Revision History: Need to recover submission entries

Hello,

I tried updating a pdf form for releases we've been using and it removed over 20 submission from the form and I can't find them. Now the releases are not formatted correctly either and the data is being put in the wrong fields. How do I fix this? It's not letting me revert back to an old version of the form.

Best,

Drew

Hi Drew,

Thanks for reaching out to Jotform Support. Are you talking about this form? If yes, I was able to confirm that there are recent changes made to it. Note that if there are fields removed from a form, this will consequently remove the submission data associated with them. But by using the Revision History feature, you may be able to get back those fields along with their submissions. Before you proceed with the steps, clear your browser's cache and cookies first. You can also use Incognito or a different browser for this. If you also have a different device to test this, try that as well. Let me show you how:

1. In Smart PDF Forms, click on the Circular Arrow icon at the top middle of the page to open the Revision History menu.
2. In the menu on the right side of the page, select the version you want to restore the form to. 
3. Now, just click on Revert next to the version you select, and then close the Revision History menu in the top right corner.

From there, you can go to the form's Tables page so you can add the field back as a column. Here's how to do it:

1. In Tables, click on the Columns dropdown on the upper right side of the page.
2. Look for the recently recovered field and mark it with a check so it can be shown alongside the other field columns.

Note that by doing the steps above can also properly format your form to its previous version. But any newly added fields and changes made to the form in general before the revision will be lost, so you may need to add them back. Unfortunately, this may include submissions that utilized those updates, so be careful with using the feature to make sure the proper changes can be made to your form. I've cleared your Form Caches to refresh the data. You can also do the same on your end. Although Clearing Your Form Caches isn't done automatically, it's easy to do it manually. Let me show you how:

1. On your My Forms page, click on your Avatar/Profile Image icon.

2. In the window that opens, click on Settings.

3. In the Settings menu, scroll down to the bottom and click on Clear Cache. And that's it, you're done.

Alternatively, you can check the Tables' Trashed entries for the submissions you mentioned were deleted. If found, you can restore them. It's really easy to restore your deleted entries in Jotform Tables. Let me show you how:

1. On your Jotform Submissions Table, click on the Three Dots icon in the tab next to your form's name at the upper left side of the page.
2. In the dropdown list, click on Trashed Entries.
3. In the window that comes up on the right side of the page, select the Deleted Submission then, click on the Restore button and that's it.

Don't forget that trashed submissions that are not restored within 30 days will be automatically deleted. You can also check out our guide about How to Restore Deleted Submissions in Jotform Tables for more information.

Give it a try and let us know if you need any help.

Hi Rene,

Thank you for your reply. I tried to use the Revision History Menu to recover a previous version of the form but it's giving me an error: "An unexpected error occurred." Please see the attached screenshot. I also tried clearing my cache and accessing this page via an Incognito tab and I'm still getting this error. I also searched for Trashed Entries and it's saying there are no trashed entries. Please advise.

Drew

Hi Drew,

The Restore option on Jotform Tables Revision History is currently unavailable due to known bugs. Our development team is working to resolve these issues, and we will update you as soon as possible.

Thanks for your patience, we appreciate it.

Hi Jason,

Is there an estimate as to when this can be fixed or if there's another way to recover it in the mean time? There is very critical data that I need to recover as soon as possible.

Best,

Drew

Hi Drew,

I have received some updates from our development team regarding the issue with your Smart PDF form. It appears that the issue occurs because the PDF used in your Smart PDF form was updated, leading to the loss of some data. Additionally, it seems that the dates are appearing under the name column, which suggests that the date data may have been mistakenly filled in the name field.

Could you check the fields in your form to confirm this? Ensuring that the data is correctly mapped will help in resolving the formatting issues you're experiencing.

Keep us updated and let us know if you need any more help. 

Hi Mary,

I recently uploaded a new version of a form that was similar to the previous one, but with some corrected language. The new new version of the form I uploaded had the same fields and I didn't remove any. Previously, name data appeared correctly under the "Name" field, and date data under the "Date" field. However, after the update, all the date data is now showing up under the "Name" field, and I can no longer find any of the original name data.

The form had around 20 submissions with the correct information before the update, but now those entries seem to be missing entirely or miscategorized. I haven't been able to recover this data.

Is there any way to retrieve the original submissions or restore the missing name data?

Drew

Hi Drew,

I went ahead and marked this as a Priority and reached out to our Developers again with the additional information you shared. We’re working on a solution as fast as we can. Rest assured that we’ll get back to you with an update as soon as we have one.

We really appreciate your patience and understanding while we’re looking into this.

Hi Ronald,

Any update on this?

Drew

Hi Drew,

There haven’t been any updates yet. I know that it’s taking some time to resolve. I’ve marked this as a Priority and reached out to our Developers again. We’ll let you know as soon as there’s an update.

Thanks for your patience and understanding, we appreciate it.