Making a test submission to a form you've built will enable you to see what your submitters will see and experience when they complete a submission. It will also allow you to confirm that your form works as you intend.
For example, you can confirm that your form accepts the correct number of file uploads or that any form logic you may have set up is functioning properly. Form testing will also enable you to complete the process to see what email notifications are generated—as both a submitter and receiver—and double-check your submission confirmation response templates.
Test submissions are a great way to familiarize yourself with how the Submittable platform works from all sides.
How to Create a Test Submission
Make sure the Project you are testing is Live. The checkbox to make a form Live is under the General Settings tab for the project you are testing. You can also check Hidden if you're not ready for the public to see the project.
If your submission requires a fee, you will probably want to remove it while testing (but remember to add it again before accepting your real submissions).
Once you've made your project Live, click the View Your Site button in the upper right on the web page. This will bring you to your organization's submission portal page, where submitters will select forms to complete. From this list, click Submit or Apply next to the form you want to test, and you will be brought into the correct form. Note: When a submitter clicks on a form for the first time, they will be prompted to sign into their account or create an account. You will not see this step when submitting a test because you are already signed in to your Submittable account.
Complete your test submission.
• If you are requesting file uploads in your form, you will want to have a couple of files you can upload to the application. Remember that other administrator-level team members can view your test submission.
• Make it obvious to yourself that this is a TEST submission. For example, use TEST as the submission title.
Once your form is complete and you've clicked the Submit button, you should receive email notifications as both the submitter and the receiver of your test submission. Check your account-associated email address to see these notifications and understand what happens on both ends of a successful submission. Checking the notification will also enable you to make sure you've set up and sent the correct response template that you want your submitters to receive after a successful submission to your form.
How to View Your Test Submission
Note that you can toggle between your submitter-side submission list and your organization-side submission list within your account. This will allow you to see the test submission as both submitter and receiver. In the upper right corner, click on your initials:
When viewing your test submission from the submitter side, it will look like this:
When you click on the submission from the submitter side, you will be brought to a screen that shows tabs for Activity, Messages, Forms, Note, and Awards & Payments. Click on any of these tabs to see the submitter's views and capabilities. Note that depending on your organization settings, a submitter may or may not be able to send a message or request an edit.
When viewing your test submission from your organization's view, it will look like this:
Note that the submitter view will show the submission status as Received, and the organization view will show it as New.
You can click on the submission title from the organization view to open the Submission Details page.
Here, as well as on the Submissions List page (from your organization's view), you have administrative control of your test submission. You can edit form fields, view activity and ratings that are associated with the submission, send a message to the submitter (in the case of a test submission, this would be you), assign the submission to team members, place a label on the submission, leave a note about the submission, change the submission status, and more.
We encourage you to test every form you create and explore your administrative capabilities as much as possible before processing your submissions. The more comfortable you become with Submittable's platform, the better your experience will be for you and your submitters.