Can I use a query string to automatically populate survey answers?

Yes, you can modify the deploy URL for a survey to include a query string that can be used to automatically populate survey answers.

You could also alternatively modify the settings for survey questions to pre-populate with certain answers; however in cases where you need the answers to be pre-populated with different information over time, using a query string when distributing the survey's URL to responders is an effective method.

In this article

Query Strings for Free Text Questions

To setup a query string to automatically populate survey answers for free text questions:

  1. Click Surveys in the main navigation menu.
  2. Click the survey title, or proceed to the Content step.
  3. Click the question(s) you want to be pre-populated with answers via the query string.
  4. For each question you want to be pre-populated, note the Question ID (5 digit number) in the lower left.
  5. Click the drop down arrow for the survey, and select View; or proceed to the Preview and Deploy step to access the survey URL (via Deploy Survey > Survey URL).
  6. Once the deploy URL is displayed in your web browser, append the end of the URL as follows:
    http://yourdomain.com/s/yoursurveyid?12345=test
    where "12345" is the Question ID and "test" is the pre-populated answer.
  7. If desired, you can further append the query string with ampersands (&) and additional answers as follows:
    http://yourdomain.com/s/yoursurveyid?12345=test&67890=test2
    where "67890" is the additional Question ID and "test2" is the pre-populated answer for that question.
  8. Refresh your web browser to confirm the answer(s) pre-populated, and distribute the appended URL to survey responders.

Query Strings for Multiple Choice Questions

To setup a query string to automatically populate survey answers for multiple choice questions:

  1. Click Surveys in the main navigation menu.
  2. Click the survey title, or proceed to the Content step.
  3. Click the question(s) you want to be pre-populated with answers via the query string.
  4. For each question you want to be pre-populated, note the Question ID (5 digit number) in the lower left as well as the Answer ID after the selected answer.
  5. Click the drop down arrow for the survey, and select View; or proceed to the Preview and Deploy step to access the survey URL (via Deploy Survey > Survey URL).
  6. Once the deploy URL is displayed in your web browser, append the end of the URL as follows:
    http://yourdomain.com/s/yoursurveyid?12345=98765
    where "12345" is the Question ID and "98765" is the Answer ID.
  7. If desired, you can further append the query string with ampersands (&) and additional answers as follows:
    http://yourdomain.com/s/yoursurveyid?12345=98765&55555=33333
    where "55555" is the additional Question ID and "33333" is the pre-populated answer for that question.
  8. Refresh your web browser to confirm the answer(s) pre-populated, and distribute the appended URL to survey responders.