# Preview, publish and change a live survey

> Check your survey as customers see it, publish it to start collecting responses, and update it later without changing its links.

Source: https://docs.hearsay.co.in/build/publish

A survey is a **Draft** (only your team can see it) until you publish it. Publishing gives it a public link.

## Preview

- The **Live preview** in the editor lets you answer the survey to test it; nothing is saved.
- **Preview** in the editor header (or in a survey's **More actions** menu) opens it on its own page, exactly as customers see it. **Open live survey** there opens the real link once it's published.

![The café survey as customers see it](https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/hearsay-53fed.firebasestorage.app/o/docs%2Fshots%2Fsurvey-preview%2Fda5733c36cb165df.webp?alt=media "Previewing a survey")

## Publish

1. In the editor, choose **Publish**.
2. You'll see **Your survey is live**, with **Copy link**, **Open survey** and **Share**.

From the same screen you can **Add channel** to track where responses come from, **Get embed code** for your website, or build **Personalised links**. See [Survey links and channels](https://docs.hearsay.co.in/share/links-and-channels).

You can also publish from the **Surveys** page: open the survey's **More actions** menu and choose **Publish**.

## Fix before publishing

If something would break the survey, Hearsay lists it under **Fix before publishing** and won't publish until it's fixed. For example:

- **Add a title.** or **Add at least one question.**
- **Question 3 needs text.** or **Question 4 needs options.**
- **Page 2 has no questions.**
- **Page 3 jumps back to page 1. Jumps can only go forward.**
- **Question 5 depends on question 6, which comes after it.**
- A link field or piped answer that doesn't exist, or that comes from the same page.
- A feature your plan doesn't include, such as **Redirects after completion are available on Pro and above.**

If your workspace has used all of this month's responses, publishing waits until the 1st or until you upgrade. See [Monthly limits](https://docs.hearsay.co.in/billing/monthly-limits).

## Change a live survey

Edit it in the editor as usual. Your changes are saved but customers keep seeing the previous version until you choose **Publish changes**. Then you'll see **Your changes are live**: customers see the new version and **your links stay the same**.

Each publish creates a new version of the survey. Results keep every response, and you can filter by **Survey version** if you need to compare before and after a change. See [Filter results](https://docs.hearsay.co.in/results/filters).

> **Tip: Changing a question's meaning**
>
> If you change what a question asks, results mix answers to the old and new wording. For a big change, consider a new survey instead.