Redundant entry

Success criterion 3.3.7, Redundant Entry, is Level A and one of the additions in WCAG 2.2. It says that information the reader already entered, or that was already given to them, must not be required again in the same process unless it is auto-populated or available to select. The canonical failure is a checkout that takes a billing address on step one and presents three empty delivery fields on step two. The canonical fix is small: prefill them, or put a single control there that says the delivery address is the billing one.

Two words carry most of the weight. Process is one uninterrupted activity with a shared goal, so it covers a wizard, a checkout, or a booking, and it does not reach across sessions or between two unrelated tasks. Available to select is the softer half of the remedy: the information does not have to appear in the field by itself, it only has to be reachable without being recalled and retyped, which is why a “same as billing” control, a picker of saved addresses, or a repeated summary all satisfy it.

The exceptions matter as much as the rule, because they are what make it enforceable rather than absurd. Re-entry is allowed when it is essential, which is exactly the case of confirming a new password or a memory exercise where recall is the point; when security requires it; and when the previously entered information is no longer valid. That first exception is worth reading beside accessible authentication, which pushes in the opposite direction on the same screen: confirm a password twice if you must, but do not make remembering one the only way in.

This is filed under accessibility rather than convenience because the cost of repetition is not evenly shared. Retyping a postcode is a small annoyance with a keyboard and a good memory, and it is a real barrier for someone typing with a switch, someone whose short-term memory makes them go and find the information again, and anyone whose cognitive load is already at its limit halfway through a form. It also pairs badly with a long flow, so a steps left indicator that promises two more screens is a promise worth keeping honest. Keep it apart from two neighbours: address autocomplete fetches information the site never had, while this criterion is about information it already holds, and guest checkout removes an account step rather than a repeated one. Where the whole point is to show what was collected, a check answers page repeats the information back without asking for it again, which is not redundant entry at all.