Stop, pause or deactivate a survey | LimeSurvey

Stop, pause or deactivate a survey

About stopping a survey

The red Deactivate button at the top right of the editor offers two ways to end data collection. Participants cannot take the survey anymore after either one. The difference is what happens to your data:

Stop / pause surveyDeactivate survey
Responses and participantsKept and available in ResultsArchived, not available for analysis
Questions and settingsChanges stay very limitedEditable again
To collect againRemove the end dateReactivate the survey

Use Stop / pause survey to end a survey. Use Deactivate survey only when you have to change questions or the structure.

Stop or pause a survey

  1. In the editor, click Deactivate at the top right. The dialog Do you want to stop your survey? opens.

  2. Select Stop / pause survey (1).

  3. Click Continue (3).

The stop dialog with three areas numbered 1 to 3, the options Stop or pause survey and Deactivate survey and Continue

LimeSurvey sets the end date of the survey to the current moment. Participants who open the survey link see a message that the survey has expired. Your responses stay in Results, where you analyze and export them.

Reopen a paused survey

A message at the bottom of the editor points you to the end date:

  1. Click Publication & access panel in the message (1), or open Settings > Publication & access.

  2. Next to End date/time (2), click the x to remove the date, or pick a later date.

The Publication and access page with the message to reopen the survey, numbered 1, and the end date, numbered 2

The survey accepts responses again right away.

Deactivate a survey

  1. Export your responses first.

  2. Click Deactivate at the top right.

  3. Select Deactivate survey (2 in the picture of the stop dialog) and click Continue.

LimeSurvey confirms with Your survey has been deactivated. The responses and the participant list are archived, the structure is editable again, and the button at the top right reads Reactivate.

To collect responses again, reactivate the survey and import the archived responses. See Activate your survey.

Note: Deactivating also archives the participant list. To get your participants back, open Participant lists on the Share page. Under Restore options, select the archived list and click Restore.

Next steps

FAQ

I deactivated my survey by accident. Are my responses lost?

No, they are archived. Do not change the questions. Click Reactivate, choose Keep existing responses, select the latest response table and click Continue.

How do I close a survey on a set date?

Set End date/time under Settings > Publication & access. The survey stops accepting responses at that moment and keeps all data, as with Stop / pause survey.

Can participants finish a survey they started before I stopped it?

No. Participants cannot access a stopped or deactivated survey anymore. Responses they started stay incomplete.