Export form responses to CSV

One column per field

Columns are named after your field labels, in form order, with Submitted At at the front. The export pages through the whole response set rather than exporting the current page, so a form with four thousand responses exports four thousand rows.

How composite fields are written

They are joined into their single column rather than expanded. A matrix becomes each statement and its answer separated by pipes. An address becomes its parts joined by commas. A full name becomes one name. A table becomes a JSON array of the filled rows. Fill in the blank becomes the blank values separated by pipes.

Uploads and signatures

A signature writes as the literal text marking a signature image, and a recording writes as a note that a recording was uploaded. Files are not in the CSV, because a CSV cannot hold them. Download them from the responses table or take the response PDF, which merges attachments in.

Design for the export

If a question will be counted or averaged, ask it as its own choice field rather than as a row in a matrix, because a single choice field is already its own column. A matrix is friendlier to fill in and harder to analyse, and knowing that before you build the form is worth more than any amount of spreadsheet work afterwards.

The first column and the paging

Submitted At is the first column, then one column per field in the order the form asks them. The export walks every page of responses rather than writing the page you happen to be looking at, so a form with four thousand answers comes down as one file with four thousand rows. That is worth knowing before you filter the table and press export expecting the filter to apply.

Labels, not stored values

A choice field exports the option label a person actually saw, not an internal id, so the CSV reads the way the form read. Dates come out in the format the field was set to display. The rule is that the export should be legible to somebody who never saw the builder, which is usually the person you are sending the file to.

Design the form for the export

The shape of the file is decided when you build the form, not when you press export. A long text field becomes one wide column nobody can read in a spreadsheet. A matrix becomes one column of pipe separated answers. Three separate questions become three columns you can sort and filter. If the answers are going into a spreadsheet to be counted, ask them as fields that count.

How it works, in three steps

1. Step 1

   Name fields as you want the columns named

   The field label becomes the column heading, so a label that reads well on screen and badly in a spreadsheet is worth changing.

2. Step 2

   Export the whole set

   The export pages through every response, not the page on screen.

3. Step 3

   Split composites if you need to analyse them

   Matrix and address columns are joined in a fixed order, so splitting them in the spreadsheet is reliable.

The full walkthrough with screenshots is in the guide View, export and manage your responses.

Limits worth knowing

• One column per field. Composite fields are joined, not expanded.
• Uploaded files are not in the CSV. Take them from the responses table or the response PDF.
• Signatures and recordings are noted as text, not embedded.

See it on a finished piece

Customer feedback survey

6 fields

Conference registration form

11 fields

Course enrolment form

24 fields

Questions people ask

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