Responses

Open a form's Responses tab. It has two views: Responses, the list described here, and Insights, the numbers.

Completed and partial responses

A response is created as soon as someone answers their first question, so there are two kinds:

• Completed: the respondent reached an ending.
• Partial: they answered at least one question and then left. The Stopped at column shows the question they didn't get past, which is useful for spotting a question that puts people off. On a one-page form, that's the first question on their path they left unanswered.

Switch between them with the Completed and Partial buttons above the table; each shows its count.

A partial response becomes a completed one if the respondent comes back and finishes. See What respondents see.

The responses table

Each row is a response, newest first, with a column per question, one per hidden field and, if you use AI summaries, a Summary column. Choose Refresh to check for new ones.

Select a row to open the response in full.

Searching and filtering

Three controls above the table narrow it down. They work on every plan, and they combine: a response has to match all three.

• Search responses finds responses with your words anywhere in what the respondent said: text answers, the label of a choice they picked, "Other" text, a file's name or a hidden field's value. Capitals don't matter. A number finds number, rating and scale answers that are exactly that number.
• Filters opens a panel of conditions, the same ones logic rules check: for example "How likely are you to recommend us? is less than 7", "Plan is Professional" or "Email is answered". Choose Add filter for more, and pick whether all of them or any of them must match. The button shows how many are on.
• The date menu keeps responses from Today, the Last 7 days, Last 30 days or Last 90 days, or a Custom range. It goes by the date in the table's first column, when a response was submitted (or for a partial one, when it was last answered), in your own time zone.

Searches, filters and dates stay in the page's address, so you can bookmark a view or send the link to a teammate. They also stay put when you switch between Completed and Partial. When nothing matches, Clear search and filters starts over.

On an encrypted form, everything listed under What's encrypted is stored where the database can't read it: emails, phone numbers, links, dates and times, contact details, addresses, files, "Other" text, hidden fields and numbers marked as personal. Search skips those, and filters can only check whether they were answered. Short and long text, choices, ordinary numbers and scores are searched and filtered as usual.

Reading one response

The response drawer shows every answer on the respondent's path, in form order, with:

• Started, Submitted, Time taken and Last activity.
• The respondent's Browser, and the Referrer: the page they came from, when their browser shared it.
• Hidden field values.
• Follow-up questions and replies, indented under the answer they're about.
• Uploaded files and signatures, which you can download.
• Its AI summary, if there is one.

Download PDF turns the response into a clean one-page document through your browser's print dialog: choose "Save as PDF" as the printer. Anything a respondent typed, in any language or script, prints as they typed it.

Editors can delete a response from the drawer. It can't be undone, and files the respondent uploaded are deleted with it.

Duplicates

Sometimes one person submits the same answers twice, say by double-clicking or by coming back and doing it again. A completed response whose answers match an earlier completed response to the same form is marked Duplicate response, and its drawer says "These answers match a response submitted earlier".

When a form has duplicates, Hide duplicates appears above the Completed list, with a count. Duplicates are never deleted automatically. If you delete the original, its copy stops being marked as a duplicate.

Hidden field values don't count when comparing, so two people who arrive from the same campaign and give the same answers are still duplicates.

Possible spam

Typed answers that look like random letters or filler, like "sdsdsd", are marked Possible spam in the list, and the answer itself is highlighted. In the drawer, the response opens with a Possible spam note and each of those answers says "Looks like spam". When a form has any, Hide possible spam appears above the Completed list, with a count. Nothing is deleted automatically, so check before you delete. See Spam and bot protection for how answers are checked.

Possible bots

On a form whose bot check marks rather than blocks, a response started without Cloudflare confirming a person was there is marked Possible bot in the list, and its drawer opens with a Possible bot note. When a form has any, Hide possible bots appears above the Completed list, with a count. Nothing is deleted automatically, so check before you delete. The CSV has a Possible bot column too.

Exporting to CSV

Export CSV downloads the responses you're looking at: completed or partial, with or without duplicates and possible spam, and only those matching your search, filters and dates. While any of those are on, the button says Export matching. The file opens in Excel, Numbers and Google Sheets. To have responses added to a spreadsheet as they arrive instead, see Google Sheets. The file has:

• Response ID, Status, Started at, Submitted at, Duplicate of, Possible spam, which names the questions whose answers look like spam, and Possible bot.
• A column per question, headed with its title. A matrix gets one column per row, contact info and an address one per field, and each follow-up two columns: the question asked and the reply.
• A column per hidden field.
• Referrer and User agent.

Choices appear as their labels, several joined with commas. Files appear as their names; download the files themselves from each response.

Cells that a spreadsheet might run as a formula (starting with =, +, - or @) are made safe, so a respondent can't slip a formula into your spreadsheet.

Who can see responses

Everyone with access to a form's workspace, viewers included, can read its responses and export them. Deleting a response needs an editor. See Teams and roles.

If a form is encrypted, answers are decrypted for people allowed to read them, so reading and exporting work the same. Only searching and filtering are narrower.