| Status | Who can see the form | Typical use |
|---|---|---|
| Draft | Only you | Still building |
| Published | Anyone with the link | Live and collecting |
| Unpublished | Nobody (link shows "not available") | Pause — you plan to reopen |
| Closed | Nobody (link shows "closed") | Finished for good |
Unpublish is the pause button: the link stays yours, and republishing brings the form back exactly as it was.
Close is final: a closed form can't be reopened or edited — its responses remain fully accessible, exportable and deletable. Use it when a process is definitively over (an event that happened, a recruitment that's filled) and you want that state to be tamper-proof.
Your responses are never affected by status changes — only the public form is.
Tip
Rather than closing a seasonal form, unpublish it — next season you republish instead of rebuilding. Prefer Close only when "never again" is the point.
Note
A published form can also be temporarily unavailable for other reasons — schedule, response limit, or your monthly allowance. Article “This form is not accepting responses” lists every cause and its fix.