Reviewing form submissions

Every time someone fills out one of your forms, whether a client completes a public intake form, you send a one-time form request, or you fill a form in on a client's behalf, Esqase records a submission. This page explains where submissions live, how to read a submission's answers, how to clean up your list (cancel, archive, restore, or delete), how to push a completed submission's answers onto the linked lead and contact, and how to read a form's activity history.

Each submission is automatically tied to a lead (a potential client or matter you are tracking) and a contact (the person or company who filled it out), so a submission is both a record of answers and a starting point for your intake pipeline.

Before you begin

• Submissions live on a form's detail page. To get there you need at least View access for forms. If your role does not include View access, you will not see the Forms area at all.
• Cancelling, archiving, and restoring a submission require Edit access for forms.
• Permanently deleting a submission requires Delete access for forms.
• Firm owners and Administrators have full access by default. Attorneys also have full access. Staff can view, create, and edit but cannot delete.

Open a form's submissions

A form's submissions are listed on that form's detail page.

1. In the sidebar, open the intake area and click Forms.
2. On the Forms tab, click the name of the form whose submissions you want to review.
3. The form's detail page opens. The submissions table fills most of the page, with a sidebar of form details on the right and a Recent activities timeline below.

Reading the table

Each row is one submission. The columns are:

• Actions: the View and Copy link buttons, plus the More (three-dot) menu. See the sections below.
• Lead: the readable lead reference (its public ID) created for this submission. Use it to find the same record in your leads list.
• Contact: the name (or company name) of the person who submitted, or who the submission was created for.
• Form: the form's name. A Private tag appears here when the submission is restricted to its creator and firm admins.
• Status: where the submission is in its lifecycle (see below).
• Mode: how the form is being collected: Manual (you are filling it in) or Sent to client (a client fills it in via a link).
• Created by: who started the submission.
• Last updated and Created: when the row last changed and when it was first created.

Submission statuses

The Status badge tells you exactly where a submission stands:

• Draft: started but not finished. This is the status of a manual fill you have not submitted yet.
• Pending: sent to a client and waiting for them to complete it.
• Completed: the form was submitted with answers. Only completed submissions can be converted (see below).
• Cancelled: the request was stopped before completion.
• Archived: hidden from the active list but kept on file. Archived submissions can be restored or permanently deleted.

Filtering and searching

The toolbar above the table helps you find a specific submission.

1. Use the status tabs (All, Draft, Pending, Completed, Cancelled, Archived) to show only submissions in one status. All shows every status.
2. Type in the Search by form, lead, or contact box to narrow by form name, lead reference, or contact name.
3. On a form's own detail page the table is already scoped to that one form. (When you view submissions across all forms elsewhere in the app, a Form filter is also available.)
4. Click Clear filters to reset everything.

View a submission's answers

Opening a submission shows you the exact form the client saw and every answer they entered.

1. In the submissions table, find the row you want and click View.
2. The submission opens in a dialog. The left side shows the form, page by page, with each field and the value that was entered. The right side shows a details panel.
3. The details panel lists:
   • Status and Mode badges.
   • Lead (the lead reference) and Contact.
   • Privacy: either Anyone with lead access or Only the creator and firm admins for a private submission.
   • Created by and Created, plus Last updated by and Last updated.
4. When you are done, click the X in the top right (or Close at the bottom) to dismiss the dialog.

Editing a draft or pending submission

If a submission is still in Draft or Pending and you have Edit access, the View dialog is fully fillable rather than read-only. This is how you complete a manual fill on a client's behalf, or finish a submission a client started.

1. Open the submission with View.
2. Work through the form, entering or correcting answers. Required fields must be filled before you can submit.
3. Click Submit form at the bottom. The submission is saved.

Copy a submission's link

Each Sent to client submission has its own fill-in link you can resend to the client.

1. In the submissions table, click Copy link on the row.
2. The link is copied to your clipboard, and you see a Form link copied to clipboard confirmation.
3. Paste it into an email or message to the client. They open the link and complete the form. See How clients fill intake forms.

Cancel a submission

Cancel a submission when a request is no longer needed, for example a client decided not to proceed before completing the form. Cancelling stops the request; it does not delete the record.

1. In the submissions table, find a submission that is Draft or Pending.
2. Click the More (three-dot) button in the Actions column.
3. Choose Cancel sending.
4. The submission moves to Cancelled and you see a confirmation toast.

Archive a submission

Archive a submission to remove it from your active list while keeping it on file. Archiving is reversible.

1. In the submissions table, open the More (three-dot) menu on the row.
2. Choose Archive.
3. The submission moves to Archived and disappears from the active statuses. You see an archived confirmation.

To see archived submissions, switch to the Archived status tab.

Restore a submission

Restore brings a cancelled or archived submission back to the active list.

1. Switch to the Cancelled or Archived status tab to find the submission.
2. Open the More (three-dot) menu on the row.
3. Choose Restore.
4. The submission returns to the active list and you see a restored confirmation.

Delete a submission

Deleting permanently removes a submission and its answers. This is a last resort and cannot be undone, so a submission must be archived or cancelled first.

1. Make sure the submission is Archived or Cancelled. If it is still active, archive or cancel it first.
2. Open the More (three-dot) menu on the row.
3. Choose Delete.
4. A confirmation dialog titled Delete form submission? appears, warning that the submission will be permanently removed and this can't be undone.
5. Click Delete submission to confirm, or Cancel to back out.

Which actions are available when

The More menu only shows the actions that apply to a submission's current status and your permissions:

• Cancel sending: only for Draft or Pending submissions (needs Edit access).
• Archive: for any submission that is not already archived or cancelled (needs Edit access).
• Restore: for Cancelled or Archived submissions (needs Edit access).
• Delete: only for Archived or Cancelled submissions (needs Delete access).

If none of these apply, the More menu does not appear and you will only see View and Copy link.

Convert a submission into a lead

Every submission already creates a lead and a contact automatically, so there is no separate step to "create a lead." What you can do from a completed submission is push its answers onto that linked lead and contact, turning raw form answers into structured fields you can search, filter, and report on.

This action is called Convert to custom fields.

1. Open a Completed submission with View.
2. In the top right of the dialog, click Convert to custom fields. (This button only appears for completed submissions, and only if you have Edit access.)
3. Esqase reads each answer and routes it to the right place on the linked record:
   • Name, Email, Phone, and Address answers update the contact's name, primary email, primary phone, and primary address.
   • Other answers are saved as custom field values on the lead. If a matching custom field already exists in your firm it is reused; if not, Esqase creates one for you so the answer has a home.
   • Some layout-only and file-upload elements are skipped, since they are not data fields.
4. When it finishes, you see a confirmation such as Converted 5 values to the lead. The number tells you how many answers were routed.

Convert a submission into a matter

A submission does not become a matter directly. Instead, the submission feeds the lead it created, and you convert that lead into a matter from the lead's own page once you decide to take the work on.

1. From the submission, note the Lead reference, or open the linked lead from your leads list.
2. (Recommended) On the completed submission, click Convert to custom fields first so the lead and contact carry all the answers forward.
3. On the lead's page, use the convert-to-matter action to open a new matter, carrying the contact and the lead's details with it.

For the full walkthrough, see Converting a lead to a matter.

View a form's activity timeline

Each form keeps a running history of what happened to it and its submissions. This is your audit trail for the form.

1. Open the form's detail page (click the form name on the Forms tab).
2. Scroll below the submissions table to the Recent activities section.
3. Each entry shows what happened (for example a submission received, cancelled, archived, restored, or deleted, the form being edited, archived, or restored, and conversion events), who did it, and when. Times are shown in your firm's time zone.
4. Use the page arrows at the bottom right to move through older activity, and the refresh button to reload the latest entries.

Common questions

Why does a submission already have a lead and contact before anyone filled it out? When you send a form to a client or start a manual fill, Esqase creates a draft lead and contact straight away so there is a record to attach the answers to. The submission shows up in Pending or Draft until it is completed.

I cancelled a submission by mistake. Can I undo it? Yes. Open the Cancelled tab, find the row, open the More menu, and choose Restore.

The Convert to custom fields button is missing. That button only appears on Completed submissions, and only if you have Edit access for forms. If the submission is still Draft or Pending, finish it first; if you lack Edit access, ask a firm owner or administrator.

I want to remove a submission completely. First archive or cancel it, then open the More menu and choose Delete. Deleting is permanent and needs Delete access for forms. If you only want it out of your way, archive it instead.

Related

• Building forms
• Public lead-intake forms
• Managing leads
• Converting a lead to a matter
• Custom fields
• Activity timelines and audit logs