Yes, you can change a submission's status without emailing the submitter. Only two statuses send an email automatically: Accepted sends the Submission Accepted email and Denied sends the Submission Denied email, and only when that notification is switched on. To change a submission to Accepted or Denied without the email, untick that notification on Email › Notifications first, make the status change, then tick it again.
This applies to admins who can manage submissions and email notifications for their program.
Before you start
Know which status the submission needs to end up in, and whether that status sends an email. The status-to-email table in this article lists which statuses send one.
If you're correcting a mistake (for example an accidental Deny), decide whether the submitter should be told about the correction. Sometimes silence is more confusing than a follow-up email.
Which statuses send an email
Status | Sends an email when you change to it? |
Pending | No |
Ready | No |
Accepted | Yes, the Submission Accepted email, if that notification is switched on |
Denied | Yes, the Submission Denied email, if that notification is switched on |
Closed | No |
Incomplete | Set automatically when someone clicks Save & Logout on the form. Admins can’t set it by hand |
Invited | Shows that an invite email was sent, usually for supplemental forms such as nominations or reference letters |
Steps
If you're changing a submission to Accepted or Denied and don't want the email to go out, go to Email › Notifications and untick the Submission Accepted or Submission Denied notification.
In the left-hand menu, click Data Management and select Submissions.
On the Submissions page, tick the box next to each submission you want to change. You can tick several to change them at once.
In the bottom-left dropdown, choose Mark As and select the new status.
If you unticked a notification in step 1, go back to Email › Notifications and tick it again so other submissions still get the email.
Important: Changing a submission's status back, for example from Denied to Pending, does not undo an email that was already sent. It only changes the status from now on.
If that didn't work
I changed the status but the submitter still says they got an email
If the submitter got an email after a status change, the notification was probably still switched on when you changed the status. Check Email › Notifications to confirm it's unticked, then check whether the email went out before or after your change.
I need to undo a status change I made by mistake
To undo a status change, change the status again to whatever it was before. To find the previous status, open the submission and check its Activity Log tab, which records status changes made with Mark As. If the status changed because someone clicked Save & Logout or Submit, the log shows the button click rather than the status change. The event's own activity log doesn't track submission status changes.
I want to move a submission back to Incomplete
Admins can't set a submission to Incomplete. Incomplete is set automatically when someone clicks Save & Logout on the form. Use Pending instead: it returns the submission to the submitter so they can go back in and finish their form.