Overview

Global Settings in LimeSurvey can be accessed via Configuration → Settings → Global settings, where the options are grouped across several screens. Only administrators with the "Settings and Plugin permission" may modify these configurations, which apply system-wide.

General Settings

The General section includes:

• Site name: Appears in survey list and administration header
• Default theme: Theme for the public survey list and new surveys
• Administration theme: Theme for the LimeSurvey administration
• Time difference (in hours): Adjusts for server timezone variations
• Session lifetime (seconds): Duration before survey sessions expire (database sessions only; maximum 65000 seconds)
• IP Info DB API Key: Enables geographic location tracking via IP
• Google Maps API Key: Integrates Google Maps functionality
• Google Analytics Tracking ID: Tracks survey usage analytics
• Google Translate API Key: Enables automatic translation (requires API fee)
• Character set for file import/export: Specifies encoding for data transfer
• Default HTML editor mode: Options include inline, popup, or HTML source
• Question type selector: Full selector with preview or simple select box
• Template editor: Full (enhanced editor with syntax highlighting) or Simple

Email Settings

Configuration includes:

• Default site admin email: System message recipient address
• Administrator name: Administrator's real name
• Email method: PHP (default), Sendmail, SMTP, or Qmail
• SMTP host: Server address with optional port specification
• SMTP username/password: Authentication credentials if required
• SMTP encryption: Off, SSL, or TLS options
• SMTP debug mode: Off, On errors, or Always
• Email batch size: Controls invitation sending capacity per batch

Bounce Settings

Manages bounced email processing:

• Default site bounce email: Bounce notification recipient
• Server type: Off, POP, or IMAP
• Server name & port: Server details with optional port
• Username/Password: POP/IMAP credentials
• Encryption type: SSL or TLS if applicable

Security Settings

Key security options:

• Survey preview only for administration users: Restricts preview access
• Filter HTML for XSS: Prevents malicious script injection (default: on)
• Disable question script for XSS restricted user: Limits script editing permissions for non-admins (default: on)
• Group member can only see own group: Restricts user visibility by group membership
• IFrame embedding allowed: Controls iframe rendering restrictions
• Force HTTPS: Enforces secure connections with verification option

Presentation Settings

Controls survey display:

• Show question number and/or question code: Display options for question identification
• Repeating headings in array questions: Header repeat frequency (recommended: 25)
• Show "There are X questions in this survey": Displays total question count
• Font size of PDFs: Default 9; titles add 4, group titles add 2
• Width of PDF header logo: Logo dimension specification
• PDF header title: Custom title or defaults to site name
• PDF header string: Custom string or defaults to survey name
• Show question group title and/or description: Display group information
• Show 'no answer' option for non-mandatory questions: Selectable, On (default), or Off
• Show header in answers export PDFs: Toggle header display in response PDFs
• Add gray background to questions in PDF: Default on
• PDF questions in bold: Default off
• Borders around questions in PDF: Default on
• Borders around responses in PDF: Default on

Data Policy

Customizable legal information:

• Show data policy on the surveylist page: Toggle policy button display
• Show legal notice on the surveylist page: Toggle legal notice button display
• Data policy: Text field for policy content
• Legal notice: Text field for legal notice content

User Administration

• Default user role: The role newly created administration users receive.
• User-related security options such as forcing password changes and login restrictions are found here alongside the Security settings.

Storage

Shows how much storage your installation is using and lets you calculate current usage. Use this to see what is taking up space before freeing storage (see the storage articles in the FAQ section for how usage is counted and how to free it).

Updates

Controls update notifications for your installation — whether LimeSurvey checks for new versions and how you are notified. On LimeSurvey Cloud, updates are applied automatically, so this section mainly matters for self-hosted installations (see ComfortUpdate).

Language Settings

• Default site language: Administration panel language selection
• Available languages: Restrict language options in surveys

Interfaces

RemoteControl API configuration:

• RPC interface enabled: Activate/deactivate RemoteControl2 API (JSON-RPC or XML-RPC)
• URL: http://<your_domain>/<your_limesurvey_dir>/index.php/admin/remotecontrol
• Publish API on /admin/remotecontrol: Makes API functions publicly visible (debug purposes only)