Hi,

I would like to send out a link to several people to review the survey before I activate it and lock it down. It is likely they might want to add or amend questions so cannot activate it.

How do I do this? The users don't have accounts.

Thanks

Georgina

There is no external preview/review mode in LimeSurvey
Common approach: Copy survey. Activate it. Send link for preview/review.
Get feedback and integrate that in your master survey. After a certain copy master again (use same survey ID as used in first copy). That way the preview links still be valid.

Ok thanks Jelo, good to know. Maybe a feature they could add in?

Hi

I'm new to LimeSurvey so not sure if this is the best advice.

I have done this without having to activate a survey by sharing (via email) the link provided by the "Preview survey" button. The non-activated survey works the same except 1) results are not saved at the end of the survey, and 2) users can't stop the survey to resume later.

If you do activate the survey, the link is the same for the activated survey.

Often helpers want an editable version of the survey (more convenient to edit the questions). I obtain this by using "queXML PDF export" under "Display/Export" and converting the PDF file to a word document. The PDF is inside the zip file provided by the export. I convert to MS Word by opening the PDF in MS Word and letting word perform the conversion. Now they can provide their feedback via their edits of the word document.

wizard2none wrote: The non-activated survey works the same except 1) results are not saved at the end of the survey, and 2) users can't stop the survey to resume later.

There are other things that are different between a activated and non-activated survey (e.g. Quota). For a preview and test I personally like to have responses saved. That way you can recheck feedback.

When the URL contains the "newtest=Y" the session is recreated when accessing the URL again. That is important if users want to go through the survey more than once.

Hi Jelo,

Good additional points about Quota and feedback (if you want to collect responses during testing).

Regarding newtest=Y", this appears to occur in the URL whether the survey is activated or not. Am I missing something in your comment regarding the URL?

wizard2none wrote: Regarding newtest=Y", this appears to occur in the URL whether the survey is activated or not.

Correct, this applies to both. Just wanted to point out the purpose of the parameter.

I tried to test this preview link in another browser and got an error message saying that I don't have permission to do this. Thank you for helping out. I am a newbie and will remain one for a long time at this rate.

To view a survey, it must be activated or, if not, you must be logged in as an admin in that browser.

admin/globalsettings#security

Survey preview only for administration users:
On/Off

Yes, or that.