Panel integration connects your survey to a commercial survey panel provider — a company that recruits participants for you. It solves two problems:

1. Incoming: the provider appends each participant's unique ID to the survey URL as a URL parameter. LimeSurvey captures this parameter for the survey session. If you map it to a target question in Panel Integration, it is also stored as part of the response data.
2. Outgoing: when the participant finishes (or is screened out, or hits a full quota), LimeSurvey redirects them back to the provider's site with that same ID attached, so the provider can credit them and track the outcome.

Where to find it

In the survey editor, open the Survey menu (the document icon on the left icon rail) and choose Panel integration. This is a classic admin screen, so it opens outside the new editor's autosaving views.

Step 1: Accept a URL parameter

On the Panel integration page, click Add URL parameter and fill in two fields:

• Parameter — the name of the URL parameter, e.g. LSid. This exact name must appear in the entry link you give your provider.
• Target question — optionally, a Short text or Multiple short text question where the value is saved. Even without a target question, the value is kept in the survey session and can be used in the end URL as a passthrough field.

Click Save after adding the parameter — this classic screen does not autosave.

Step 2: Build the entry link for the provider

Take your survey's start URL and append the parameter:

https://example.limesurvey.net/123456?lang=en&LSid=xxxxxx

The provider replaces xxxxxx with each participant's real ID. Standard URL rules apply: the first parameter after the base URL uses ?, every additional one uses &.

Tip: add newtest=Y while testing — it forces a fresh survey session, so repeated test runs from the same browser create separate responses.

Step 3: Set up the three outcome links

Most providers expect participants to be redirected to a different return URL for each of three outcomes. In every case, append the participant's ID using a passthrough field:

parametername={PASSTHRU:parametername}

Everything else in these URLs comes from your panel provider.

Complete — participant finished the survey. Configure the survey's End URL and enable Automatically load end URL when the survey is complete (Presentation settings) — otherwise participants will remain on the completion page and the redirect will not occur:

https://panelprovider.example.com/?return=complete&LSid={PASSTHRU:LSid}

Screened out — participant does not fit your target group. Screenouts are commonly implemented using a quota with a limit of 0, with the quota URL set to load automatically:

https://panelprovider.example.com/?return=screenout&LSid={PASSTHRU:LSid}

Quota full — the participant fits, but the relevant quota is already filled. Use the quota URL of the corresponding quota:

https://panelprovider.example.com/?return=quotafull&LSid={PASSTHRU:LSid}

Worked example

1. Create a Short text question, code LS, and enable Always hide this question so participants never see it.
2. In Panel integration, add a parameter named LSid with LS as the target question. Save.
3. Give your provider the entry link, e.g. https://example.limesurvey.net/123456?lang=en&LSid=xxxxxx.
4. When a participant opens ...&LSid=ABCD5, the value ABCD5 is stored in question LS with their response.
5. Set the end URL to https://panelprovider.example.com/?return=complete&LSid={PASSTHRU:LSid} and the screenout/quota-full quota URLs accordingly. On finishing, the participant lands back at the provider with their ID attached.

Going further

For the full parameter and placeholder reference (prefilling questions with GET parameters, passthrough fields, end-URL placeholders), see the URL fields manual page. Redirects can also be built with ExpressionScript for more complex logic.