--- title: Survey External Fields description: The Survey External Fields feature allows you to pull in data from external sources and apply it in your survey. Discover it now👉 --- [Skip to content](https://help.pointerpro.com/survey-external-fields#main-content) [![Pointerpro-logo](https://help.pointerpro.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Pointerpro-logo.png?width=188&height=53&name=Pointerpro-logo.png)](https://pointerpro.com/) - [Getting started](https://help.pointerpro.com/how-to-get-started-with-pointerpro) - [Pricing](https://pointerpro.com/pricing) - [Customer stories](https://pointerpro.com/case-studies) Open main navigation Close main navigation - [Getting started](https://help.pointerpro.com/how-to-get-started-with-pointerpro) - [Pricing](https://pointerpro.com/pricing) - [Customer stories](https://pointerpro.com/case-studies) - [New here? Explore what Pointerpro can do](https://www.pointerpro.com/) [New here? Explore what Pointerpro can do](https://www.pointerpro.com/) How can we help you? - There are no suggestions because the search field is empty. 1. [Knowledge Base](https://help.pointerpro.com/?hsLang=en) 2. [Extra Options](https://help.pointerpro.com/extra-options?hsLang=en) 3. [Integrations & API](https://help.pointerpro.com/extra-options?hsLang=en#integrations-api) # Survey External Fields ## Survey External Fields allow you to read data from another data source and apply it in your questionnaire. The External fields feature allows you to pull in data from other data sources, such as a spreadsheet, and pull it back into our software. ##### You'll need this: - One of these Pointerpro plans: ![](https://assets.pointerpro.com/custom/help-guide/Pointerpro+icon+Grey.svg)  Professional         ![](https://assets.pointerpro.com/custom/help-guide/Pointerpro+icon+Grey.svg)  Enterprise         ![](https://assets.pointerpro.com/custom/help-guide/Pointerpro+icon+Orange.svg)  ReportR         ![](https://assets.pointerpro.com/custom/help-guide/Pointerpro+icon+Orange.svg)  DistributR --- You can use this feature to calculate a score and match it outside the software to, later on, use the value in your Outcomes, Final Screen, or Questions. ##### On this help guide page: 1. [Set up External Fields](https://help.pointerpro.com/survey-external-fields#set-up) 2. [External Fields in Survey](https://help.pointerpro.com/survey-external-fields#external) 3. [Activate API key](https://help.pointerpro.com/survey-external-fields#activate) --- #### 1. Set up External Fields First, you need to set up your external fields. Refer to this article for more details on how to do this: [External Fields](https://help.pointerpro.com/migration/knowledge/external-fields?hsLang=en).    #### 2. External Fields in Survey Go back to your questionnaire and click on the Extra options tab. Scroll down to the Integrations and click External Fields. ![Survey External Fields- enable external fields](https://help.pointerpro.com/hs-fs/hubfs/image-png-Jun-05-2026-08-32-36-5423-PM.png?width=670&height=235&name=image-png-Jun-05-2026-08-32-36-5423-PM.png) Once you toggle the button, you can add your fields. Click Add field and choose the field you want to use. ![](https://help.pointerpro.com/hs-fs/hubfs/image-png-Jun-05-2026-08-33-53-1095-PM.png?width=670&height=269&name=image-png-Jun-05-2026-08-33-53-1095-PM.png) Now you can copy-paste your External Field variable and use it in your Outcomes, Final page, or Questions. #### 3. Activate API Key One more thing you'll need to do for the feature to work is to use an API key. Check if you have one by going to My Account \> API & Integrations. Scroll down to Technical info. If you see an API key already there, that's great! If not, click generate an API key - and that's all! Just hitting generate is enough and the feature is ready! ![](https://help.pointerpro.com/hs-fs/hubfs/image-png-Jun-07-2026-08-11-22-9031-PM.png?width=480&height=282&name=image-png-Jun-07-2026-08-11-22-9031-PM.png)   WARNING   It is not possible to reference External Fields with Filter Sheet values or Compare Sheet values active. The reason for this is that external fields with the filter & compare active would have too big an impact for lookup at the start of the questionnaire. WARNING   The number of External Fields that can be referenced on a questionnaire is limited to 100 #### What's next? - [Google Tag Manager](https://help.pointerpro.com/migration/knowledge/google-tag-manager?hsLang=en) is a tag system that can be used for tracking and analytics on websites. It can be used to track respondents' behavior in your questionnaire or to find out how effective an advert promoting your questionnaire has been. - [Zapier](https://help.pointerpro.com/migration/knowledge/zapier-integration?hsLang=en) is a tool that enables the transfer of data from one web app to another one. By using Zapier, you can send the data collected within your questionnaire to create contacts in Pointerpor or send data to apps such as Mailchimp, Salesforce, Trello, and many more. For example, to transfer email addresses collected in a questionnaire to a Mailchimp email list. - [Integromat](https://help.pointerpro.com/migration/knowledge/make-formerly-integromat-integration?hsLang=en) allows you to automate many processes and simplifies the transfer of information between apps, saving you bags of time! Integromat offers similar features to Zapier but is more powerful as you can set a single event to trigger a number of different actions to be taken simultaneously. - [Getting Started](https://help.pointerpro.com/getting-started?hsLang=en#main-content) - [Getting Started](https://help.pointerpro.com/getting-started?hsLang=en#getting-started) - [How To Guides](https://help.pointerpro.com/getting-started?hsLang=en#how-to-guides) - [Glossary](https://help.pointerpro.com/getting-started?hsLang=en#glossary) - [Build & Design](https://help.pointerpro.com/build-design?hsLang=en#main-content) - [Intro Screen & Final Screen](https://help.pointerpro.com/build-design?hsLang=en#intro-screen-final-screen) - [Question Types](https://help.pointerpro.com/build-design?hsLang=en#question-types) - [Media & Variables](https://help.pointerpro.com/build-design?hsLang=en#media-variables) - [Design your survey](https://help.pointerpro.com/build-design?hsLang=en#design-your-survey) - [Campaigns](https://help.pointerpro.com/build-design?hsLang=en#campaigns) - [FAQ](https://help.pointerpro.com/build-design?hsLang=en#faq) - [Extra Options](https://help.pointerpro.com/extra-options?hsLang=en#main-content) - [Text options](https://help.pointerpro.com/extra-options?hsLang=en#text-options) - [Question logic](https://help.pointerpro.com/extra-options?hsLang=en#question-logic) - [Custom scoring](https://help.pointerpro.com/extra-options?hsLang=en#custom-scoring) - [Quiz Options](https://help.pointerpro.com/extra-options?hsLang=en#quiz-options) - [Kiosk mode options](https://help.pointerpro.com/extra-options?hsLang=en#kiosk-mode-options) - [Data collection options](https://help.pointerpro.com/extra-options?hsLang=en#data-collection-options) - [Other options](https://help.pointerpro.com/extra-options?hsLang=en#other-options) - [Integrations & API](https://help.pointerpro.com/extra-options?hsLang=en#integrations-api) - [FAQ](https://help.pointerpro.com/extra-options?hsLang=en#faq) - [Share & Results](https://help.pointerpro.com/share-results?hsLang=en#main-content) - [Sharing your questionnaire](https://help.pointerpro.com/share-results?hsLang=en#sharing-your-questionnaire) - [View Results](https://help.pointerpro.com/share-results?hsLang=en#view-results) - [Results Dashboard](https://help.pointerpro.com/share-results?hsLang=en#results-dashboard) - [Uploading and Downloading Results](https://help.pointerpro.com/share-results?hsLang=en#uploading-and-downloading-results) - [FAQ](https://help.pointerpro.com/share-results?hsLang=en#faq) - [Report Builder](https://help.pointerpro.com/report-builder?hsLang=en#main-content) - [General](https://help.pointerpro.com/report-builder?hsLang=en#general) - [Widgets](https://help.pointerpro.com/report-builder?hsLang=en#widgets) - [Aggregate Reports](https://help.pointerpro.com/report-builder?hsLang=en#aggregate-reports) - [FAQ](https://help.pointerpro.com/report-builder?hsLang=en#faq) - [Legacy Report Builder \[deprecated\]](https://help.pointerpro.com/report-builder?hsLang=en#legacy-report-builder-deprecated) - [Dashboard Builder](https://help.pointerpro.com/dashboard-builder?hsLang=en#main-content) - [General](https://help.pointerpro.com/dashboard-builder?hsLang=en#general) - [Widgets items](https://help.pointerpro.com/dashboard-builder?hsLang=en#widgets-items) - [Distribution Portal](https://help.pointerpro.com/distribution-portal?hsLang=en#main-content) - [Configuration](https://help.pointerpro.com/distribution-portal?hsLang=en#configuration) - [Management & Administration](https://help.pointerpro.com/management-administration?hsLang=en#main-content) - [Account & Billing](https://help.pointerpro.com/management-administration?hsLang=en#account-billing) - [GDPR compliance](https://help.pointerpro.com/management-administration?hsLang=en#gdpr-compliance) - [FAQ](https://help.pointerpro.com/management-administration?hsLang=en#faq) [![Pointerpro-logo](https://help.pointerpro.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Pointerpro-logo.png?width=140&height=39&name=Pointerpro-logo.png "Pointerpro-logo")](http://pointerpro.com) Can't find what you're looking for? 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