Closing & Reopening a Survey
In SurveyMethods you stop and start collecting responses at the collector level. Closing a collector turns off its link so no new responses come in, and you can reopen it whenever you’re ready to collect again.
Collector Statuses
Every collector shows a status pill on the Collect page so you can see at a glance whether it’s accepting responses.
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Draft | The collector is set up but hasn’t started collecting yet |
| Open | The collector is live and accepting responses |
| Closed | The collector is turned off; its link no longer works |
Closing a Collector
Closing is handled from inside the collector’s editor. For a web link or embedded collector:
- Open the Collect page for your survey.
- Click the collector you want to close to open its editor.
- Click the Close collector link.
Once closed, the collector’s status changes to Closed and anyone who visits the link will no longer be able to take the survey. Responses already collected are kept safe and remain available under Analyze.
Reopening a Collector
Reopening uses the same control, which toggles based on the current status:
- Open the Collect page and click the closed collector.
- Click the Open collector link.
The status returns to Open and the link starts accepting responses again. The link itself doesn’t change, so any invitation or web link you shared earlier will work once more.
Tips
- Closing one collector doesn’t affect the others. If you’re distributing the same survey by email and by web link, close each collector you want to stop.
- Web collectors are open by default as soon as you create them.
- Reopening reuses the original link, so there’s no need to redistribute a new URL.
Need help? Browse more articles in the Managing Surveys section.
Was this article helpful?