Accessing Surveys
Super Admins can navigate to the Surveys section from the left-hand menu. Surveys have three statuses:
Scheduled (upcoming)
Running (currently active)
Ended (completed)
Admin Permissions
Survey permissions are split into two separate controls, which Super Admins can assign per Admin Role:
Survey creation – build and structure surveys.
Survey launch – set participants, launch surveys, and track submissions.
These can be granted independently or together, so one group of admins can build surveys while a different (or overlapping) group is responsible for setting participants and launching them.
Creating a New Survey
Click "Create New Survey" at the top of the page.
Build a survey using AI (enter a prompt and receive a complete, ready-to-use survey tailored to your needs), choose a blank survey or duplicate an existing one (useful for onboarding check-ins.)
Importing a Survey
You can efficiently migrate your existing surveys into Shapes by importing them directly from Excel (.xlsx) or CSV files. This eliminates the need to manually rebuild your surveys.
Navigate to Surveys and select Import.
Upload your source file (Excel or CSV).
Fill in the required survey details.
Once uploaded, the AI will automatically map the columns from your file to the corresponding fields in Shapes — no manual mapping needed.
Customizing Your Survey
You can now configure:
Name and description
Privacy: Choose between identifiable responses (linked to employees) or if the survey will be anonymous
Building the Survey
Add your logo, title and description
Use the question bank or create your own:
Long text
Rating scales
Single or multiple choice
Add content blocks to organize by topic
Mark questions as required, if needed
To remove a question, just click and delete it
Assigning Participants
Choose who should receive the survey:
All employees
Specific offices (e.g., London)
Selected teams (e.g., Marketing, or everyone except Marketing)
Individual employees
Launching the Survey
Click Preview to review the form from the employee's point of view.
Once ready, click Create.
Set the start and end dates by clicking on Launch Survey.
Employees will receive an email and find the survey in their assigned tasks.
Launch Type: Fixed Dates or Dynamic Anchor Date
When launching a survey, choose between two ways of setting participant timelines:
Fixed dates – the same start and end date apply to every participant.
Dynamic anchor date – each participant's survey launches automatically based on their own lifecycle date (e.g. Start Date or Date of Birth), instead of one fixed date for everyone.
For a dynamic anchor date survey, set:
Launch trigger – how long after (or before) the anchor date the survey should launch for each participant, e.g. "1 day after Date of Birth."
Completion time – how long each participant has to complete the survey once it launches, e.g. "1 week."
Example: with a launch trigger of 1 day after Date of Birth and a completion time of 1 week, each participant's survey starts the day after their birthday and stays open for a week.
Recurring Surveys
A fixed-date survey can be set to repeat automatically on a schedule instead of being recreated manually each time. Toggle on Repeat this survey and set how often it repeats (e.g. every quarter).
Choose how the recurrence ends:
After a set number of occurrences
On a specific date
Ongoing, with no end date
Each occurrence appears as its own entry in the Surveys table, labeled with its occurrence number, so you can track the survey's history at a glance.
Good to know: Recurrence is only available for fixed-date surveys.
Completing the Survey
Participants can:
Click into their Assigned Tasks
Fill in the survey
Submit their responses, which will then be recorded
Managing Responses & Insights
Super Admins can track who has submitted vs. who hasn't.
You can access insights that provide an AI-generated summary of responses.
Insights also show breakdowns in terms of:
Submissions
Average rating by job, team and office
Free text answers
In case the survey is anonymous, the result will be masked.
