Offline Form Builder for Events & Kiosks

An event desk or kiosk may lose connectivity even when the questions themselves are simple. Offline handling is useful in that situation, but it needs a precise definition. In Comet Forms, an already-loaded hosted form can queue a submission in the current browser when Offline Mode is enabled and connectivity is unavailable. The queue is retried when the browser returns online. It is not a promise that an unopened form can be fetched without a connection.

The event registration starting point enables Offline Mode and Save & Resume. It includes attendee contact details, a ticket choice, the number of attendees, dietary requirements and special requests. Customize the form for the event before publishing. A ticket selection is a registration answer, not a payment or inventory reservation. If capacity or payment matters, use a separate process to confirm it rather than treating a submitted request as an automatically confirmed booking.

Prepare the device while online. Open the published form and check that the questions and any required controls have loaded. Complete one connected submission before testing a connection interruption. That establishes that the form is published and the normal collection path works. Then disconnect, enter a second set of test answers and submit. The screen should distinguish a locally queued answer from a confirmed cloud response. Reconnect and check the saved response list before relying on the queue at an event.

Browser storage is part of the offline workflow. Queued answers remain on that device until successfully sent or the storage is cleared. Private browsing, storage restrictions or a shared kiosk reset can interrupt that continuity. Do not close a session and assume the queue has reached the owner’s account. Keep the device available until synchronization is complete. For sensitive information, consider whether temporary storage on a shared event device is appropriate and how the device will be secured.

Save & Resume is related but different. It keeps progress for a saved form in the same browser so a respondent can continue later. It does not move unfinished answers to another device. At a kiosk, avoid restoring one visitor’s progress for the next visitor. Reset the completed form between people and test that the next respondent starts with empty answers. Decide who is responsible for checking queued submissions and who will reconcile any duplicate manual records.

Offline collection does not remove validation requirements. Required fields should still be completed, choice values should remain valid and a signature should not be treated as verified identity. Network errors can occur even when the browser reports an online state, so inspect the result rather than relying solely on a connectivity icon. If sending fails, keep the pending answer and make the failure visible. A success message is justified only when the response is confirmed or clearly labelled as awaiting synchronization.

Comet Forms is a free, no-signup form builder by CSV Tools Online. Drafting and preview are available without registration; hosted publishing and reviewing collected responses require a creator account. For events, the safest approach is preparation and rehearsal on the actual device. Test the loaded form, the interruption path, reconnection and a fresh respondent before opening the kiosk. Keep a backup collection method when connectivity or device storage cannot be relied upon.