Scenario #1:

You created your survey, tested it in both Firefox and Internet Explorer web browsers, and found a strange occurrence. When viewing a particular page in Firefox, it displays completely and works perfectly. However, when looking at it in Internet Explorer, it seems to be ‘cut-off’ and not displayed properly.

Scenario #2:

Some of your survey takers are reporting being unable to complete the survey. All of there responses are Partials and seem to stop at a specific question number consistently. You take the survey yourself and don’t see the issue, it works properly. You notice that all or most of these users are using Internet Explorer.

The Joys of Microsoft Word

The above scenarios generate a lot of confusion, but the problem is simple to resolve. First, the explanation of the problem. Many surveys are first created in Microsoft Word 2003 or newer, and when those surveys are created within SurveyGizmo, the question titles are typically copied and pasted from Word into the question editor, which preserves some of the formatting. However, it also preserves all the extra data that you do not see that Microsoft Word has included in the copy/paste (example below). This is added to the webpage that displays your survey to respondents, and the Internet Explorer web browser fails to interpret it properly and stops displaying the page when it reaches that question, while Firefox, Safari, and Google Chrome browsers ignore it.

So what’s the solution?

If the paste has already occurred, and you need to fix your survey, you need to Advanced Edit the question and click the ‘SOURCE’ button in the toolbar. You will see something similar to the following at the very top of the source box:
Question Title Source Button

Word 2003

<meta content="text/html; charset=utf-8" http-equiv="Content-Type">
<meta content="Word.Document" name="ProgId">
<meta content="Microsoft Word 11" name="Generator">
<meta content="Microsoft Word 11" name="Originator">
<link href="file:///[...]" rel="File-List" /><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
.
.
.
</style>
<![endif]-->

Word 2007

<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8">
<meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document">
<meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 12">
<meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 12">
<link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:UsersLoriAppDataLocalTempmsohtmlclip1�1clip_filelist.xml" />
<link rel="themeData" href="file:///C:UsersLoriAppDataLocalTempmsohtmlclip1�1clip_themedata.thmx" />
<link rel="colorSchemeMapping" href="file:///C:UsersLoriAppDataLocalTempmsohtmlclip1�1clip_colorschememapping.xml" /><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:View>Normal</w:View>
.
.
.
</xml><![endif]-->

You need to delete all of this, leaving just your question, click OK, and then Save Changes. This will correct the survey for any new respondents.

How can I prevent this from happening?

Great news! The 3rd icon on the toolbar (from the left) is a Paste from Word icon. Paste From Word Icon
Pressing this, then pasting your copy from wording into this box will eliminate most of the extra text from Word, allowing your survey to work properly within Internet Explorer!

If you have any questions, please check out our community forums! See you in the new year!

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