What happens when I close a request?
Closing stops anything more from arriving. It does not delete anything — everything people sent stays exactly where it is, and you can still download all of it.
Nothing is destroyed by closing. Every answer, every photo and every file stays readable, and the download still works afterwards. What changes is that the links stop accepting anything new.
What stops
- Everyone’s link stops working. Somebody who opens theirs sees a friendly page telling them the request is closed and to get in touch with whoever sent it — not an error.
- People who had started but not sent lose the chance to. If somebody is mid-way through, that is a reason to wait.
- Anyone who already sent something can no longer go back and change it.
What stays
All of it. The submissions, the files, who answered and who did not, and when. The download gives you a readable page of everything, a spreadsheet, and the original files in folders by person.
Closing by hand, and closing on a date
Most requests are closed by hand when you have what you need. A request can also carry a deadline — usually a soft one, which is a target shown to everybody and closes nothing on its own.
If your request was set to close automatically at a date and time, it does, without anybody being present. That is worth knowing before you set one.
If you closed it too early
There is no re-open. What there is instead: duplicate the request, which copies the questions and the people with fresh links, and send it to whoever still owes you something. The original stays closed with everything already collected intact.