Plain-language definitions of the LimeSurvey terms you'll meet most often, in alphabetical order.
Access code: A unique code that lets one invited person into a closed-access survey. (Older versions called these "tokens".)
Anonymous survey: Responses aren't linked to the person who submitted them.
Answer options: The choices a participant can pick for a question.
Archived responses: When you deactivate a survey, its responses are set aside, kept but out of the live results, and can be re-imported if you reactivate.
Array: A grid question: several subquestions sharing one answer scale.
Assessment: Scores answers so the survey can show the participant a result at the end.
Auto-save: In the new editor, changes save as you type. There is no Save button, just a "Saved at" time.
Base language: A survey's primary language, added first; any other languages are translated from it.
Bounced email: An invitation email that came back as undeliverable.
CAPTCHA: A "prove you're human" check you can require before someone accesses, registers for, or resumes a survey.
Central Participant Database (CPDB): A shared pool of participants you can reuse across surveys, separate from any single survey's list.
Closed access: Only invited people with an access code can take the survey.
Cloud (LimeSurvey Cloud): We host it for you at limesurvey.org, nothing to install.
ComfortUpdate: The paid one-click updater for self-hosted (Community Edition) installations.
Community Edition (CE): The free version you host yourself.
Condition: A rule that shows or hides a question based on earlier answers.
Data policy (privacy policy): Consent text a participant must agree to before starting, used for GDPR; set in the survey's privacy policy settings.
Default value: A pre-filled answer shown until the participant changes it.
Editorial area: The middle of the survey editor, where you build and edit the survey in place, the way participants see it.
End screen: The last page a participant sees when they finish.
End URL: A web address the participant is sent to after finishing.
Expression Manager (ExpressionScript): LimeSurvey's formula syntax for calculations, validation, and piping answers into text using {curly-brace} codes.
Label set: A reusable set of codes and labels you can drop into questions as answers or subquestions.
Left toolbar: The icons on the left edge of the survey editor. They open the panels for the whole survey: Structure, Settings, Presentation, Survey menu, Permissions and Translations.
Mandatory question: A question the participant must answer before they can move on.
Multilingual survey: A survey offered in more than one language; participants pick their language, and each language is translated from the base language.
"No answer" option: An extra choice on non-mandatory questions that lets a participant deliberately leave it blank.
Open access: Anyone with the link can take the survey.
Participant: Someone invited to a closed-access survey, held in that survey's participant list.
Participant list: The invited people and their access codes for one survey.
Piping: Inserting an earlier answer, or a value, into later text using {codes}.
Plugin: An add-on that extends LimeSurvey; some ship built in.
Public registration: Letting people sign themselves up for a closed-access survey instead of you inviting each one.
Question code: A question's short internal name (variable), used in logic and exports.
Question group: A set of questions shown together, usually on one page.
Question settings: The panel on the right of the editor with the settings of the selected question, in two tabs: Simple and Advanced.
Question type: The format of a question: single choice, array, text, and so on.
Quota: A cap on how many responses matching certain answers you'll accept; once it's hit, matching participants are stopped.
Randomization: Shuffling the order of questions or answer options to reduce bias.
Response: One person's submitted answers. A complete response counts as 1; a partial one as 0.5 toward your Cloud limit.
Response limit: How many responses your plan allows per period; reach it and the site locks until it resets or you upgrade.
Save & resume: Letting a participant save their progress and finish the survey later.
Statistics: LimeSurvey's built-in charts and summaries of your collected responses.
Stop vs Deactivate a survey: Two ways to end a live survey: Stop / pause keeps responses available for analysis; Deactivate archives them. Either way, participants can no longer access it.
Storage: Your plan's allowance for uploaded files and exports.
Structure panel: The panel on the left of the editor that shows the welcome screen, the question groups with their questions and the end screen as a tree.
Subquestion: An item inside a question: a row of an array, or a field in a multiple-text question.
Superadmin: The top-level admin account with full control of the installation.
Survey: The whole questionnaire: its screens, question groups and questions.
Survey flow steps: The three steps in the top bar of every survey: Editor (build it), Share (activate and distribute it) and Results (responses and statistics).
Survey group: A folder for organizing surveys in your list (not the same as question groups).
Theme: The design of a survey's public pages: fonts, colors, logo. (Older versions called these "templates".)
Top bar: The bar across the top of every page. In the editor it holds the survey title, the survey flow steps, Preview and the Activate button.
Validation: Rules that check an answer's format before it's accepted: a valid email, a number in range, or a regex pattern.
Welcome screen: The first page a participant sees before starting.