Import a survey

Import a survey

You can bring a survey into your LimeSurvey site by importing a survey file — for example a backup, or a survey exported from another LimeSurvey installation. Importing transfers the survey structure (groups, questions, logic, settings), not collected responses, unless the file explicitly includes them. To create such a file, see Export a Survey.

Import a survey

In-editor import (Tools → Import) is coming soon and currently greyed out. For now, import from the survey list: Create survey → Import → upload your file → Import survey.

Supported file types:

  • .lss — survey structure (from LimeSurvey 1.90 or newer)
  • .lsa — survey archive: structure and resources, plus optional response, participant, and timing data
  • .txt — the survey structure as tab-separated text, e.g. created in a spreadsheet

During import, LimeSurvey automatically renumbers survey, group, question, answer, and condition IDs, so nothing collides with surveys already in your installation — and no existing survey is ever overwritten. Complex features such as branching logic, assessments, validation, and tailoring are preserved. After the import finishes, a summary tells you whether everything was imported successfully. Before activating the imported survey, review its settings (dates, notifications, theme), as some environment-specific settings may need adjusting.

One rule to watch: you cannot import a file exported from a newer LimeSurvey version than the one you're importing into. LimeSurvey Cloud always runs the latest stable version, so imports from any reasonably recent installation will work.

Classic interface (older/self-hosted versions)

In the classic admin interface, go to the survey list, click Create a new survey → Import, upload your file, and click Import survey.

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