# Exporting a finished response

**Category:** [RFP Responses](https://help.totalctrl.app/hc/totalctrl/totalctrl-help-center/en-US/categories/rfp-responses-1)
**Updated:** 2026-10-04

## Back into the buyer's own file

Buyers ask for their questionnaire back, in their file, with their formatting. Returning a nicely typeset document of our own instead is the thing that gets a submission rejected — so wherever possible we reopen the file you uploaded and write the answers into the cells the questions came from. Formatting, formulas and branding all survive, because the file is never rebuilt.
## How well that works depends on the format

- **Excel** — a grid, so answers go exactly where they belong.
- **Word** — best effort. Word structure is far less regular than a spreadsheet, so check the result.
- **PDF** — cannot be written into at all. These responses use our branded document, and you were told so at upload.

## The mode is decided before you start

It is shown on the response throughout, not discovered at export time.
## Check it before you send it

Open the exported file. An in-place export writes into somebody else's spreadsheet, and their spreadsheet may do things — merged cells, hidden sheets, validation — that no importer can fully predict.

---

## Related Articles

- [Reminders and daily reports](https://help.totalctrl.app/en-US/articles/rfp-reminders)
- [Adding a questionnaire](https://help.totalctrl.app/en-US/articles/rfp-importing)
- [Answering questions](https://help.totalctrl.app/en-US/articles/rfp-answering)
- [Working with people outside your team](https://help.totalctrl.app/en-US/articles/rfp-guests)
- [The answer library](https://help.totalctrl.app/en-US/articles/rfp-library)

---
[← Back to TotalCtrl Help Center](https://help.totalctrl.app/en-US/)