Return visitors to their task after session expiry

What to change

Ask for an understandable expiry state and a safe, clearly defined route back to the relevant task.

A worked example

Illustrative example

A visitor returning to an expired request draft is asked to sign in and then reaches the appropriate draft state with any necessary re-entry clearly identified.

How to check the result

Accept when expiry never leaves a misleading active-looking interface and the recovery route reflects the site's actual retention behaviour.

A mistake to avoid

Promising to restore everything can mislead visitors where security or product rules intentionally require some information to be entered again.

Your action checklist

Use these checks to prepare a discussion with your team or supplier. Tick a check when you have recorded the decision or evidence, rather than when a feature has simply been promised.

Decisions to recordOpen a test account task, let the session expire and activate a normal control. Observe whether the interface explains the need to sign in again.Complete the sign-in route with test credentials. Ask the supplier to show which task context and permitted draft information are restored and which require re-entry.Use browser Back after expiry. The page should not present stale private task content as if its controls were still live and authorised.

Evidence, open questions and decisionsNext action and responsible role

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