Make it possible for a user to review, modify or undo a submission

When a user fills out a form with legal, financial, or personal information, it is especially important that the information is correct and that the user can carefully review what has been entered. Make sure users can review the information they have entered and correct it if needed. And if that is not possible, offer the option to cancel a submission or transaction.

An incorrectly or incompletely filled-out form can have serious consequences for the person submitting it.

This is not only important for people with disabilities, but for everyone. You would want to double-check that you entered the correct arrival and departure dates when booking an expensive trip, or that you provided complete and truthful information when filing a tax return.

Provide at least one of the following options: reversible, checked, or confirmed.

Reversible

Allow the user to undo or modify an online application, cancellation, or financial transaction after submission.

For example:

• An order can be canceled within 24 hours.
• The user has a one-week cooling-off period before data is permanently deleted.
• Personal data can be changed in a “My Account” environment.

Checked

Validate the entered data during completion and give the user the opportunity to correct any input errors.

Good error handling while filling out a form helps users prevent and correct mistakes. Read also the documentation about feedback on form errors and our blog post Accessible error messages in forms.

Confirmed

Before submission, give the user the opportunity to read and revise the entered information.

For complex forms, and when legal, financial, or personal data is requested, it is essential that the user can verify that everything has been entered correctly before submitting.

For a multistep form: present all entered information in the final step of the form, with the option to make corrections.

GOV.UK explains how to support users in Help users to check answers.

Resources

WCAG Success Criteria on error prevention

Providing reversibility, validation, or confirmation in forms that request legal, financial, or personal information is required to comply with WCAG Success Criterion 3.3.4 Error Prevention (Legal, Financial, Data) (Level AA).

Other resources

• NL Design System Guidelines for web forms (Dutch content).