How to Create a Survey in SharePoint

SharePoint surveys are customizable and can be used to collect and organize feedback and suggestions, evaluate project outcomes, or gather ideas or data relevant to your project or workflow.

They are one of the tools and functionalities covered in ONLC’s SharePoint training for beginners, along with essential coaching about the structure, uses, and capabilities of the platform. For example, new users should understand how to replace a document in SharePoint without breaking links and how to checkout files for editing to avoid conflicts or issues with multiple file versions.  

Creating a SharePoint Survey

The process for creating a new SharePoint survey depends on which version of the tool you are using. Here are the steps to follow when using SharePoint Online.

1. Navigate to the SharePoint site where you’d like to create your survey.
2. Click ‘Settings.’
3. Select ‘Add an App.’
4. On the ‘Your Apps’ page, type survey into the search field and select the survey icon. 
5. Either input a title for your survey or select ‘Advanced Options’ in the ‘Adding Survey’ box and edit the specific settings you’d like to use. 
6. Complete an overview of the purpose or content of the survey in the description field to inform users of the questions they are being asked to answer (this is an optional field).
7. Choose the appropriate options, stating whether you’d like your survey results to show respondent names and whether you wish to allow multiple responses.
8. Click ‘Next.’
9. Enter your question in the ‘Next Question’ field. A few examples of the type of responses you want could be a single text line, a date, currency, or a yes or no tick box.
10. If a question is mandatory, you can select this option in the ‘Additional Question’ settings. You can also specify maximum character limits where applicable.

Once you have finished entering and formatting your questions, click ‘Finish’ to complete your survey. 

You can revisit the survey or edit through the ‘Quick Launch’ bar, where your survey name will be displayed under the recent files list.

Branching Logic in SharePoint Surveys

Branching logic can be tailored if you would like the survey to display alternative questions based on the answers provided. A simple example would be where a respondent answers ‘no’ to a question. Your branching logic then displays an additional question field to ask for further information about the reasons behind their response.

Branching logic is managed within the ‘Survey Settings’ tab and can only be adjusted after inputting your survey questions. Whether you’d like to circulate a survey to gather information before you create new SharePoint site assets or wish to extract responses to proposals, surveys can be anonymized, have varying permissions, or be replicated from the SharePoint site.

Circulating a Survey in SharePoint

Your survey will be available to all collaborators or coworkers within your SharePoint site and visible within the libraries and file lists. However, respondents must have appropriate permissions to participate in the survey.

Another option is to publish the survey on the SharePoint home page, inserting it as an ‘App Part.’ Users can also circulate a survey by messaging or emailing with a copy of the survey URL taken from the address bar and pasted into the message.

Note that a SharePoint survey sent to an external party will only be editable if they have permission to contribute to the applicable site.

In Conclusion

Surveys within SharePoint are a tool that can serve multiple purposes. The steps to create one may vary depending on the version of SharePoint you use. Regardless, it is easy to do and can provide powerful insights to make improvements to workflows and other aspects of a product or brand.