Custom Forms Problem

[JillAc]

Hi I'm wondering if anybody has experienced a problem where a user was in the middle of completing a custom form from within a project (not as a request) and the form didn't save after spending 10 minutes filling it out, or didn't show up when accessing it (this last one just happened -- "no custom form" error message but when she logged back on it was there as expected). I asked her to make sure to save constantly but that hasn't helped, sometimes it just doesn't save and it goes back to being blank after filling it in. I have one user who is experiencing this rather regularly, one other who has had this happen just once, and nobody else has reported it. My IT has no ideas so I thought I'd reach out and see if anybody has experienced this and if they found the problem, or any clever ideas on what to look for. Thanks, Jill Jill Ackerman

[Doug_Den_Hoed__AtAppStore]

Hi Jill, A shiver ran down my spine when I read your post. Yep: been there. Part of our Workfront-based ESP for Oil & Gas solution revolves around Health, Safety and Environment (HSE), one key aspect of which is filling in VERY long Custom Data forms for "incident reports". Given the nature of the work (in that it's out in the field), internet connectivity tends to be dodgy, and about 4 years ago we had a very uncomfortable rash of dropped data. We were embarrassed, users were furious, and everyone was frustrated. So, a few lessons learned: Save early and save often To that end, minimize (or in my opinion, avoid) required custom data fields that -- in preventing saving early and often -- can lead to frustration and/or bad "I'll fix it later" data decisions (you decide which is worse) Consider using our "http://store.atappstore.com/product/custom-submit/">OCD (Overlay Custom Data) solution, which is how we ultimately solved our HSE situation, since it works great on a smart phone (see field location, above), allows repeated Save and Continue, and has some fancy logic to detect that the internet is down, warns you, preserves what you've been typing on screen, suggests you keep trying, and worst case, can construct an email of everything you've typed so far so you can send it (e.g. to yourself...once the internet is back...) at least copy paste it back in later. No ones favorite, but beats the alternative. Regards, Doug P.S. ironically, I lost internet connectivity while typing this in -- laptop battery -- but in a similar fashion, recovered most of what I'd typed after I headed for power... Doug Den Hoed - AtAppStore Got Skills? Lend a hand! https://community.workfront.com/participate/unanswered-threads

[SkyeHa]

If it's one or two users, I usually start by troubleshooting their PC. You don't mention if your IT has done that, or what they've done (and you also don't mention if you've submitted a helpdesk ticket). So my quick rundown is that I try to: * figure out if they are using IE or chrome (my team just opted to not support any browser other than Chrome) * put out an APB on the issue to see if anyone else is getting the problem * replicate their problem -- on my machine as me -- on my machine logged in as them * delete their cache and cookies * do the resetuser thing ( "https://support.workfront.com/hc/en-us/articles/234942928-Resetting-User-Preferences-for-an-Individual-User">https://support.workfront.com/hc/en-us/articles/234942928-Resetting-User-Preferences-for-an-Individu... ) * submit a helpdesk ticket * post to community For what it is worth, we occasionally "lose" a custom form (status changes on an issue will make the custom form/s disappear until we refresh the browser) but we've never lost data on a custom form. Frankly, IT would be a huge help if they had a loaner PC they could give your user for a few weeks to see if that stops the problem, but that's not usually an available solution. -skye

[JillAc]

Thanks Skye, what you say is what I also think and I’m getting huge pushback from my IT who are blaming Workfront. Since it’s an intermittent issue it’s nearly impossible to recreate. She’s got a screenshot but it doesn’t help. I think it’s her computer which is not new, or the internet wire wonking out, but no way to prove it. I will ask for a loaner, that’s a good idea.