Editing together

Only one version of a Smartform is stored. When two people, or two of your own browser tabs, change the same Smartform at the same time, the one who saves last can overwrite the work of the other. Studio tells you when this can happen and stops a save that would replace somebody else’s work.

The alert above your work

When another person or another tab of yours has the Smartform open, a yellow alert appears above the editor. It shows on every tab of the Smartform: Design, Rules, Translations, Configuration and the tabs under More options. It is not shown when you fill in a Smartform.

There are two alerts.

Someone else is editing this form

The alert names the people who have the Smartform open, for example “Kari Nordmann and Ola Nordmann are editing this form right now.” If Studio has no name for a person, it uses their e-mail address, and if it has neither, it counts the people instead, for example “2 other people are editing this form right now.” It warns you that if you do not have the latest version of the Smartform, your changes will not be saved, and asks you to coordinate who makes changes before you save. When you also have the Smartform open in another tab, the alert says so too.

You have this form open more than once

This alert is for the case where the other editor is you: the Smartform is open in another tab or window of your own. If this tab does not have the latest version, your changes will not be saved. Close the tab you are not using.

If both are true, the alert about the other person is shown, and it also mentions your other tabs.

How the alert behaves

• It cannot be closed. It describes what is happening now, and it goes away by itself when the other editor has left.
• Studio checks about every 10 seconds, so it can take a few seconds before the alert appears or goes away.
• Somebody counts as editing for about five minutes after the last time their tab reported in. A tab that is closed normally is removed at once.
• It stays while you move between the tabs of the Smartform.

When somebody saved before you

Studio saves your changes as you work. Before it saves, it checks that nobody else has saved a newer version in the meantime. If somebody has, Studio does not overwrite their work. It stops your save and shows this message:

Someone else changed this form while you were editing it. Reload to see their changes, then make yours again.

The Save failed badge shows at the top of the screen at the same time. Close the message with the cross. The page reloads and shows the version with their changes. Then make your changes again.

A save from another tab of your own counts as somebody else, so you get the same message. Studio handles only one case itself: when the newer version came from an earlier save in the same tab, it loads the newest version and tries your save once more. If that does not work, you get the message Unable to save record. Record has been modified by another user. Close it in the same way, and the page reloads.

Coming back to the tab

When you come back to the tab or the window of a Smartform, Studio loads the newest version, so you see changes that were made elsewhere. It does this only when you have no change waiting to be saved. Your own unsaved work is never replaced.

Tips

• Agree on who works on a Smartform before you start, for example in your team chat.
• Keep one tab per Smartform open.
• If you lose a change, open Versions and use an earlier published version. See Smartform versions. The Log shows who changed what.