Add a privacy policy | LimeSurvey

Add a privacy policy

About the privacy policy

A privacy policy tells participants what you collect, why, where it is stored and how long you keep it. LimeSurvey can show it on the welcome screen with a checkbox that participants must tick before they start, and can link to your legal notice and data policy in the footer of every page. You set it up under Settings > Privacy policy.

Add a privacy policy with a mandatory checkbox

  1. Click the gear icon in the left toolbar and then Privacy policy.

  2. Under Show privacy policy text with mandatory checkbox in welcome screen (1), choose how the policy appears:

    • Inline: the full text on the welcome screen, with the checkbox under it.
    • Popup/Collapsible: only the checkbox label; participants open the text if they want to read it.
    • Off: no policy and no checkbox.

  3. Under Languages and texts, pick the Language (4) you write in.

  4. Type your policy into Privacy policy message (5).

  5. Type the text participants see when they try to start without ticking the box into Privacy policy error message (6).

  6. Type the text next to the checkbox into Privacy policy checkbox label (7).

  7. For a survey in several languages, pick the next language under Language and repeat steps 4 to 6.

The Privacy policy page of the survey settings with seven areas numbered 1 to 7

Link to your legal notice and data policy

Turn on Show link to legal notice in survey footer (2) and Show link to data policy in survey footer (3) to show these links at the bottom of every survey page.

Tip: You also reach this page from the survey itself: click Welcome in the Structure panel and then Define and edit privacy details in Welcome screen settings.

Next steps

FAQ

Where does the checkbox appear?

On the welcome screen. Participants must tick it before they can start the survey. If you turn the welcome screen off, check the survey in the preview to see how the policy is shown.

What should the policy say?

What you collect, the purpose, where the data is stored, who can see it and how long you keep it, and how participants reach you. If you promise anonymity, also switch on Anonymized responses. See Set up an anonymous survey.

Does LimeSurvey provide a privacy policy template?

No. What a policy must say depends on your country and on the data you collect. Ask your data protection officer or a lawyer.