A shared print link is a public page where anyone you send it to can generate their own paper survey copies, and if you allow it, upload the completed forms back to you. They do not need a PaperSurvey account, and you do not need to print and post forms on their behalf.
It is built for distributed collection: a survey run across many schools, clinics, branches or field teams, where each site prints what it needs, when it needs it.
Why Not Just Send the PDF?
If your survey uses unique identifiers or Prefill Forms, every printed copy is different. A single PDF printed twice, or photocopied, produces duplicate identifiers. A shared print link generates a fresh set of copies each time, so every sheet stays unique.
If your survey has no identifiers, you can simply share the PDF instead.
Create a Shared Print Link
- Open Prints and choose Share print page, or go straight to the Share Print Page. You can also follow Share a public link to generate copies from a survey's Create Copies page.
- Click Share in the top right corner.
- Fill in the form:
- Survey: the survey to print. It must already have a printable version on its Print page.
- Version (optional): restrict the link to one version. Leave it empty to let the person printing choose. If the survey uses Advanced Versioning or several languages, they pick from the available versions. Otherwise the latest version is printed.
- Prefill Forms (optional): pick a dataset so the person printing selects one row, and every copy is pre-filled with that row's values.
- Allow custom (only with Prefill Forms): instead of picking an existing row, the person types the values themselves, with suggestions from the existing data. A new row is added to your dataset if it does not exist yet.
- Tags (optional): added to every copy generated through the link. See Tags on a shared link below.
- Message (optional): replaces the default note shown at the top of the page. A good place for site-specific instructions or a contact person.
- Allow uploads: lets visitors upload completed scans through the same page.
- Click Create, then click Copy link in the Link column and send it to whoever needs to print.
You can create as many links as you like, for example one per site or one per wave, each with its own tags and message.
What the Person Printing Sees
The page shows your first name, the survey name and your message. To generate copies they:
- Pick the version, dataset row, or prefilled values, if your link asks for them.
- Enter the number of Copies.
- Optionally fill in the rest:
- Your email: they get a download link when the file is ready, so they can close the page. Required above 300 copies.
- Instructions: adds a front page explaining how to print, scan and upload the copies.
- Two-sided (Duplex) Printing and Keep cover page separate: shown when the survey has a cover or front page.
- Copies per file: splits a large request into a ZIP of smaller PDFs. For example, 500 copies at 50 per file gives 10 PDFs.
- Identifier prefix: adds a prefix to each copy's identifier, such as
ABC_1,ABC_2. Letters, numbers, underscores and dashes only, up to 15 characters.
- Click Make Copies, wait for the progress bar, and download the file.
The page reminds them to print the generated PDF once. If they need more copies later, they come back to the same link and generate a new set.
Limits
- Up to 1,000 copies per request. Larger runs can be split into several requests.
- While your account is on a trial, up to 50 copies per request.
- The link only works while your subscription is active. If it lapses, visitors see a message asking them to contact you.
Let Others Upload Completed Forms
With Allow uploads switched on, the page gets a second Upload tab. Visitors can drag in PDF, JPEG, PNG, TIFF or HEIC files, several at once, and the scans are processed exactly as if you had uploaded them yourself. They appear on your Uploads page, and the responses appear on the survey.
The tab repeats the key scanning advice: keep all four corner marks visible, scan at 300 DPI (grayscale PDF works well), and use a scanning app such as Apple Notes, Microsoft Lens or Adobe Scan when capturing with a phone. See Recommended scanner settings for more.
You can switch uploads on or off at any time with the Uploads button in the list, without changing the link.
Tags on a Shared Link
Tags on a link are copied onto every batch generated through it, so every response scanned from those copies carries them. Use Key:Value tags such as Site:North Clinic and each key becomes its own export column. If the person printing switches on Instructions, the front page lists these tags so whoever hands out the forms knows how responses will be labelled.
Changing a link's tags only affects copies generated afterwards. That way a link you reuse for the next wave does not relabel the last one. To fix responses from earlier copies, filter the Responses page by the old tag, then use Bulk actions and Update Tag.
Scans uploaded through the link's Upload tab are not tagged by the link itself. They are tagged by the copies they came from.
Read more in How do I tag survey responses?
Add the Link to Printed Instructions Automatically
When you generate copies yourself, you can have the instructions front page point people to a shared link. In Create Copies, open Customize instructions and switch on Include link to print more copies (no login needed), and optionally Include link to upload scans (no login needed).
PaperSurvey then prints a "Need more copies?" link on each instructions page. It reuses an active, untagged link for that survey if you have one, and creates one for you otherwise. Automatically created links appear on the Share Print Page like any other.
Manage Your Links
The Share Print Page lists every link with its survey, version, dataset, tags and the number of Generated Copies.
- Edit a link to change its tags, message or other settings. The URL stays the same.
- Status switches a link between Active and Inactive. An inactive link stops working immediately, and instruction pages generated afterwards will not advertise it. Switch it back on to restore the same URL.
- Uploads switches the Upload tab on or off.
Anyone with the link can generate copies, so treat it like any shareable link and deactivate it once collection is over.
Custom Domains
If your team has a custom domain set up, shared print links also work on that domain, so the page people visit carries your own address.
Common Questions
Do people need to sign up? No. Anyone with the link can generate copies and, if enabled, upload scans.
Can two sites use the same link? Yes. Every request generates new copies with new identifiers, so there are no clashes. Use a separate link per site if you want each site's responses tagged differently.
Where do the generated copies show up in my account? Responses from those copies appear on the survey's Responses page as they are scanned. Batches generated through a shared link are not listed on your Prints page, so use the Generated Copies count on the Share Print Page to see how much each link has been used.
Can I see who generated copies? The page does not ask for a name. If an email address is entered, it is only used to send the download link.