1. What is the issue? Please be detailed.
Some users can edit a form after finalizing but others cannot
2. What steps can we take to reproduce this issue?
Try to edit a form that is sitting in the "Ready to Send" folder.
3. What have you tried to fix the issue?
4. Upload any forms or screenshots you can share publicly below.
On my tablet I can select a form in the 'Ready to Send' section (which has been marked as finalized but not submitted). Then I can click on a section, then a field. I can then edit the field and proceed through the form to the end, and once again mark it finalized. Others with the same version loaded on their tablet, cannot edit any forms. They select a form in the 'Ready to Send' section, and then select a section. The app will list the fields in the section, but they are not selectable and do not allow editing. Any advice?
Are you sure that they are on 2023.2.2 and not 2023.2.1 or prior? 2023.2.2 introduced a brief grace period to allow users to adapt to finalization being final. We'll release 2023.2.3 soon which will include a dialog to explain this and will make it clear that finalized forms will not be editable after October.
If you have confirmed they're on 2023.2.2, is their device date set correctly? If their device date is set to after October 1st, 2023, they won't be able to edit because the grace period is based on device time. Another thing to note is that forms that have failed to send are not editable.
Thanks for the swift reply! Yes I confirmed we're both on 2023.2.2. I will double check the device date and report back. Sounds like we'll all be on the same version soon enough!
Looks like I was given some wrong information. The user I am assisting actually had 2023.2.1 so that explains the difference in our experiences.
Thanks again for the quick response - we'll get everyone on 2023.2.3 in October, disable auto-updating, and then implement a management plan on how and when to update successive releases.
In October, 2023.2.3 will stop allowing edits of finalized forms. The only change in that release is that there will be a dialog stating that so users don't rely on it.
It would be helpful to understand your workflow so we can offer ideas on how to react to this change. For example, do you have something like a field-based review workflow where a second person reviews data and submits it? Are you using finalization as a way to check forms for errors? If these general concepts are close to what you're trying to achieve, here are a couple of ideas:
You can use the new "Check for errors" option in the overflow menu (⋮) at any time while filling a form to validate it.
You can add a final required question asking for reviewer initials or checking yes. Then it's ok to use the "finalize" button at the end of the form to check for errors. The form will not be actually finalized until that last question is answered.
This is a legacy system we're supporting for the short term, so unfortunately we probably won't be updating the forms. We have a number of users on a number of forms working remotely and QAQC tends to happen 'back in the office' (i.e. post submission) on a custom built platform. However, many users have enjoyed making small edits to their ODK form(s) and resubmitting. Removing that ability that they've utilized for so long came as a bit of a surprise, but once we have a plan in place I'm sure they'll move past it quickly.
so that explains the difference in our experiences.