Once a HotDocs interview reaches Complete status, its documents are final - but that doesn't mean you're stuck if something needs to change. Depending on where an interview left off, HotDocs offers two different actions for picking it back up: Resume Interview and Open Interview. This article explains when each one appears, what it does, and what your options mean when you reopen a finished interview.
Resume Interview vs. Open Interview
| Resume Interview | Open Interview | |
|---|---|---|
| Appears when Interview Status is | In Progress | Complete |
| What it does | Continues the same interview session, exactly where you left off | Starts a new interview, linked back to the original |
| Does it change the original record? | No - you're continuing the same record | No - the original interview and its documents are untouched |
| Do I get asked how to continue? | Yes, always | Usually - interviews completed before v1.3 skip this and start fresh automatically (see note below) |
Resume Interview appears on interviews that were closed before you clicked Finish - for example, if you navigated away partway through. Selecting it reconnects to the same live interview session, and you're asked how you'd like to carry your answers forward before continuing.
Open Interview appears once an interview is already Complete. Rather than editing a finished record, it starts a brand-new interview - so your original documents and their history stay exactly as they are while you generate an updated version. In most cases you're asked the same question about how to start.
Choosing How to Continue
Whichever action you use, you'll typically see the same three choices:
| Option | What it does | When to use it |
|---|---|---|
| Continue previous answers |
| Nothing has changed in Salesforce, and you just want to tweak a couple of things directly in the interview. |
| Merge Salesforce data (recommended) |
| Salesforce has been updated since the interview was last touched (for example, a new address or updated contact) and you want the interview to reflect that, without redoing it from scratch. |
| Overwrite with Salesforce |
| Salesforce data has changed significantly and you'd rather start clean than review it answer by answer. |
Note - interviews completed before v1.3:
If you're reopening an interview that was completed before HotDocs Integration for Salesforce v1.3, then the Open Interview skips the question above and starts the new interview directly from current Salesforce data. You'll see a brief message: "Starting fresh from Salesforce data - no saved answers found for this interview." Interviews completed in v1.3 or later will always show the three choices. This doesn't apply to Resume Interview - you're always asked how to continue when resuming an in-progress interview, no matter when it was created.
Resuming an In-Progress Interview
- Open the HotDocs Interview record you want to continue. Its Status must be In Progress.
- From the record's action bar, select Resume Interview.
- Choose how you'd like to continue (see Choosing How to Continue above).
- Complete the interview as usual and select Finish.
Reopening a Completed Interview
- Open the HotDocs Interview record you want to reopen. Its Status must be Complete.
- From the record's action bar, select Open Interview.
- If the original interview was completed in v1.3 or later, choose how you'd like to start the new interview (see Choosing How to Continue above). If it was completed before v1.3, the new interview starts automatically from current Salesforce data.
- Complete the interview as usual and select Finish. A new document is generated and saved to the record.
Finding a Reopened Interview
Every interview created with Open Interview is linked back to the interview it came from. On the original (Complete) interview record, a new Reopened Interviews related list shows every interview that was reopened from it, along with its template, download status, and current status - so you can always trace a document back to where it started.