Publish & Collect Responses

When you're ready to share your survey, CheckTick offers multiple ways to publish it based on your security needs and audience. This guide helps you choose the right approach for your survey.

Getting Started

From your survey dashboard, click Publish Settings to configure:

  • When it's available: Set start and end dates (optional)
  • How many responses: Set a maximum number of responses (optional)
  • Who can access it: Choose a visibility mode (see below)
  • Security features: Enable CAPTCHA for anonymous surveys

Choosing a Visibility Mode

CheckTick provides four ways to share your survey, from most secure to most open:

1. Authenticated Users (Most Secure)

Best for: Healthcare surveys, research studies, internal assessments

How it works:

  • Only people with CheckTick accounts can access your survey
  • Participants must log in before completing
  • You can invite specific people by email, or allow any authenticated user
  • Perfect for surveys with patient-identifiable or sensitive data

Two access options:

Invite-Only Mode (default):

  • Paste email addresses into the invitation box (one per line)
  • Outlook contact format is supported: John Smith <[email protected]>
  • System checks if each person has a CheckTick account:
  • Existing users get a direct link to the survey
  • New users get a signup link that redirects to the survey after registration
  • Track who was invited and who completed the survey
  • Resend invitations from the dashboard if needed

Self-Service Mode:

  • Check "Allow any authenticated user to access"
  • Any logged-in user can access the survey
  • No invitation required, but users still need an account
  • Good for public surveys that need accountability

2. Anonymous with Invite Codes

Best for: Controlled distribution without requiring accounts

How it works:

  • Generate unique one-time codes for each participant
  • Share links like: /surveys/your-survey/take/token/ABC123/
  • Each code works only once
  • Participants don't need to create an account
  • You can set expiry dates and export usage data

When to use:

  • You want to control who can access the survey
  • You don't need to know participants' identities
  • You want to track individual completion without accounts

Note: Must confirm that your survey doesn't collect patient-identifiable data.

Best for: Semi-private surveys with known audience

How it works:

  • Get a secret link like: /surveys/your-survey/take/unlisted/secret-key/
  • Anyone with the link can complete the survey
  • Link is not discoverable on your site or through the API
  • No account required

When to use:

  • Sharing with a specific group (e.g., email list, internal team)
  • You trust recipients not to share the link publicly
  • You don't need to track individual access

Note: Must confirm that your survey doesn't collect patient-identifiable data.

4. Public (Fully Open)

Best for: General feedback, public surveys, anonymous data collection

How it works:

  • Survey is openly accessible at: /surveys/your-survey/take/
  • Anyone can complete it without an account
  • Recommended to enable CAPTCHA to prevent spam
  • Rate limiting is automatically enabled

When to use:

  • Public feedback forms
  • Anonymous surveys where you want maximum participation
  • Non-sensitive data collection

Note: Must confirm that your survey doesn't collect patient-identifiable data.

Publishing Multiple Languages

If you've created translations of your survey, you can publish them independently or together.

How language versions work

  • Each translation has its own publication status (draft or published)
  • Translations share the same visibility settings as the original survey
  • When published, each language is accessible at the same URL - the system detects the user's browser language or allows manual language selection

Publishing translations

From the Publish Settings page:

  1. Published translations section shows live versions:
  2. View published translations
  3. Each has a view link to the live survey

  4. Cannot unpublish once live

  5. Draft translations section shows unpublished versions:

  6. Review draft translations using preview links
  7. Check "Publish together" to publish multiple languages at once
  8. Click "Publish selected translations" to make them live

Important before publishing translations

Always have a native speaker review AI-generated translations, preferably:

  • A healthcare professional who speaks the target language
  • Someone familiar with medical terminology in that language
  • Someone from the target cultural community

Check for:

  • Medical terminology accuracy
  • Cultural appropriateness of questions
  • Proper formality level for healthcare context
  • Correct translation of technical terms
  • Appropriate phrasing for sensitive topics

Testing:

  • Use the preview link to test the complete survey flow
  • Have team members review the translation
  • Consider pilot testing with a small group of native speakers

Language selection for respondents

When multiple languages are published:

  • The survey detects the user's browser language preference
  • A language selector appears if multiple languages are available
  • Respondents can switch languages during survey completion
  • Progress is maintained when switching languages

For details on creating translations, see Multi-language surveys.

Protecting Patient Data

When your survey collects patient-identifiable information:

✅ Use Authenticated visibility mode

  • Links responses to verified user accounts
  • Provides full audit trail
  • Enables proper data governance
  • Meets healthcare compliance requirements

❌ Don't use Public, Unlisted, or Anonymous Invite Codes

  • These modes require confirmation that no patient data is collected
  • System enforces this protection when publishing

All demographic fields are automatically encrypted. The encryption keys are managed server-side and never exposed in public pages.

Managing Your Published Survey

Survey Status

  • Draft: Only visible to you while building
  • Published: Live and accepting responses
  • Closed: No longer accepting responses, but you can still view data

Time Windows

Set optional start and end dates to automatically control when your survey is available. The dashboard shows clear status badges so you always know if your survey is live.

Response Limits

Set a maximum number of responses. When reached, the survey automatically closes to new submissions.

Tracking Progress

Your dashboard shows:

  • Current status and visibility mode
  • Total responses received
  • Today's responses
  • Last 7 days activity
  • Time remaining (if end date is set)

Managing Invitations (Authenticated & Token modes)

From your dashboard:

  • View pending invitations
  • See who has completed the survey
  • Resend invitations to non-responders
  • Export invitation data to CSV

Participant Experience

Progress Saving

Participants can save their progress and resume later. This is especially helpful for longer surveys. See Survey Progress Tracking for details.

Completion

After submitting, participants see a customizable thank-you page. You can include:

  • Confirmation message
  • Next steps
  • Contact information
  • Custom branding

Security Features

CheckTick includes enterprise-grade security:

  • CSRF protection on all forms
  • Rate limiting to prevent abuse
  • CAPTCHA support (hCaptcha) for anonymous surveys
  • Brute-force protection on login attempts
  • Encrypted data storage for sensitive information
  • One-time invite codes that can't be reused
  • Secure session handling in production

Quick Start Guide

For maximum security (healthcare/research):

  1. Choose Authenticated visibility
  2. Leave "Allow any authenticated user" unchecked
  3. Paste email addresses to invite
  4. Publish!

For controlled anonymous surveys:

  1. Choose Anonymous with Invite Codes
  2. Generate codes for your participants
  3. Confirm no patient data collected
  4. Enable CAPTCHA
  5. Publish!

For public feedback:

  1. Choose Public visibility
  2. Confirm no patient data collected
  3. Enable CAPTCHA
  4. Set end date if needed
  5. Publish!

Troubleshooting

"Survey not live"

  • Check status is Published (not Draft or Closed)
  • Verify you're within the start/end date window
  • Check if maximum responses has been reached

"Need to log in" (Authenticated mode)

  • This is correct! Participants need accounts for authenticated surveys
  • New users will be prompted to create an account
  • Invitation emails include clear instructions

"Invalid or used token"

  • Tokens can only be used once
  • Generate a new token for the participant
  • Check if the token has expired

"CAPTCHA failed"

  • Ensure CAPTCHA is properly configured (see technical docs)
  • Participant may need to try again
  • Check browser isn't blocking the CAPTCHA widget