When your survey is ready, you can share it with respondents in several ways: a direct link, a link with an access code, a QR code, social media, or an embed on your own website.

You can open the sharing options at any time, even before your survey is active — but the survey only accepts responses once it is activated. To activate, click the green Activate button at the top right of the editor. Right after activation, a success panel offers the sharing options directly: the access-mode dropdown, a Copy link button, and the QR code.

The participant link has the form https://<your-instance>/<surveyID>. On the free plan, the survey page shows a "Made in LimeSurvey" badge (see the article on removing LimeSurvey branding).

Open the sharing overview

All sharing options live on one page:

1. Open your survey in the editor.
2. Open the Share tab at the top of the editor. The page Share your survey and collect responses opens, with Sharing overview selected in the left sidebar.
3. If your survey has more than one language, pick the version you want to share in the Survey language version card.

Share the survey link

1. On the sharing overview page, set the access mode to Anyone with link.
2. Click Copy next to the survey link and send it to respondents by email, chat, or any other channel.
3. Optional: click Customize link to change the survey URL.

Anyone with the link to the survey can access it (once the survey is active).

Require an access code

Use this mode when only invited people should respond.

1. On the sharing overview page, set the access mode to Link with access code.
2. Share the link together with the codes. Only people with a valid code can complete the survey.
3. To create participants and their codes, open Participant lists in the left sidebar. This opens the classic Survey participants page; click Add... → Add participant, then leave Access code blank and use Generate access codes to create codes automatically.

Tip: Some plans also offer a Password protected survey option — one survey link protected by a single shared password.

Download a QR code

1. On the sharing overview page, click Download QR code.
2. Put the image on posters, flyers, or slides. Scanning it opens the survey.

Share on social media

1. On the sharing overview page, use the social icons: Facebook, Email, LinkedIn, and X.
2. Click an icon to share the survey link on that channel.

Embed the survey in your website

1. On the sharing overview page, find the Embed survey card.
2. Pick an embed mode: Standard, Overlay, Widget, or E-mail.
3. Click Customize embed preview to check how the embedded survey will look.
4. Embedding is off by default. On the embed page, click Enable embedding to turn it on (this sets Allow survey embedding to Yes under Publication & access in the survey settings), then click Display code to reveal and copy the code for your website.

Panel integration

You can also collect responses through professional panel providers who supply respondents. To set it up, open the Share tab, click Participant lists, then choose Panel integration in the classic Survey menu.

Using the classic editor?

The classic interface keeps some older labels — for example, access tokens rather than access codes, and Twitter rather than X:

• After activation, the survey overview page shows the survey link. Copy it and share it with anyone.
• Click Open sharing panel to generate a QR code or share the survey on Facebook or Twitter.
• To restrict access, initialize the survey participants table. The survey switches to closed-access mode: only people who enter a valid access code, or use a URL that contains one, can respond.
• From the participant table you can add participants, create dummy participants, send email invitations and reminders, generate unique access tokens, and allow public registration so visitors can sign themselves up.