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How can I make a test submission to a Project?
How can I make a test submission to a Project?

Test submissions are a great way to check your Project and make adjustments before you make it Live.

Pam English avatar
Written by Pam English
Updated over a week ago

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 the way you intend.

For example, you can check 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 - as well as double-check your submission confirmation response templates. 

In general, test submissions are a great way to familiarize yourself with how the Submittable platform works from all sides. 

How to Create a Test Submission

  1. 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.

  2. If there is a required fee for your submission, you will probably want to remove it while testing (but don't forget to add it again before accepting your real submissions).

  3. Once you've made your project Live, click the View My 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 form you want to test. 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 and enter information such as their address, email, and phone number. You will not see this step when making a test submission because you are already signed in to your Submittable account.

  4. 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. Keep in mind that other administrator-level team members will be able to view your test submission.
    • Make it obvious to you that this is a TEST submission. For example, use TEST as the submission title.

Once your test submission is complete and you've clicked on 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 within your account, you can toggle between your submitter-side submission list and your organization-side submission list. 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, and Content. Click on any of these tabs to see what views and capabilities the submitter has. Note that depending on your organization settings, a submitter may or may not have the ability 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

From the organization view, you can click on the submission title 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 by clicking on the pencil icon, add or remove submitted files, view any activity and/or 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 to explore your administrative capabilities as much as possible before processing your actual submissions. The more comfortable you become with Submittable's platform, the better your experience will be for both you and your submitters.





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