Quick start guide - LimeSurvey 2.50+
From LimeSurvey Manual
Introduction - what is LimeSurvey?
LimeSurvey is a free and open source online survey application written in PHP, and distributed under the GNU General Public License 2. The software enables users to develop and publish online surveys, collect responses, create statistics, and export the resulting data to other applications. You can either install LimeSurvey on your own server (LimeSurvey CE) or you can directly start utilizing it via one of our hosting services (LimeSurvey Pro).
The following start guide relies on the usage of LimeSurvey Pro. To install LimeSurvey on your own server, check our installation section from our manual.
Create a free LimeSurvey account
LimeSurvey allows every user to create a free account in order to test its features and core functions. To try it out, hover the mouse over Editions & Pricing that is located on the top toolbar of [LimeSurvey website]) and look for the Editions & Pricing button located under the LimeSurvey Pro option.
Four options will emerge: free, basic, expert, and enterprise. Click on the Register Now from the FREE option box:
The next step includes filling in the following fields:
- Username: the username of your account which will also be used to access your LimeSurvey installation;
- Email: the email where the activation link will be sent to;
- Password: the password of your account which will also be used to access your LimeSurvey installation.
As you hover the mouse over each field, a text box will pop up with further details about each field. Optionally, you could also subscribe to the LimeSurvey newsletter in order to get help, tips & tricks, latest news, and service discounts.
For a faster registration process, LimeSurvey allows each user to sign up via their own Twitter, Gmail or GitHub account. LimeSurvey will gather the basic information we require from your selected source.
After creating your LimeSurvey account by clicking on the sign up button, you will receive an email from us. This email contains the activation link you should click on to access your newly created account. Once done, your account will become active and you will be automatically logged in to your LimeSurvey account.
To access your survey link, you have to first create an installation. Click on your username from the main toolbar, and then go to your LimeSurvey profile:
Select Installations from the Profile Menu located on the left side of the screen and create an installation:
You will be asked to:
- type in the Domain name (the URL link of the questionnaire);
- choose the Server location – you can pick up one of the four server locations that will suit most of your needs.
Once the domain-related fields are completed and saved, the installation process will start. This will take up to 10 seconds. After, LimeSurvey will display the settings of your installation:
Now, you can access your server by clicking on the administration URL. To sign in to your LimeSurvey installation, use your LimeSurvey.org credentials.
Start using LimeSurvey
Once logged in, you will find yourself on the home page of your LimeSurvey installation. It contains a toolbar located in the top-right part of the window and a default set of boxes that are shortcuts to the most used functions of LimeSurvey.
The toolbar contains the following options:
- Configuration
- Settings
- Home page settings
- Global settings
- Plugin manager
- Users
- Manage survey administrators
- Create/edit user groups
- Central participant database
- Advanced settings
- Template editor
- Manage label sets
- Check data integrity
- Backup entire database
- ComfortUpdate
- Settings
- Surveys
- Create a new survey
- Import a new survey
- Copy a survey
- Response balance
- Storage
- User
- Notifications
There are six default boxes on the home page of your LimeSurvey installation:
- Create a new survey
- List available surveys
- Edit global settings
- ComfortUpdate
- Label Sets
- Template editor