Auto Save State (Obsolete)

Audience: Low-code Engineers

Skill Prerequisites: Actions, Forms, Tokens

Turns on auto save for the form. While the user fills in the form, the browser sends the values to the server and keeps a cookie named after the key. It's meant to be loaded later with Load State, with Storage Location set to Browser Cookies.

Add it to the form's On Init actions. The actions after it keep running. This action is only available in Forms.

caution

This action is obsolete. Existing forms keep working, but don't use it in new forms. As a suggestion, save the data to your own database table with Run SQL Query, and load it again when the form loads.

Also, in version 1.28, the server doesn't save the values that auto save sends, and it returns no key for the cookie. So Load State has nothing to load.

How form state works

State is saved under a key. If a user is logged in, - and their user ID are added to the key. Server Session state is a copy of the form's data kept on the server. Browser Cookies state is a cookie that points to a saved form report entry. Auto Save State only uses Browser Cookies. For the full explanation, see How form state works.

Typical Use Cases

• Let users leave a long form and continue it later in the same browser
• Keep a draft of the form without the user clicking a button

Don't use it to

• Save the form's data from a button's actions. Use Save State.
• Keep data only for the current session. Use Save State with Server Session.

Related Actions

Action Name	Description
Save State	Saves the form's data under a key when the action runs.
Load State	Loads saved state into the form.
Clear State	Removes saved state, including the auto save cookie.

Input Parameter Reference

Parameter	Description	Supports Tokens	Default	Required
Key	The name of the cookie, for example ApplicationDraft. Load State and Clear State must use the same key. Forms that use the same key share the same cookie.	Yes	empty string	Yes

How auto save works

1. The action runs in the form's On Init actions and passes the key, with the user ID added for logged-in users, to the browser.
2. The browser watches the form's fields. Half a second after the user stops changing them, it sends the form's values to the server.
3. When the server answers, the browser writes a cookie with the key as its name and the submission key it got back as its value. The cookie lasts 365 days.

Considerations

• Use it in On Init. The key is passed to the browser when the form loads. In a button's actions, the action has no effect.
• Logging in changes the key. The cookie saved while anonymous uses the plain key. After the user logs in, the key gets their user ID, so the anonymous cookie isn't found.

Examples

tip

To understand how to use the below examples, please see Running Examples.

1. Turn on auto save for an application form

This action, in the form's On Init actions, turns on auto save under the ApplicationDraft key.

{
    "Title": "Auto Save State",
    "ActionType": "AutoSaveState",
    "Description": "Auto save the application form",
    "Parameters": {
        "Key": "ApplicationDraft"
    }
}

Revised 09/27/2026