How to use offline forms with JotForm

Hi,

we are a bicycle company that has multiple demo truck drivers all over North America.

Each truck driver has an ipad and is using it to get waivers signed for each participant that is testing a bike during multiple demo events.

We are currently working with iForm and are looking into switching to Jotform.

In order to do so, I would like to know the following:

- Is it possible to downlaod a form onto an ipad and use it offline? If yes, how?

- Is it possible to do a bulk upload of form submissions at the end of each event day?

Thanks you very much for your time and answers.

Thank you for contacting us.

We do not have offline forms, but there are related workarounds available.

- Is it possible to downlaod a form onto an ipad and use it offline? If yes, how?

It is possible to download the form as a fillable PDF file. Then, fill in and save the PDF form for each participant. It should be possible to fill in an save fillable PDFs with a PDF reader software (e.g. Foxit MobilePDF for iOS).

Once you are online, you will be able to use the Submit button on filled PDFs to submit the data to your JotForm account.

- Is it possible to do a bulk upload of form submissions at the end of each event day?

This is only possible with our Import Data App. The App is based on import from Excel/CSV files. If you have the data in prepared Excel/CSV file you will be able to upload it.

Please feel free to contact us if you need any further assistance.

Thanks for your reply.

I was hoping to be able to use jotform in the same way, as it is possible with iForm at the moment.

All we need is the iForm app.

The forms are getting filled out and saved. at the end of an event day, we are doing one big upload of all completed forms. These then get saved as Excel/CSV file automatically.

Unless we are able to do this with jotform, we won't be able to switch over.

Would this be something you guys could make available in the near future?

Hi,

Just to breakdown how your process work currently.

#1. You used offline forms and can submit them with data while still offline.

Currently this is not possible in our fillable PDF Form.

You do can use the PDF Form offline... but to be able to save its data, it needs to be Online to be able to Submit to the server.

#2. At the end of the day, you will go Online to submit all saved data in bulk.

Our PDF Form can only submit data one at a time as it is not able to save offline.

Please correct also if my understanding of the process is wrong. I will submit a feature request ticket to our higher team support once I have a better understanding of the process and requirements.

Thanks.

Hi,

just to clarify a bit further.

#1. We are using offline forms and are saving them offline. Most bike events are outside without access to internet.

Since we have multiple Tech Reps working different events on the same weekends, each Tech Rep has their own form template on their ipad. This way we can pull Excel data for each event by date. Otherwise the event date would dilute the data.

#2. At the end of the day, each Tech Rep goes online and uploads the newly completed forms. Could be 40-100 per day. We are able to upload them all at once (mass upload). Each form gets saved in the data bank in Excel format.

At the moment the saving and uploading works all through the iform app, which is easy to use for the Tech Reps. There are no detours through PDF reader or other apps needed.

I would like to keep this procedure as straight forward as possible to minimize admin time and potential for errors for our Tech Reps.

Unfortunately our fillable PDF forms are the only version that can be used offline.  Think of them as similar to word documents with the exception that the data can be submitted to your JotForm account. 

You would need a separate PDF for each entry and each one would need to be manually submitted when you have an internet connection.  There is not currently a way to submit them in bulk.  You can download all the data in Excel format once it is submitted.  

Other than using the online web version of your form, the PDF route is the only route we can offer at this time.