PaperSurvey uses QR codes on printed surveys to identify pages and link them to the correct survey. These QR codes are added automatically and should not be removed.
Automatic QR codes
Every printed survey includes at least one QR code at the bottom-right corner of each page. This QR code contains information that PaperSurvey uses to:
- Identify which survey the page belongs to
- Match the page to the correct entry
- Link multi-page surveys together
If you have Unique page marking enabled, a second QR code appears at the bottom-left corner of each page to uniquely identify individual copies.
Linking to your web survey
If web surveys are enabled, you do not need an external generator to point respondents to the online version. Type the [websurvey_qrcode] shortcode into any text on your survey, such as a heading, description block, or footer, and PaperSurvey prints a QR code that links to your web survey (or your custom domain, if one is configured). The code is 15 mm tall by default; add a height parameter to resize it, for example [websurvey_qrcode height=20mm]. The [link] shortcode prints the web survey address as text instead.
Adding your own QR codes
If you want to add a QR code that links to another website or resource, you can:
- Generate a QR code using any free QR code generator online
- Save it as an image (PNG or JPEG)
- Upload it in the Image Manager and place it in your survey using the generated
[img]shortcode
Place your custom QR code in a heading or description block. Make sure it does not overlap with the automatic PaperSurvey QR codes at the bottom of the page. The Image Manager is available on plans that include image uploads.
Important notes
- Do not remove the automatic QR codes. They are required for survey processing.
- Do not cover the corner markers on the page. PaperSurvey uses these for alignment.
- Custom QR codes are treated as images and are not processed by PaperSurvey's recognition engine.