Surveys

Surveys (also called forms) are the data collection instruments your team fills out in the browser or the mobile field app. Every survey is created inside a project, and every project belongs to a workspace. This page is the hub for creating and managing them.

Where Forms Live: Workspaces → Projects → Forms

Before you create a form, set up the structure that will hold it. The hierarchy is fixed and is enforced when you create a form:

Workspace  (team / organisation unit)
└── Project  (initiative / study)
    └── Form / Survey  (the questionnaire you design and publish)
        └── Responses  (data collected from the published form)

• A Workspace groups related projects for a team or programme. See Workspaces.
• A Project groups related forms for a single initiative. See Projects.
• A Form (Survey) is the questionnaire itself, built in the Survey Designer.

You cannot create a form without a project. If the Project dropdown in the Create Form dialog is empty, create a project first (Workspaces → View Projects → Create Project), then return to this page.

Navigating down the hierarchy

You can also deep-link straight into the Create Form dialog for a specific project by opening /surveys?project_id=<project-id>. The dialog pre-selects that project. If the ID is invalid, a warning appears and you must choose a project manually.

Page Overview

What the page is for

The Surveys page is your central hub for creating, managing, and organizing all your data collection forms. From here you can create new surveys, import existing ones, browse templates, and manage your survey library.

When a user would use it

• When you want to create a new survey from scratch
• When you need to import an XLSForm
• When you want to browse and use templates
• When you need to view, edit, or manage existing surveys
• When you want to filter surveys by status, tags, workspace, or project

How to Access This Page

Navigation path from the main app

1. Log in to the application
2. From the main dashboard, use the sidebar navigation to click on "Surveys"
3. Or, directly navigate to /surveys in your browser

Permissions or prerequisites

• You must be logged in to access this page
• You need appropriate permissions to create, edit, or delete surveys
• The action buttons will be disabled if you don't have the required permissions

Page Layout

Header / title

• Title: "Surveys"
• Subtitle: "Create and manage your data collection forms"
• Buttons (left to right):
  • Create Survey: Creates a new survey from scratch
  • Import XLSForm: Imports a survey from an XLSForm file
  • Browse Templates: Opens the template browser to use pre-built surveys

Status filters

Tabs to filter surveys by status:

• All: Shows all surveys
• Active: Shows only published surveys
• Draft: Shows only draft surveys
• Archived: Shows only archived surveys

Filter and management section

• Filter by tag: Dropdown to filter surveys by tags
• Manage Tags: Button to open the tag management dialog
• Clear: Button to clear tag filter (appears when tag is selected)
• All Workspaces: Dropdown to filter by workspace (appears when multiple workspaces exist)
• All Projects: Dropdown to filter by project
• Clear: Button to clear workspace and project filters (appears when any are selected)

Table

The table shows a list of surveys with these columns (left to right):

1. Name: The survey name
2. Description: A short description (shows "-" if empty)
3. Tags: Colored badges showing tags assigned to the survey
4. Status: Badge showing survey status:
   • Draft (gray)
   • Published (blue)
   • Archived (outline)
   • Deleted (red)
5. Availability: Shows if the survey is always available, scheduled, etc.
6. Created: Date the survey was created
7. Actions: Menu with available actions

Action menu (per survey)

Clicking on the three-dot icon (⋮) next to a survey opens a dropdown menu with these options:

• Design Form: Opens the survey designer
• Manage Versions: Opens version management dialog
• View Data: Navigates to survey responses
• Manage Access: Opens the Access Management page
• Edit Details: Opens edit survey details dialog
• Clone: Creates a clone of the survey
• Publish (only for Draft): Publishes the survey
• Unpublish (only for Published): Unpublishes the survey
• Archive (only for Published): Archives the survey
• Delete: Opens delete confirmation dialog

Step-by-Step Tasks

Creating a Survey

1. Click the Create Survey button at the top of the page.
2. In the Create New Form dialog, fill in the details (see the field reference below).
3. Choose a Project — this is required and determines which workspace the form belongs to.
4. Click Create Form.
5. The Survey Designer opens automatically on the new form.

If your plan's active-form limit is reached, the dialog shows a plan limit banner and the Create Form button is disabled. Delete an existing form or ask a billing administrator to review the plan.

Create New Form dialog — field reference

Buttons: Cancel closes the dialog without creating anything; Create Form creates the survey and opens the designer. While saving, the button shows Creating….

A form is created as a Draft. It will not accept responses until you publish it.

Importing an XLSForm

1. Click the "Import XLSForm" button
2. Select your XLSForm file
3. Follow the import prompts
4. Once imported, you'll be taken to the survey designer

Browsing and Using Templates

1. Click the "Browse Templates" button
2. Browse the template library
3. Select a template to use
4. A new survey will be created from the template

Filtering Surveys

By status:

1. Click on one of the status tabs (All, Active, Draft, Archived)
2. The table will update to show only matching surveys

By tag:

1. Click the "Filter by tag" dropdown
2. Select a tag from the list
3. The table will update to show only surveys with that tag
4. Click "Clear" to remove the filter

By workspace or project:

1. Click the "All Workspaces" dropdown and select a workspace (if multiple)
2. Click the "All Projects" dropdown and select a project
3. The table will update to show only surveys in that workspace/project
4. Click "Clear" to remove the filters

Editing Survey Details

1. Find the survey in the table
2. Click the three-dot menu icon (⋮)
3. Select "Edit Details"
4. Update the name, description, or other details
5. Click "Save Changes"

Publishing a Survey

1. Find a Draft survey
2. Click the three-dot menu icon (⋮)
3. Select "Publish"
4. The survey status will change to Published

Unpublishing a Survey

1. Find a Published survey
2. Click the three-dot menu icon (⋮)
3. Select "Unpublish"
4. The survey status will change to Draft

Archiving a Survey

1. Find a Published survey
2. Click the three-dot menu icon (⋮)
3. Select "Archive"
4. The survey status will change to Archived

Deleting a Survey

1. Find the survey you want to delete
2. Click the three-dot menu icon (⋮)
3. Select "Delete"
4. Confirm the deletion in the dialog
5. The survey will be removed

Managing Tags

1. Click the "Manage Tags" button
2. In the tag management dialog, you can:
   • Create new tags
   • Edit existing tags
   • Delete tags
3. Click "Close" when done

Field & Button Reference

Tips & Notes

• Create the hierarchy first: You must have a workspace and a project before you can create a form. If the Project dropdown is empty, create a project first.
• Design next: After creating a form you land in the Survey Designer — this is where you add questions, logic, validation, and translations.
• Use tags to organize: Tags make it easy to find and group related surveys
• Workspaces and projects help structure: Use workspaces and projects to keep surveys organized by team or initiative
• Preview before publishing: Always test your survey in the designer before publishing
• Versions track changes: Use version management to keep track of survey changes
• Archiving preserves data: Archive surveys when you're done collecting responses but still need access to the data