Study Admins have the ability to archive surveys, which effectively deactivates them for future use. Archiving a survey prevents respondents from both completing it within Ripple and externally as a web form. This ensures that respondents do not participate in surveys or screeners that are no longer relevant, still being edited, or are no longer accepting new submissions, while also retaining the survey within your site for reference.
Should you ever need to reinstate the survey, you can unarchive the survey, allowing respondents to access and participate in it once again.
How to Archive a Survey:
To deactivate a survey without deleting it, you can archive the survey.
1. Go to Study Settings (red) and navigate to the Survey Creator module (green)
2. In your Saved Surveys list, click on the survey you want to archive
3. Click on the gearbox icon (red) and select the “Archive Survey” option (green)
4. In the “Archive Survey” pop-up message, click on the “Yes, archive it” button
5. The survey will be archived and no longer available for use. Click on the “Archived Surveys” button to see, edit, unarchive, or delete your archived surveys.
6. To return back to your Saved Surveys list from the Archived Surveys, click on the “Saved Surveys” button
How to Unarchive a Survey:
To reactivate an archived survey, you can unarchive it.
1. Click on the “Archived Surveys” button
2. Select the checkbox next to the survey(s) you want to unarchive to reactivate (red)
3. Click the “Unarchive Survey” button (green)
4. In the “Restore Survey” pop-up message, click on the “Yes, unarchive it” button
5. The survey will be returned back to the original “Saved Surveys” list. Click on the survey to edit or re-archive it if needed
6. To return back to your archived surveys from the Saved Surveys list, click on the “Archived Surveys” button
FAQs:
Can I still use a survey internally when it is archived?
Archiving a survey prevents respondents from using the survey internally and as a web form. The archived survey will not appear when you click on the “Survey Participant” or “Survey This Participant” buttons.
What happens when a respondent tries using an archived survey?
If your survey is hosted as a web form on a landing page, sent via email or text, or hosted in a QR code, participants will get routed to a page informing them that the survey is not available, as seen in the image below.
What happens to my data when the survey is archived?
All completed surveys will remain in the participant’s profile card in their Forms Log. You can still view the completed survey and download the PDF. You can also export survey data in bulk from the Export Tool.
What happens to my archived surveys if I copy my study or import my study settings into another study?
When you create a new study by copying from an existing study or import your study settings, your archived surveys will copy over. You can find the surveys in the “Archived Surveys” folder for that new study and edit, unarchive, or delete them for that study. This will not affect the original study.