Hash URLs help ensure the security and integrity of your survey by preventing unauthorised access and enhancing data confidentiality. They protect your surveys by encrypting survey links with unique codes. They add an extra layer of security, making it difficult for anyone to tamper with or forge the survey links, making your surveys secure and reliable.
Availability :
Hash URL feature is accessible to all paid plan users.
Safeguarding Survey Data with Hash URLs !
Education/Recruitment :
In educational institutions or job recruitment processes, tests and online interviews are conducted to assess candidates' knowledge and skills. It ensures that only the invited candidates can access the assessment materials or interview questions, reducing the risk of cheating or unauthorized access. It helps maintain fairness and reliability in the evaluation process.
Banks:
By implementing hash URLs in surveys, banks can protect the confidentiality of customer data. Only customers with the right hash value (secret code) can access and provide feedback, ensuring that sensitive information remains secure.
Healthcare:
By using hash URLs in surveys, healthcare providers can maintain the privacy and security of patient responses. Only patients with the right hash value can access the survey, ensuring that their personal health information remains confidential.
Airlines:
By incorporating hash URLs into surveys, airlines can ensure that only their actual passengers can provide feedback. This prevents unauthorized individuals from accessing the survey and submitting false or misleading responses.
How to add Hash Algorithm
To set up Hash URL for your survey:
- Click the Setup icon in the user info widget.
- Under the Portal Setup section, click the Hash Algorithm tab. You will be redirected to the Create Algorithm dialog box. Only portal admins will be able to access this.
- Enter the Hash name, choose the algorithm type (SHA-1, SHA-256, SHA-512) based on your requirement.
- Enter the password under the Secret Key tab.
Click Save to create the Hash algorithm. You can add unlimited Hash algorithms for your survey portal account.

Note :
Zoho Survey generates hashed data output only in the hexadecimal format.
SHA-1, SHA-256, and SHA-512 are hash algorithms that produce fixed-size hash values (160-bit, 256-bit, and 512-bit respectively) used for various security applications. To edit the Hash Algorithms:
- Click the Setup icon in the user info widget.
- Under the Portal Setup section, click the Hash Algorithm tab.
- Hover above the respective Hash and click the Edit icon (pencil icon) to modify the Hash algorithm.
You can modify the Hash name and secret key, choose the algorithm type (SHA-1, SHA-256, SHA-512) based on your requirement.
- Click Save.
To delete the Hash Algorithms :
- Click the Setup icon in the user info widget.
- Under the Portal Setup section, click the Hash Algorithm button.
- Hover above the respective Hash and click on the edit icon (pencil icon) to modify the Hash algorithm.
You can modify the Hash name and secret key, choose the algorithm type (SHA-1, SHA-256, SHA-512) based on your requirement.
- Click Yes to delete it.
To enable Hash URLS for your survey:
- Go to the Launch tab.
- In the left pane, click on the Hash URLs tab.
- Click enable, select any one of the Hash Algorithms already you created in the Portal setup.
- Click the Save button.

Note:
- Zoho Survey supports hash URLs, but you need to generate the hash using a third-party app. Once you have the hash, you can combine it with your survey link for secure sharing.
- Zoho Survey supports hashes that are generated along with secret keys or passwords.
- Here are a few third-party apps you may find helpful for generating a hash:
Devglan.com, Freeformatter.com, or Codebeautify.
To share the Hash URL survey links:
- Go to the Launch tab.
- In the left pane, under the Access tab, Locate the survey's URL in the Online section.
- You can simply append the generated hash to the end of your survey link and share it with your respondents.
- For Example :
- Your Survey URL: https://survey.zohopublic.com/zs/m6Rgfh?name=john
- Your appended Survey URL: https://survey.zohopublic.com/zs/m6Rgfh?name=john&hash=87b6e8c2f5b4c01ae6ef6365e
- To add a hash to your survey URL, you can generate a hash from/zs till the end of your survey URL using a reliable third-party application.
- For example, let's say from/zs till the end of your survey URL "/zs/m6Rgfh?name=john," and you generate a hash using a third-party app, resulting in "87b6e8c2f5b4c01ae6ef6365e".
- To create the survey URL with the hash, append the custom variable to the survey URL, followed by "&hash" and the generated hash.
- When manually constructing the URL, ensure that you include the custom variable "name=john" and append "&hash" followed by the generated hash (e.g., &hash=87b6e8c2f5b4c01ae6ef6365e).
To view the responses collected using Hash URLs:
- Click Reports on the left pane.
- Click Individual Responses.
- Click Survey Link accessed by the respondent. You can view the respondent's survey accessed link.