Phasing out Email mode

This page is only applicable to form admins who have remaining Email Mode forms. This has no impact on email functionalities on Storage Mode/Multi-Respondent forms.

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What is happening?

Period	What is happening?
Before 31 Aug 2025	All OPEN Email mode forms will turned to CLOSED in batches; form admins will receive an email notification with the date and time of this change.
After 31 Aug 2025	All remaining Email mode forms will be removed

Why is FormSG moving away from Email mode only forms?

Reliability concerns

• In Email Mode, the risk of losing data is high as it depends on the availability of all the various mail services for successful delivery. Since FormSG team does not store the emails, any lost email results in a potential and permanent loss of the submission, posing a significant issue for admins handling critical information. This has happened on multiple occasions at varying degrees of impact (permanent loss of emails, temporary closure of forms, etc).

• Such issues are also difficult to detect, diagnose, and recover as opposed to Storage Mode, where response data is securely stored within FormSG, ensuring that even if an email notification fails or is lost, the submission remains accessible on our platform.

NOTE: Email functionalities still remain on FormSG. This is referring to the mode.

Decision fatigue for public officers

• Admins must choose between modes when setting up their forms, which adds a layer of decision-making and complicates the setup process.

• Most admins are here to quickly set-up a form and get it running. This may also turn away admins who are starting out their digitalisation or learning journey as it can be overwhelming.

Documentation complexity

• The need to support and document separate modes, because of differences, increases the administrative burden for the FormSG team.

• Having to navigate different sets of documentation for each mode is also confusing for admins.

Double maintenance

• The team needs to decide if new features are compatible with both Email and Storage Modes, which are structurally different.

• This duplication of effort slows down team’s development and limits the ability to implement newer improvements quickly.

What have we done so far?

• Over the past year, the team has made efforts to ensure Storage Mode meets admins’ needs in Email Mode by introducing new features:

Feature	Storage Mode	Email Mode
Charts (beta)	Yes	No
Payments	Yes	No
Webhooks	Yes	No
1 submission per NRIC	Yes	No
Whitelisted NRIC	Yes	No
NRIC Opt in/out	Yes (new)	Yes
MyInfo	Yes (new)	Yes
PDF copy for Respondent	Yes (new)	Yes
Email notification	Yes (new)	Yes
JSON in email notification	Yes (new)	Yes
Attachment included in email notification	Yes (new)	Yes
Sensitive High Support	Yes (new)	Yes

Frequently asked questions

Will the phasing out of Email mode impact my existing Storage mode and Multi-respondent forms?

No. The phasing out of Email mode forms only impact email mode forms specifically. Email functionalities under Storage mode and Multi-respondent mode forms are not impacted.

Are Storage mode email notifications the same as Email mode?

Email functionalities continue to be available in Storage mode.The same email responses can still be received through Storage mode, supporting form responses, attachments and JSON.

If you are using a CRM with a receiving email inbox to create cases/tickets, this will work similarly for Storage mode email notifications.

Do I need a secret key?

Yes. Moving forward, you will need a secret key to access your form responses. We are already in the process of experimenting with better ways to help you manage your secret keys. For now, please manage your secret keys securely as the security feature will be here to stay.

What happens after the phase-out date?

All admins will be asked to migrate early before the phase out date on 30 June 2025. After 30 June, we will inform admins that the Email mode forms will be progressively turn to CLOSED by the 30 August 2025.

As this is concerning reliability, and there are incidents of emails lost periodically, there is a shorter time frame we are getting admins to migrate.

Can I retain my form link when migrating to Storage mode?

Admins with OPEN Email mode forms who wish to retain the current form link will soon be able to convert their Email mode forms to Storage mode to reopen them. This option will be progressively available starting 30 Jun 2025, no need to contact FormSG to request this.

Step 1: Wait for the respective email notifications before proceeding. ONLY AFTER these dates will you be able directly convert your Email mode forms.

Step 2: Locate these Email mode forms in your homepage.

Step 3: Select the form settings > general and then turn the toggle next to "Your form is CLOSED to new responses"

Step 4: Download and safely store the secret key provided before clicking "I have saved my secret key"

Step 5: The form should now be labelled as a storage mode form. Your form is now converted to Storage mode. You can now proceed to turn the form OPEN to responses again.

Step 6: Input the secret key you just saved and click "Activate Form". You should receive a message and the toggle should be changed to green. Your newly converted form is now OPEN to responses.

Are only form owners allowed to convert their Email mode forms?

Form owners and collaborators (editor access) can convert CLOSED Email mode forms to storage mode at any point after the communicated date.

Will there be downtime if I choose to wait to directly convert my Email mode form?

Yes, form admins will need to wait for the FormSG team to close OPEN Email Mode forms before converting them to Storage Mode using the secret key. During this time, the form will be temporarily unavailable to respondents, so a short downtime is expected.

Unfortunately, downtime is necessary because admins must download the secret key securely—without the FormSG team having any access to it.

To manage user expectations, you may wish to set a custom closure message that will be shown when the form is closed (see screenshot below).

If you want to have zero downtime, you may also consider duplicating your Email mode form as a new Storage mode form instead.

Set message for closed forms to be displayed to respondents

I have an existing shortened link. How can I route it to my new form link?

Official short link creation platforms are a good way to easily swap out links to be displayed in multiple touch-points:

Government: go.gov.sg

Education: for.edu.sg

Healthcare: for.sg

If you have already created an official short link, you can replace the original link with your newly created storage mode link.

Example of how to update go.gov links

How long does FormSG store form responses?

Currently there is no expiration. However, we are considering a potential enhancement to allow expiry of responses after the migration. If required today, you may duplicate the form periodically, and purge the previous form and secret key. If you have created the short links, it will be simpler to switch out the forms.

How do I duplicate my Email mode form as a Storage mode or Multi-Respondent form?

You can duplicate your form in your admin dashboard. In the admin dashboard, click on the arrow to the right of the form (beside the edit button) and select "Duplicate".

Select Storage mode form and enter email addresses that you would like to be notified whenever there is a new response.

To amend the emails later, navigate to the form settings.

Click on "Email notifications" and amend email address(es) here.

We recommend creating short links so you can easily change your form links in future. Short links / QR code

How do I customise the message shown to my users for CLOSED forms?

You may choose to change the default message that is shown for users who click on CLOSED forms. To do so, go to your form settings and edit the default message as seen below:

How can I get in touch?

In addition, while a majority would be willing to transition to Storage mode, some have expressed concerns. We are here to work with you during or after the migration on how to smoothen the process.

For assistance, please contact support.