Why do I have many empty responses in my Responses list?

Empty or open responses in your Responses list are normal when you share your assessment using an external link. Because Auto Create Response is enabled (which is required when sharing via an external link), a response is created automatically each time someone clicks the link, even if the person does not go on to answer any questions. This is why you may see a number of open or empty responses in the list.

These empty responses do not affect your reporting, and unanswered responses are not counted toward the Completed Response total used for your subscription.

If you would prefer to tidy up the list, you have two options.

Option 1: Hide empty responses

You can hide unanswered responses from the Responses list without deleting them.

1. Go to Site Settings.
2. Open the Design tab.
3. Enable the Hide Empty Responses checkbox.
4. Click Save.

This keeps your Responses view clean while external sharing continues to work correctly.

Option 2: Delete old unanswered responses

If you would prefer to remove them entirely:

1. Go to Responses.
2. Click the Delete Responses button.
3. Choose to delete unanswered responses older than a selected cutoff date. The cutoff defaults to two months ago. The system deletes only responses that have no answers at all.

This permanently removes the unanswered responses and cannot be undone.

For details on external links and Auto Create Response, see Linking Assessments to Your Website. For the Delete Responses button, see Response List Screen Explained.