> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.zigpoll.com/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.zigpoll.com/tutorials/deleting-responses.md). # Deleting Survey Responses Remove test or unwanted responses while the survey stays live Clear every answer left by previewing or test-sending the survey in one step, delete a single response from the Answers page, or delete several of one person's responses from their participant page. The survey stays live with its questions and settings untouched, and its totals update straight away. You do not need to duplicate or archive the survey. {% hint style="warning" %} Deleting is permanent. There is no undo, trash, or restore for deleted responses, participants, or survey data. Export anything you may need first. See [Exporting Data to CSV](/tutorials/exporting-data-to-csv.md). {% endhint %} #### Clear preview responses Answers you leave while previewing a survey are recorded as previews rather than real responses. That covers the survey's **Preview** (the eye icon on its dashboard, or **Preview Survey** in its **⋯** menu), the preview link, the Shopify checkout and theme editors, the mobile SDK preview, and the links in **Send yourself a test** emails and texts. They do not count toward your plan, and they can all be removed together: 1. Open the survey's **⋯** menu, on your **Surveys** list or the survey's dashboard. 2. Choose **Clear Preview Responses**. 3. Confirm. Every preview answer to that survey is deleted and its totals come down to match. Real responses are not touched. The item is only shown while the survey has preview answers to clear, and it stays available for the life of the survey, so you can preview again after every change and clear again afterwards. A test that was not a preview, such as a colleague filling in the live survey or the live link opened from a campaign email, is a real response. Delete it with the steps below. #### Delete one response 1. Open **Answers** in the sidebar. From inside a survey or a question, its own Answers page lists only that survey's or question's answers. 2. Click a response to expand it. 3. Click the **⋯** menu in the top-right corner of the expanded response and choose **Delete Response**. 4. Confirm. The same menu has **Edit Response**, which changes the answer itself, and **Edit Metadata**, which adds, changes or removes the metadata stored on that response. See [Editing a Response](/tutorials/editing-responses.md) and [Survey Metadata](/embed/poll-metadata.md). #### Delete several of one participant's responses 1. Click **Participants**. From inside a survey, its own **Participants** page lists only the people who answered that survey. 2. Select the participant whose responses you want to remove. 3. Click **More Actions** under the participant's details, then click **Enable** under **Delete Responses**. 4. Tick the red checkbox next to each response you want to remove. 5. Click **Delete Selection**, then **Delete Responses** to confirm. Only the ticked responses are removed. The participant and their other responses stay. {% hint style="info" %} To remove a participant together with everything they have submitted, use **Delete Participant** on the same card. See [Removing Participant Data](/tutorials/removing-participant-data.md). {% endhint %} #### Start a survey over If the survey was created in the last 48 hours you can clear all of its data, previews and real responses alike, in one step. Open the survey's **⋯** menu, on your **Surveys** list or the survey's dashboard, and choose **Reset Survey Data**. This deletes every response to that survey and resets its answer totals, tiles and charts to zero. It cannot be undone. After 48 hours, Reset Survey Data is no longer offered. **Clear Preview Responses** still is, and anything that was not a preview goes one at a time or per participant as described above. #### Deleting many participants at once There is no bulk delete for participants. Each participant is deleted from their own page. For a new survey, **Reset Survey Data** clears everything in one step during its first 48 hours. For a larger cleanup on an older survey, such as a burst of bot traffic, contact . If you'd rather start fresh without deleting anything, duplicate the survey and use the copy. See [Editing Survey Questions](/tutorials/editing-survey-questions.md#making-large-changes-duplicate-then-swap). #### Ask Ziggy On a survey's dashboard, ask [Ziggy](/ask-ziggy.md) to *delete my test responses* and it opens the **Clear Preview Responses** confirmation when the survey has preview answers. From a participant's page, *delete this participant's test responses* switches on the checkboxes for you. On the dashboard of a survey that is under 48 hours old, *reset this survey's data* opens that confirmation. {% hint style="warning" %} Deleting responses lowers your dashboard totals, but it does not lower the number of responses counted toward your monthly plan limit. That count only resets on the 1st of the month. See [How We Calculate Responses](/subscription-plans/how-we-calculate-responses.md). {% endhint %} --- # Agent Instructions This documentation is published with GitBook. GitBook is the documentation platform designed so that both humans and AI agents can read, navigate, and reason over technical content effectively. Learn more at gitbook.com. ## Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation by asking a question. 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