"Overwrite" data with blanks on form finalisation?

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1

I'm not sure if this currently exists (I don't think so, but apologies if I've missed it!)

What is the general goal of the feature?

Allow "overwrite" of certain fields (with blanks or similar) on ODK Collect on finalisation (before aggregation or sending to the server). Or alternatively just strip out the columns altogether and only send the ones chosen by the form writer.

What are some example use cases for this feature?

I'm thinking of where private data like names are collected purely for the purpose of simplifying interviews (taking the names of all eligible children and then selecting one randomly for the rest of the interview, for example). It would be great to be able to put in ethics submissions that personal data collected will be removed in the process of saving the form, certainly before the form gets sent over the web and stored on a server. (Encrypting the form isn't ideal for us as we'd lose the ability to have real-time visualisation of data collection.)

What can you contribute to making this feature a reality?

Happy to help test by writing xlsForms!

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It sorta already exists, in that any questions that you may have responded to, but which subsequently become non-relevant, are effectively' 'blanked' upon submission (non-relevant controls are wiped prior to submission). It sounds like this isnt quite what you are trying to do, but if you can somehow figure out a way of making all your to-be-blanked questions non-relevant, it should accomplish the desired result.

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This is exactly the strategy I would use. I might do something like have a required select_one question at the end with prompt something like "Remove identifying information? Warning: this cannot be undone once the form is saved" with a single choice with value 'yes'. Then the relevance column on the questions you don't want to send can look like ${remove_identifying_info} != 'yes'.

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Thanks both - that's great! I'll give it a go.