Description: Pull forward the answers from the previous inspection of a site, and what doesn't come with them.
Overview
Copy and Edit Last Inspection brings the previous inspection's answers into the one you're filling in.
It saves real time on a long form. It also carries a real risk: copied answers are still your answers once you sign. Read them.
Before You Begin
You need an inspection you have started — the option only appears on an in-progress inspection that's yours.
There has to be a completed prior inspection of the same form on that site.
Finding the Section
Start the inspection. Near the top you'll see Copy and Edit Last Inspection, along with the note: Copying the last inspection will not include pictures, attachments or action items.
Beside the button, ComplianceGo shows whose inspection you'd be copying and when it was done — Performed by and the date.
If there's nothing to copy you'll see There isn't a completed prior inspection to copy. That's normal on a site's first inspection.
Reading the Version Warning
If the previous inspection used an older version of the form, an italic message appears:
Message | What it means |
The prior form uses an earlier version of the form, please review it after copying | The form has been edited since. Some questions may not line up. |
The prior controls use earlier version(s) of their form(s), please review after copying | The same, for the control (BMP) forms. |
The prior form and controls use earlier versions of their forms, please review them after copying | Both. |
No message means the previous inspection used the same form version you're on, and the answers should map across cleanly.
📝 A version mismatch means questions may have been added, removed or reworded since. Copied answers get placed as best they can — anything that no longer matches is left for you to fill in, and anything reworded may now read differently against the same answer. See Editing an Inspection Form.
Copying the Answers
Click Copy and Edit Last Inspection.
The previous answers fill in, and the section changes to Last Inspection Copied! with the date of the inspection you copied from.
While a copy is in place, the Copy and Edit Last Inspection button is replaced by Reset to Defaults. Resetting clears the copy and the copy button returns, so you can copy and reset as many times as you need. See Starting Over below — reset returns the form to its defaults rather than undoing the copy.
Working Through and Correcting
Copied answers are editable like any other. Three things are worth knowing about what you've just pulled forward:
Anything that changes between visits carries over unchanged — weather, phase of construction, quantities, dates.
A copied answer keeps the previous inspection's wording, including a "no issues" recorded against something that has since changed.
Questions the version warning flagged may not line up with the answers placed against them.
⚠️ Signing makes every copied answer yours, exactly as if you had typed it. Nothing marks a copied answer as inherited on the finished record, and nothing prompts you to check them — so a stale "no issues" carried forward becomes your certified statement about this visit.
📝 A copied inspection isn't automatically complete. Photos in the photo log are never copied and have to be retaken. Photos held in an Image form element inside the inspection or its controls do copy forward, where that element is set to allow it.
What Carries Forward, and What Doesn't
Item | What happens |
Photos in the photo log | Not copied. Every one has to be retaken. |
Photos in an Image form element | Copied forward, where that element is set to allow it. This applies inside the inspection and inside its controls. |
Attachments | Not copied. Re-attach anything still relevant. |
Action items | Findings aren't duplicated forward. Open items from the previous inspection will be visible on this inspection. |
Starting Over
Click Reset to Defaults.
That clears the copied answers and returns the form to its default state. It also brings the Copy and Edit Last Inspection button back, so you can copy again.
⚠️ Reset to Defaults clears your own typing too, not just the copied answers, and it can't be undone. Anything you'd changed since copying goes with it.
What Happens Next
The inspection carries on as a normal in-progress inspection.
It records that its answers were copied from the previous inspection.
Signing it makes those answers yours, exactly as if you'd typed each one.
FAQ
Q: There's no Copy and Edit Last Inspection section.
A: The option only shows on an in-progress inspection that you started. If the inspection isn't yours, or hasn't been started, it won't be there.
Q: I'm told there isn't a completed prior inspection to copy.
A: There's no completed inspection of that form on this site yet. That's expected on a first inspection — fill it in normally.
Q: The button has gone after copying.
A: While a copy is in place the button is replaced by Reset to Defaults. Reset clears the copy and the button comes back, so you can copy again.
Q: Copied answers don't line up with the questions.
A: The prior inspection used an earlier form version, which is what the italic warning was telling you. Work through the form and check each answer individually.
Q: Photos are missing.
A: Photos in the photo log don't copy forward and have to be retaken. Photos within the body of the inspection or its controls — an Image form element — copy forward where that element allows it.
Q: Where are last time's action items?
A: Open action items from previous inspections automatically carry forward under the Current Open Action Item dropdown. The action items themselves aren't duplicated into this inspection.
Q: Reset to Defaults wiped work I'd done.
A: It clears everything on the form, not just the copied answers, and there's no undo.
Related articles
Completing an Inspection
Editing an Inspection Form
Creating an Action Item