A personalised link (Pro, article “Personalised links & prefill”) can stop on its own. When you create or edit a link in the Share tab, the dialog has an Options section with two independent settings: Expiry and One response only. Both are off by default — a link without options keeps working until you deactivate or delete it.
Expiry
Switch Expiry on and choose 7 days, 30 days or 90 days, counted from now, or a Custom date. A custom date keeps the link working until the end of that day, in your own time zone, and it has to lie in the future. The dialog confirms the result in one line — The link works until …
One response only
With One response only, the link stops working as soon as one response has arrived through it — useful when each link belongs to one supplier, one applicant, one household. You can switch it on for a link that has already brought in a response; the dialog warns you that the link then stops as soon as you save. To reopen a used link, edit it and switch One response only off again.
These options stop the link, not the form
The dialog says it too: anyone with the plain form address can still respond — just without this link's label. To stop the form itself, use a schedule, a response limit or close the form (articles 4.2, 4.4 and 4.5).
Reading a link's status
Each row in the links table carries a status chip. When more than one applies, the one higher in this table wins:
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Inactive | You deactivated the link. |
| Used | A one-response link has received its response. |
| Expired | The expiry date has passed. |
| Active | The link opens the form. |
Beside the chip, a link with an expiry shows Expires or Expired with its date, and a one-response link shows One response. For a link with an expiry, the row menu offers Extend expiry, which opens the dialog straight on the date.
Reactivating does not override the options. If a deactivated link is also used or expired, Reactivate leaves it closed, and the confirmation says so. An expired link opens again once you extend its expiry; a used link once you switch One response only off.
What respondents see
A link that is deactivated, expired or already used no longer opens the form. Instead, the respondent sees a short card with your form profile: This link is no longer active — Please contact the organisation that sent it to you. The message is the same in all three cases, so nobody learns whether the link was switched off, ran out or has already been answered. Anything else — a mistyped or unknown link — still opens the ordinary form, as before.
- Two tabs, one response. If a one-response link receives its response while someone else still has it open — a second tab, a forwarded copy — their submit is refused with This link has already been used to send a response., and the card replaces the form. If they had saved answers through that link with Save and finish later, the card offers Delete saved answers.
- A late submit is still accepted. Someone who opened the form in time and submits after the link expired or was deactivated does not lose their answers: the response arrives, but without the link's label — the From column shows —.
- Past responses keep their label, whatever happens to the link afterwards. Only deleting a link removes labels (see “Personalised links & prefill”).
Tip
Tell people the date. An expiry is invisible until it bites — if a link runs out on 31 October, say so in the message you send with it, so nobody meets the card by surprise.
Responses per link
The links table has a Responses column: how many responses arrived through each link. A count above zero is clickable — it opens the form's Submissions inbox already filtered to that link (see “Your inbox: unread, filters and reading”). A response that arrived without the link's label — through the plain form address, or late after the link expired or was deactivated — is not counted for the link.
Counting link opens
Above the links table, once the form has at least one link, sits the Count link opens switch. It is set per form, off by default, and available wherever personalised links are — Pro and Business, no separate upgrade. When it is on, each link shows Opened 3× or Not opened yet under its response count; hover over it to see Last opened with the date. A workspace Viewer sees the switch but cannot change it.
What counts as an open: each time the link is opened and the form loads through it. A link that is no longer active does not count, and neither does a respondent coming back through a Save and finish later resume link. Read the number with its limits:
- A reload counts again.
- A forwarded link counts the other person's opens on the same link.
- E-mail security scanners that open links automatically can add opens.
- Your own opens count too — when you test the link, for example.
- Opened never means read. It says the form loaded, not that anyone looked at it.
What we store: the number and the date of the last open — no IP address, no device, no visit history. Switching counting off stops it but keeps the numbers shown, and a note under the switch says so; switching it on again continues from there. There is no reset. Deleting the link or the form deletes its counts.
Mention it in your privacy notice
On a link sent to one named person, the count tells you something about that person — "opened three times, no answer". If you switch counting on, cover it in your own privacy notice, just as you would prefilled or hidden data (GDPR / Swiss nDSG).