replied on October 26, 2020 at 4:12 PM

    Hi there,

    Happy to help!

    Thank you for providing us with your example: it is always a big help!

    May we please know what kind of device you are using to fill out the form in kiosk mode? Sometimes the refresh and autofill can be due to the browser.

    Also, would you be able to provide a screenshot of the email before it is sent and then the email afterwards with later time and date? Here's how-to-post-screenshots-to-our-support-forum

    We await your response. Thank you!

  • Inovatafoods
    Replied on October 28, 2020 at 1:50 PM

    Thanks, Katherine.

    Attached is a shot of an email I received showing the time of the email vs the time grabbed on the form.

    1603907416 5f99af58c1cae Mismatched Cloc Screenshot 10

  • Kat JotForm Support
    Replied on October 28, 2020 at 3:20 PM

    Hi again,

    Thank you for providing the screenshot!

    May we also confirm the device and typical browser that is being used to fill the form out in kiosk mode? For example, is the form being filled out on an iPad via the Safari browser?

    Could we also please confirm if the form is embedded on any external website or if your respondents are filling the form out from the direct form URL?

    With this information, we'll be able to fully investigate.

    Thank you!

  • Inovatafoods
    Replied on October 28, 2020 at 3:51 PM

    Sorry, this happens on a mac with the safari browser, but also on an iPad in Kiosk Mode.

    The form will only be run on an iPad in Kiosk mode.


    In my examples and testing, I used the form on a web browser via a URL, however, I had a different form that I used the same time and date technique that is run on a kiosk, and it too was reporting the time that the form first refreshed on the kiosk, and not the time the form was submitted.

  • Kat JotForm Support
    Replied on October 28, 2020 at 6:55 PM

    Hi again,

    Thank you for your response! I appreciate you providing this information as we continue to investigate.

    I was thinking that it may be a syncing problem as the submissions are being sent via WiFi on the iPad; this could contribute to the delay of these submissions. However, because you have tested the form on your web browser, this may not be the issue.

    I did clone the form in question, and pushed through a test submission via iPad to my email whilst in kiosk mode, both submitting it on my own and then upon form refresh, and I am unable to replicate the issue. Before I escalate this to our development team, could you check one more thing for me?

    One thing I did notice in the cloned form is that I did need to make it available offline. Could you please check to ensure that your form is also available in Offline mode? You can do so in the app by:

    1) Clicking "Offline Forms":

    1603925626 5f99f67a5494c  Screenshot 10

    2) Checking the box next to the form in question (in this, I checked the cloned version of your form):

    1603925723 5f99f6db5df8c  Screenshot 21

    We await your response.

    Thank you!

  • Inovatafoods
    Replied on October 28, 2020 at 8:33 PM

    One thing you will see, if you load a form, and submit right away, of course the times are going to match.

    In my test, I loaded the webpage (or kiosk form), waited about 1/2 hour (you can even wait a couple of minutes), and the time / date will not match.

    This form isn't in production yet, and is being tested.


    In my other form "Covid Screening", it sends an email to our receptionist whenever someone as a Visitor, or Contractor enters the form. I used to have it send the time and date, and it was her who first noticed the time was off.


    In her case, there's an iPad on her desk in kiosk mode with the form loaded, and when someone enters the building, they fill out the form. Of course people aren't coming every day/hour, and she noticed the times in the form were way off from the actual times. It was then that I figured out it was getting the time when the form first loaded, and not when it was submitted.

  • Jed_C
    Replied on October 29, 2020 at 12:07 AM

    The reason behind this is that the form loads on the clients end and the field does not visually show the counting of the current time. Yes, it will loads the current time when the form is loaded, but real time counting is not a feature of the time field.

    Unfortunately, I'm unable to find any widget that does get the current time and also displays a real time clock. We can probably create a feature request for a real time counter widget.