Offline Drafts

The Laserfiche app can manually or automatically download copies of task and form drafts offline. This lets users, for example, fill out a form online, save it as a draft, then save the draft offline to finish the form later (when not connected to Wi-Fi or cellular service). When Wi-Fi or cellular service is available, the changes you made to the draft while offline can be synced to the repository.

Example: Jenny is on a business trip to Chicago and needs to fill out her expense report form while she's online and offline (on the road). Her company has set up the Expense Report form to download automatically on each employee's app due to limited Wi-Fi connection when they travel. This allows Jenny to access this form offline and fill in each expense with its corresponding receipt as her trip progresses without worrying about being connected to Wi-Fi. She saves the partially completed form as a draft. When she gets back to her hotel with Wi-Fi, she can sync the offline draft of the expense report to her online drafts and continue filling in expenses online. She can do this as many times as she likes. Her expense report will always be updated whether she's online or offline because she can sync her changes at any time. When she's finished and online, she can submit her expense report.

Note: Forms version 10.2 is required for automatic download.

Note: The form's Allow users to save incomplete forms for later option needs to be selected in Laserfiche Forms 9.2.1 or later in order for the form to be saved as a draft. If you are connected to a Laserfiche Forms server version 10.2 or later, an administrator must select the Save form offline on the Laserfiche app device option in Laserfiche Forms to allow forms to be saved offline.

Note: Saving copies of drafts offline does not remove them from your Forms server.
Note: Offline drafts will have "Offline" appended to their title when open.

All forms and tasks that are configured with the ability to be saved as a draft and offline in Laserfiche Forms, and are saved as drafts, will automatically download to the user's mobile device when they sign into the Laserfiche Forms server. If a change is made to an online draft, the change will be automatically synced to the offline draft and vice versa once the user signs into the Laserfiche Forms server or syncs the changes manually.

Note: If drafts are not downloaded or synced automatically, ensure the Sync online/offline entries and drafts and Save forms, tasks, and drafts offline options are enabled under Settings.

  1. Press My Tasks in the Forms inbox in the menu on the left. The menu is accessed by swiping right or tapping the menu Menu button button in the top left.
  2. Under Drafts, long pressthe draft you want to save offline and press Save Offline Copy.To select multiple tasks, select the checkbox next to each one, press the More Options button in the top right, then press Save Offline Copy.

Note: If an offline draft is outdated (i.e., its online draft was completed), you will have the option to keep or remove the outdated offline draft under Settings.

  1. Press Start Process in the Forms inbox in the menu on the left. The menu is accessed by swiping right or tapping the menu Menu button button in the top left. Then, press the Plus button to access the forms.
  2. Long pressthe form you want to save offline and press Save Offline Copy.To select multiple forms, select the checkbox next to each one, press the More OptionsMore Options button , then press Save Offline Copy. You can search for a form by pressing the search button in the top right .

Note: If you select a forms process under Start Process that does not require a form submission to start, the Save Offline Copy option will be hidden.

Note: If an offline form is outdated (i.e., its online form was deleted), you will have the option to keep or remove the outdated offline form under Settings.

Offline forms drafts can be renamed. This helps keep multiple drafts of the same form distinguishable.

  1. When a user is filling out an offline form, a Rename dialog will appear when they press Save as Draft.
  2. If a form has been saved as an offline draft, the user can long press the form draft to rename and press Rename.

Note: Offline task drafts cannot be renamed.

If the Sync option under Settings is enabled, tasks and forms drafts saved online will automatically be synced to their offline couterparts They will also be synced online/offline if you sign out and back in to the Laserfiche Forms server. To manually sync the drafts

  1. Press My Tasks, then Drafts from the Forms section in the menu on the left. The menu is accessed by swiping right or tapping the menu Menu button button in the top left.
  2. Press the Sync button at the top of the page . All drafts will be synced. To sync a single draft,long press the draft and select Sync. You will see a message indicating the drafts are syncing.
  3. If there is a conflict, for example, both the online and offline draft has been modified, the user will be presented with an option to use the offline copy, online copy, or not sync the drafts and keep both copies.

Note: Task drafts are appended with the word Draft. Everything else is a form draft.

Note: The option to sync task and form drafts is only available when connected to a Laserfiche Forms Server 10.1 or later.

  1. Long pressthe draft you want to delete and press Discard. To select multiple drafts, select the checkbox next to each one, press the More OptionsMore Options button button, then press Discard.

Note: If JavaScript in an offline form draft submission does not work, see KB article 1013847.