This guide follows one paper survey from an empty page to finished charts: you design it, print it, scan the completed forms, and PaperSurvey reads the answers for you.
| Step | Where | What you do |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Create the survey | Create Survey | Name it and pick a design |
| 2. Add your questions | Setup tab | Add questions and watch the paper preview |
| 3. Print the forms | Print tab | Create a version and download the PDF |
| 4. Scan and upload | Upload tab | Drop in scanned or photographed pages |
| 5. Check what was read | Verify tab | Confirm the few answers that need a person |
| 6. Browse and export responses | Responses tab | See every response, filter, export |
| 7. Analyze the results | Analysis tab | Charts, comparisons and shareable reports |
The sections marked More about... open up for detail you can come back to later.
1. Create the survey
On the Surveys page, click Create Survey. Give the survey a name, choose its language, and pick a design. The design sets the fonts and colours of the printed form, and you can change it later in the survey settings. Click Create and the survey opens in the editor.
More about creating a survey
- Start from a template. Start from a template instead, below the designs, opens ready-made surveys for feedback, events, staff, education, health and more. Every question in a template can be edited.
- Language matters for paper. Pick the language the respondents read. It decides the printed instructions and lets special characters such as tildes or non-Latin scripts print correctly. One survey can also hold several languages, see multi-language paper surveys.
- Folders keep a long survey list tidy. See using folders to organize surveys.
- Reuse an existing survey. To start from a survey you already have, duplicate it instead. See survey duplication.
2. Add your questions
Click Add question to open the question picker. The most used types sit at the top, every type is listed by group below, and you can search by name. Import from another survey… at the bottom copies questions you already wrote.
Each question is a card. Type the question text, add the answer options (Add several… takes a pasted list, one option per line), and choose how many options sit on one line. The Preview panel on the right shows the printed page as last saved, and updates after each save. Click Save when you are done; the toolbar says All changes saved once everything is stored.
More about building questions
- Question types. Single and multiple choice, grids, rating scales, Net Promoter Score, short and long text, numbers, dates, signatures and more. See question types and examples.
- Handwriting. Short Text, Long Text, Email, Number and Date questions are read from handwriting. The recognition setting on each question decides how it is read. See text recognition modes.
- Required answers and skip logic. The Required switch on each card applies to the web form. Skip logic hides questions online based on earlier answers, and on paper it prints "skip to" hints instead. See skip logic.
- Structure. Headings, descriptions, boxes and sections split a long survey into parts. More settings on each card holds the less common options.
- Page size and layout. Margins, fonts, colours, columns and Fit to pages live in Settings › Layout. See multi-column layout and sizes and units.
- The Preview tab shows the full printable PDF at any time. It carries a PREVIEW watermark, so never print or scan from it. Print from the Print tab instead.
3. Print the forms
Open the Print tab and click Create a version for printing. A version is a frozen copy of the survey's printed layout, so forms that are already out with respondents can always be read back. Click Print next to the version, then Download, and print the PDF on any printer.
Every page carries four corner marks and a QR code, highlighted in orange below. They tell PaperSurvey which survey and page it is looking at and how the page lies on the scan, so they must be printed in full and must still be visible when the page is scanned. Respondents fill in the form with a blue or black pen.
More about printing
- Single-page surveys download as one PDF, and you print as many copies as you need.
- Multi-page surveys ask how many copies to make. Each copy gets its own identifier, so pages can be scanned in any order and are still put back together per respondent. Single-page surveys can do the same if you turn on unique page marking. See unique survey identifiers.
- Print at 100% scale. "Fit to page" or "shrink to fit" in the printer dialog can cut off the corner marks. Black and white printing is fine, see do I need to print in color.
- Edited the survey after printing? Create a new version before printing again. Older versions stay available and their forms are still read correctly.
- Avoid photocopies where you can. Each copy loses detail. See can paper surveys be photocopied.
- Prefilled copies. To print names, events or IDs on each copy from a spreadsheet, see Prefill.
Collecting online as well? The same survey can also be answered as a web form. Turn on Activate in Settings › Web Surveys and share the link or its QR code. Web answers need no scanning and land in the same table and charts as paper ones. See Your First Web Survey.
4. Scan and upload
Scan the completed forms and open the Upload tab. Drag the files onto the drop area, or click to choose them. PDF, JPEG, PNG, HEIF and TIFF all work, and one PDF can hold the whole stack. PaperSurvey finds the survey and page from the QR code and starts reading the answers straight away.
More about scanning
- Scanner settings. Grayscale at 300 DPI gives the best results, and a document feeder saves a lot of time. See recommended scanner settings.
- Orientation does not matter. Pages can be upside down or sideways. All four corners must be visible, see do all corners need to be visible.
- No scanner? A phone's document scanner works well. See photos taken by a phone.
- Other ways in. Your account has its own upload email address, shown at the top of the Upload tab, and Dropbox can feed uploads too. See email upload and Dropbox.
- Pages that cannot be read are listed below the upload area with Fix them step by step. See why are my surveys not recognized.
- Tags. The tag box above the drop area labels every response in the upload, for example with a site or a wave. See tag survey responses.
5. Check what was read
Most answers need no attention. When PaperSurvey is unsure, the answer goes to the Verify tab with the scanned box beside it, and you confirm or correct it with a click. An answer is flagged when recognition accuracy is low, when more than one box is crossed in a single-choice question, or when a value does not match the expected format, such as a date.
When the Verify tab says there are no responses to verify, everything has been read and every response is in Responses.
More about checking answers
- Review every answer. The Review tab lists every recognized answer beside the part of the page it was read from, flagged or not, so you can spot patterns. See reviewing recognized answers.
- Share the work. Several people can verify at the same time. See how multiple users can verify responses.
- Fix a response later. See editing responses.
- Handwriting. See what languages are supported in handwriting recognition.
6. Browse and export responses
The Responses tab is one table with a row per response and a column per question, paper and web together. Sort and filter any column, narrow by date, and turn on Edit to correct a value in place.
Click Export to download the data as Excel, CSV, SPSS, R, SAS or Stata.
More about responses and exports
- Filtering. See filtering survey responses.
- Export options. Choose whether cells hold the answer text or codes, and rename or reorder columns. See exporting survey data and customizing export columns.
- Live connections. Send each new response to Google Sheets, Zapier or your own system. See Google Sheets, Zapier and webhooks.
- Removing responses. See how to remove survey responses.
7. Analyze the results
The Analysis tab charts every question as soon as responses arrive, with counts, percentages and summary statistics beside each chart. Switch the chart type with the buttons under each chart, and filter by date or by an answer to see one group at a time. Net Promoter Score questions also show the NPS score.
- Results charts every question.
- Compare Responses puts groups side by side, such as two sites or two waves, with significance tests.
- Report arranges charts, headings and text into a dashboard that you can share with a link or export to PowerPoint.
More about analysis
- Reports and sharing. See creating an analysis dashboard and sharing analysis views.
- Slides. See exporting charts as PowerPoint.
- Chart types. See available chart types.
- Statistics. See measuring NPS, Likert scale data and comparing groups.
- Tests and quizzes. Answer keys grade each form automatically. See setting up grading and answer keys.
Next steps
- Your First Paper Survey, a slower walkthrough of the paper route
- Your First Web Survey, to collect answers online with a link or QR code
- Prefill, to print or send personalized copies from a spreadsheet
- Inviting users to your account, to bring colleagues in