Set up a survey's link, layout and language
The builder's Settings tab, setting by setting: who can answer its own link and under whose name, repeat answers, when it opens and closes, a response limit, layout, button labels, the welcome and end screens, and its language.
On this page
The Settings tab of the survey builder decides how a survey behaves for the people who answer it: who may open its link and whose name their answer carries, whether they can answer twice, how the questions are laid out, the words on its buttons and the language of the page. This page goes through every setting, and the welcome and end screens that sit in the outline.
Only Admins change a survey's settings. Whose name the answer carries (anonymous answers) and Allow anonymous follow-ups are on Team and up; on another plan they are shown locked, with the plan that has them.
Open the Settings tab
- Open the survey in the builder: Surveys → All surveys, then a survey's Edit survey.
- Choose Settings in the strip above the outline, between Scoring and Styling.
- Change what you need. Nothing is kept until you choose Save draft — or Save changes on a live survey. Until then the top bar says Unsaved changes.
Survey details
- Survey title — the same title as the field at the top of the builder. Respondents see it at the top of the survey.
- Survey description — shown under the title, to say what the survey is for and how long it takes.
Your survey's own link
These settings are for people who open the survey's own link — the one you copy from Share. A campaign makes its own promise to the people it invites, set in the campaign: see campaigns.
Who can answer the link
- Anyone with the link — no sign-in needed. Share it anywhere: a website, a QR code, a newsletter.
- Only members of this workspace — people sign in first. Campaign invitations are not affected. A survey started in the builder begins with this choice.
Whose name the answer carries
- The person who gave it — the answer is filed under the person, so you can follow up with them about what they said.
- Nobody — answers are anonymous — the answer is stored without a name, email, IP address or browser. Breakdowns by team, plan or country still work, and results only show for groups at or above your privacy floor.
Once anyone has answered under the promise of anonymity, it can no longer be withdrawn: The person who gave it is greyed out, with the reason. To collect named answers, start a new survey or campaign.
Allow anonymous follow-ups
If an answer is anonymous, someone in your team can still ask its author a question about it. Polzy relays the message by email without naming the person, and replying is their choice; people are told before they answer. This is only possible when people sign in to answer — with Anyone with the link there is nobody to write to, so the switch is greyed out. More in anonymous replies.
Access and response settings
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Multiple responses | Lets the same person answer more than once. Turned off, an identified person — signed in, or invited by a campaign — answers once. An open link answered without signing in cannot be limited this way. A survey started in the builder begins with this off. |
| Collect metadata | Stores the browser and device each answer was given on, and the page the survey was opened from. On to start with. |
| Limit responses | Closes the survey once this many people have finished it — from its own link and every campaign together. Switch it on and type the number; the row says how many have finished so far. Once it is reached the link shows the survey's closed page, and anyone still answering cannot submit. Deleting a response does not free its place: raise the number instead. |
Opens and closes
- Opens — the day and time the link starts taking answers. Before then, people who open it see Survey not yet available and "This survey opens on …", written in their own language and time zone. Empty: it opens as soon as it is published.
- Closes — the day and time it stops. After then the link shows the closed page, and the survey is marked Closed within a few minutes. Empty: it stays open until you close it.
Both times are read in the time zone named beside the time; Clear takes a date off. The dates are saved with Save draft or Save changes, like the rest of the tab, and a close before the open is refused. Ask Polzy can set them too: "open this survey on Monday at 9 and close it after 200 responses".
A campaign has its own dates and its own Limit responses on its Setup tab, counting only its invitations. Both apply: whichever is reached first closes — see campaigns.
Taking sign-ups for an event? Run a registration with a form puts the dates and the limit together with the form and its export.
Display options
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Show progress bar | Shows respondents how far through the survey they are. On to start with. |
| Show question numbers | Numbers each question — "Question 02" — so people can see the length. On to start with. Headers, images and statements are not numbered. |
| How questions are shown | One per page: one question at a time — focused, best on a phone, and the only layout that asks AI follow-ups. All on one page: people scroll and submit once; dynamic follow-ups are skipped. |
If the survey has questions with dynamic follow-ups and you choose All on one page, the tab warns that they will not be asked. The same two layouts are also the buttons at the start of the preview's toolbar: choosing one there changes this setting, not only the preview.
On a survey shown one per page, each header, image or statement sits on its own page unless its Placement puts it with the next or previous question (question types).
On a survey shown one per page, a question answered with a single pick moves on by itself a moment after it: a single choice (a list, buttons, a dropdown or Yes / No), a rating of any kind (stars, an opinion scale, CSAT or CES), NPS and a single picture. Everything else waits for Next: a choice of several, "Other", text, a matrix, a slider, a ranking, a file, a date, a consent, contact details, an address, a meeting and a question with dynamic follow-ups. The last page never submits by itself, and a page reached again with Previous stays until an answer is picked again. On a laptop Previous and Next sit right under the answer; on a phone they are a bar along the bottom of the screen.
Button labels
- Previous button, Next button and Submit button — the words on the survey's three buttons. Left empty, they read "Previous", "Next" and "Submit" in the respondent's language, so leave them empty for a survey answered in several languages.
Survey language
Under Localisation, Survey language is the language the respondent sees, whoever they are. It sets the survey page's own words — the buttons, hints, privacy notice and error messages — and its direction: Arabic is shown right to left. Your questions are shown exactly as you wrote them.
Without a survey language, someone who answers without signing in reads the page in their browser's language, and someone signed in in their own. The list offers the languages your workspace has turned on; see languages.
Welcome screen and Endings
The screens before and after the questions are not on this tab: they are the first and last blocks of the outline on the Questions tab, under Welcome screen and Endings. Both are off to start with, marked Off. Click one to open it.
| Screen | Its settings |
|---|---|
| Welcome — shown before the first question | Enable welcome page, Welcome title, Welcome message, Button text (the start button, "Start survey" if empty), Welcome image (Upload image, Remove image). |
| Thank you — shown after the last answer | Enable thank-you page, Thank-you title, Thank-you message, Thank-you image. |
Welcome as a card, on the Styling tab, draws the welcome screen as a framed card, in the survey's field colours.
Good to know
- Plan checks happen on save. Turning on anonymous answers or anonymous follow-ups is refused on a plan without them. Turning them off is always allowed.
- A live survey changes at once. Saving changes to a published survey applies them to everyone who opens it from then on; answers already given keep the promise they were given under.
- Campaigns decide for their own invitations. An invitation carries the campaign's privacy promise, not the survey link's; see campaigns.
Troubleshooting
- The anonymity choice is locked, with a plan name. Anonymous answers are on Team and up. See change plan.
- The person who gave it is greyed out. People have already answered anonymously; the promise cannot be withdrawn. Start a new survey for named answers.
- Allow anonymous follow-ups is greyed out. It needs Only members of this workspace: with an open link there is nobody to write to. On a plan without Direct conversations (Team and up) the row is locked.
- People can answer twice. Multiple responses is on, or the survey is answered on an open link without signing in, which cannot be limited to one answer per person.
- AI follow-ups never appear. The survey is shown All on one page. Choose One per page.
- People see "This survey opens on …". Its Opens time is still ahead. Clear it, or move it earlier, and save.
- The survey closed before its end date. Its Limit responses was reached, or a campaign's own limit was. Raise the number and save: the link takes answers again at once.
Related articles
Signed-in members can ask Polzy or message the team from Support. How fast we reply depends on your plan.