monday.com Form Save as Draft and Continue Later

meta_title: “Monday.com Form Save as Draft and Continue Later: Limitations” meta_description: “Monday.com’s Save as Draft loses uploaded files and signatures. BoardBridge doesn’t yet offer draft saving. Here’s what both platforms do (and don’t) support.”

Long forms (30+ questions) take time to complete. Vendors need to gather documents. Clients need to check internal data. Team members get interrupted mid-form. The natural expectation: save progress and come back later. Monday.com WorkForms offers a “Save as Draft” feature — but it loses uploaded files and signatures Source. BoardBridge currently doesn’t offer draft saving at all. This is one limitation both platforms share, and we’re being honest about it.

This post is about transparency. We’ll walk through what monday.com’s draft feature does (and doesn’t) do, why draft saving is technically complex, what workarounds exist, and where BoardBridge stands on this roadmap item.

BoardBridge — Form & Workflow Automation for monday.com offers unlimited response editing without the 10-edit limit (submit, return later, update data) — but you must complete the form in one session first. If you need true “save mid-form and resume later” functionality, neither monday.com WorkForms nor BoardBridge fully solves this today. Book a free demo to discuss your specific workflow and explore workarounds.

Monday.com’s “Save as Draft” Feature (and Its Limitations)

Monday.com WorkForms includes a “Save as Draft” button that allows users to save their progress mid-form and resume later. However, according to official documentation Source:

“Files or signatures in the signature question will not be saved” when using Save as Draft.

Forms Pain Point #44 from our pain point research: “Save as Draft feature doesn’t save uploaded files or signatures.”

What “Save as Draft” DOES Save

• ✅ Text fields (short text, long text)
• ✅ Dropdown selections
• ✅ Number fields
• ✅ Email and phone fields
• ✅ Date selections
• ✅ Checkbox states
• ✅ Link fields

What “Save as Draft” DOES NOT Save

• ❌ File uploads — Users must re-upload all documents, images, and attachments when they resume
• ❌ Signature fields — Users must re-sign when they resume

For forms that require document uploads (vendor certifications, insurance certs, contracts) or signatures (compliance forms, approvals), this is a dealbreaker. Users save their draft, upload 5 PDFs, sign the form, and close the browser. When they return, the PDFs and signature are gone — they start over.

How monday.com’s Draft Feature Works

1. User starts filling out a form — answers 15 of 40 questions
2. User clicks “Save as Draft” — progress is saved (except files and signatures)
3. User closes the browser or navigates away
4. User returns to the same form URL days or weeks later
5. Form loads with previously entered data — text fields, dropdowns, dates all pre-filled (but files and signatures are missing)
6. User completes the remaining questions (and re-uploads files and re-signs if applicable) and submits

Why This Breaks for Document-Heavy Forms

A vendor onboarding form requires:

• Company information (10 text fields)
• Contact details (5 fields)
• Insurance certificate (PDF upload)
• Business license (PDF upload)
• W-9 form (PDF upload)
• Certification documents (2-3 PDF uploads)
• Authorized signer signature field

The vendor fills out 15 fields, uploads 5 PDFs, signs the signature field, and clicks “Save as Draft.” The next day, they return to finish the form. All 15 text fields are pre-filled, but the 5 PDFs and signature are gone. They must re-upload everything and re-sign.

Result: Vendors don’t trust the draft feature. They complete the entire form in one sitting (even if it takes 45 minutes) because they don’t want to lose file uploads. For more on why WorkForms breaks at scale, see our reliability guide.

BoardBridge: No Draft Feature (Yet)

BoardBridge does not currently have a “save as draft” or “resume later” feature. Forms must be completed in one session. If someone closes the browser partway through a form, their progress is lost.

We’re being honest about this limitation. This is a known gap on our roadmap. We’re not pretending it’s solved or offering half-baked workarounds that don’t actually work.

Why This Hasn’t Been Built Yet

Draft saving is technically complex for forms that update existing monday.com items (as opposed to creating new items). Here’s why:

Challenge 1: Partial Data Storage

When a user fills out half a form and clicks “Save as Draft,” where does the partial data go?

• Monday.com WorkForms (which creates new items) can store draft data in a temporary holding area — it’s not written to the board until the user submits.
• BoardBridge forms update existing items. Writing partial data to the monday.com item means the item is now in an incomplete state — half-filled, missing critical fields. Other users viewing the board see incomplete data.

Solution: Store draft data separately (in BoardBridge’s database), not in the monday.com item. Only write to monday.com on final submission. This requires building a draft storage system.

Challenge 2: File Upload Persistence

File uploads are trickier. When a user uploads a PDF mid-form, where does it live until they complete the form?

• Monday.com’s limitation: Files aren’t saved in drafts (as documented Source).
• BoardBridge’s challenge: Store uploaded files temporarily in BoardBridge’s server storage, then upload them to monday.com only on final submission. This requires file storage infrastructure and cleanup logic (delete draft files after X days if never submitted).

Challenge 3: Resume URL

How does the user return to their draft later?

• Monday.com WorkForms: The same form URL shows the draft if the user returns from the same browser (uses cookies/local storage to identify the user).
• BoardBridge: Forms are item-specific (URL includes the item ID). Multiple users can access the same form (different vendors filling out their own items). Draft data must be tied to both the form AND the user (or session), not just the form URL.

Solution: Generate a unique resume URL when the user clicks “Save as Draft.” Send this URL via email or display it on screen (“Bookmark this link to resume later”). This requires session management and unique draft identifiers.

Where This Feature Is on the Roadmap

Draft/resume functionality is a planned feature for a future release, but it’s not in active development as of February 2026. The priority is lower than:

• Fixing existing core functionality (response editing, pre-fill, conditional logic)
• Adding features monday.com doesn’t offer at all (cross-board mappings, advanced email automations)
• Improving reliability and performance

Draft saving will be built when the above priorities are addressed.

Workarounds (Neither Platform Solves This Perfectly)

Since neither monday.com WorkForms nor BoardBridge offers full draft/resume functionality (with file uploads), here are workarounds teams use:

Workaround 1: Break Long Forms into Multiple Shorter Forms

Instead of one 50-question form, create 3-4 shorter forms (10-15 questions each). Users complete one form at a time, submit, and return later to fill out the next form.

Pros:

• Each form is completable in one sitting (10-15 minutes)
• Users don’t feel overwhelmed (“50 questions” becomes “4 short forms”)
• Intermediate data is saved after each form submission

Cons:

• More forms to manage
• Users must remember to return and complete the remaining forms
• Requires coordination (send reminders for incomplete forms)

BoardBridge advantage: Forms can write to different boards or update the same monday.com item. Form 1 writes to Item #12345, Form 2 also writes to Item #12345, Form 3 writes to Item #12345. All data ends up on one item, no manual merging required.

Monday.com WorkForms: Each form creates a new item — you’d need automations to merge data from multiple items or use Connect Boards columns to link them.

Workaround 2: Email Users a Pre-Filled Form Link After Partial Submission

BoardBridge supports form pre-fill. If a user submits a partially completed form (some fields left blank), you can send them the same form URL again. When they open it, all previously submitted data is pre-filled — they just fill in the missing fields and re-submit.

How this works:

1. User fills out 20 of 40 fields, submits what they have
2. Monday.com item updates with the 20 fields they provided
3. You send them the same form URL again (“Please complete the remaining fields”)
4. They open the form — the 20 fields they already filled out are pre-filled from the monday.com item
5. They fill in the remaining 20 fields and re-submit
6. Monday.com item updates with all 40 fields

Pros:

• No data is lost — the first submission is saved
• Pre-fill makes it easy to complete the remaining fields
• Works for text, dropdowns, dates, numbers — all 10 field types

Cons:

• Not the same as true draft/resume (they have to submit incomplete data first)
• Requires overwrite protection to prevent accidentally blanking out fields they left empty
• File uploads must be re-uploaded (if the field was left empty on first submission)

BoardBridge advantage: Overwrite protection per field. You can mark critical fields as “protect existing data” so the first submission is preserved, while allowing users to fill in missing fields on the second submission.

Workaround 3: Use monday.com’s Board as the Draft Storage

Instead of a form, give users access to the monday.com board directly (as a guest or limited user). They fill out column values as they have time — the item is the “draft.” When they’re done, they change a status column to “Completed.”

Pros:

• True draft/resume — users can fill out fields over multiple sessions
• File uploads persist (monday.com file columns work normally)
• No form infrastructure needed

Cons:

• Users must have monday.com accounts (no external access without guest seats)
• Training required (monday.com’s interface is more complex than a form)
• You lose form benefits (validation, conditional logic, custom branding, guided UX)

Use case: Internal forms for team members who already have monday.com accounts. Not viable for external users (vendors, clients).

Workaround 4: Use an External Form Builder with Draft Support

Tools like JotForm and Fillout offer full draft/resume functionality with file upload persistence. Typeform offers draft saving but relies on browser storage (answers kept in browser’s local storage for 15 days Source), requiring the same device/browser to resume. Forms live on their platforms, data syncs to monday.com via API after final submission.

Pros:

• True draft/resume with file persistence (JotForm, Fillout)
• Professional form UX
• Advanced features (payment processing, multi-page layouts, advanced conditional logic)

Cons:

• Forms live on an external platform (not integrated with monday.com)
• Data syncs after submission (not real-time)
• Additional subscription cost ($15-$75/mo for professional plans)
• Separate tool to manage
• Typeform’s draft feature requires same browser/device (limited portability)

When to use this: If draft/resume with file persistence is a hard requirement and neither monday.com nor BoardBridge solves it, JotForm or Fillout are the best options today.

Real-World Example: Vendor Onboarding Form (45 Questions)

A client onboards 150+ vendors per year. The onboarding form collects:

• Company information (12 fields)
• Contact details (8 fields)
• Insurance and certifications (6 file uploads)
• Equipment lists (10 dropdown fields)
• Pricing (6 number fields)
• References (3 text fields)

Total: 45 fields, including 6 file uploads.

Vendors need 20-30 minutes to complete this — they have to gather documents, check internal systems, and review equipment lists. Many vendors start the form, realize they’re missing information, and abandon it.

Solution: Multi-Form Workflow

The client split the form into 3 shorter forms:

Form 1: Company & Contact Info (20 fields, 5-7 minutes)

• Company information
• Contact details
• References
• Submit → monday.com item created with basic info

Form 2: Insurance & Certifications (6 file uploads, 10 minutes)

• Upload insurance certificate
• Upload business license
• Upload W-9
• Upload certifications (3 files)
• Submit → monday.com item #12345 updates with file columns

Form 3: Equipment & Pricing (19 fields, 8-10 minutes)

• Equipment lists (dropdowns)
• Pricing (numbers)
• Submit → monday.com item #12345 updates with equipment/pricing columns

Each form targets the same monday.com item (via item ID in the URL). Vendors complete one form at a time, submit, and return later to complete the next form. All data lands on one monday.com item — no manual merging.

Result:

• Form 1 completion rate: 94% (up from 58% with the single 45-question form)
• Form 2 completion rate: 87% (vendors who completed Form 1)
• Form 3 completion rate: 92% (vendors who completed Form 2)
• Overall completion rate (all 3 forms): 75% (up from 58%)

The multi-form approach isn’t true draft/resume, but it achieves the same goal — vendors don’t have to complete everything in one sitting.

Comparison: Draft/Resume Feature Across Tools

Tool	Draft Saving	Files in Draft	Signatures in Draft	Resume Method
monday.com WorkForms	✅ Yes	❌ No	❌ No	Same URL (cookies)
BoardBridge	❌ No	N/A	N/A	N/A (roadmap)
Typeform	✅ Yes (limited)	⚠️ Browser storage only	⚠️ Browser storage only	Same browser/device (cookies)
JotForm	✅ Yes	✅ Yes	✅ Yes	Email resume link
Fillout	✅ Yes	✅ Yes	✅ Yes	Email resume link
Google Forms	❌ No	N/A	N/A	N/A

Typeform Source

If draft/resume (including file uploads) is a hard requirement, JotForm or Fillout are the best options today. They offer full draft functionality with file and signature persistence.

However, they’re external platforms — forms don’t integrate natively with monday.com. Data syncs via API after final submission, which introduces delays and requires managing a separate tool.

Next Steps

If draft/resume functionality is critical to your workflow, we recommend evaluating JotForm (Bronze plan $34/mo annual Source) or Fillout (free up to 1,000 submissions/mo, Starter plan $15/mo Source) — both offer full draft support with file and signature persistence.

If you need features those tools don’t offer (updating existing monday.com items natively, conditional logic on any monday.com plan, cross-board form mappings, advanced email automations), book a free consultation to discuss BoardBridge. We’ll walk through the multi-form workaround, pre-fill + re-submission approach, and when draft functionality might be added to the roadmap.

We won’t oversell a feature we don’t have. This post is honest about what works and what doesn’t. Your workflow matters more than our feature checklist.

BoardBridge by TaskRhino — Form & Workflow Automation for monday.com | https://www.taskrhino.ca