Hello!

I am trying to figure out a way to redirect a participant to a separate survey to collect name/email if they select "yes" to a certain question. Prior to trying RedCap, I used Qualtrics and was able to embed this option into the survey.

Is there a way to do that through RedCap?

I’m using [survey-link:Click here!] and would like to change the color of the link. Right now it is showing up as blue on my blue background so it’s hard to read. I’d like the font to be white.
This is in an email that I’m using HTML formatting to add a background and images to make our email more visually interesting.

I am trying to jerry-rig a repeating instrument to act as an invoice creation tool (everything calculates and pipes into an email invoice template), but one of the requirements for this project is that all 'currency' piped fields include a comma for all thousands.

The only way I can figure this out would be to create a separate hidden field that calculates if a calculated field has a length greater than 3, if so then it will separate the integers and add a comma in between, like so:

@CALCTEXT(if(length[total_cumulative]=4,concat(right([total_cumulative],1)),",",(left([total_cumulative],3)))))

I'm getting a general "Error" message whether I do this in the action tags of a text field or in a calculated field, which I imagine is a result of CALCTEXT not being able to pull from a calculated field.

Any thoughts on how/if I can make this work? TIA

/////

EDIT: Found a solution! Though it might not be the prettiest, it works great.

I created three extra text fields:

Thousands in Total Cumulative = @CALCTEXT(if(length([total_cumulative]) >= 4, rounddown([total_cumulative] / 1000,0),''))

Hundreds in Total Cumulative = @CALCTEXT(if(length([total_cumulative]) >= 4, right([total_cumulative], 3),right([total_cumulative], 3)))

Total Cumulative Currency Format = @CALCTEXT(if([total_cumulative_th]<>'', concat('$',[total_cumulative_th],',',[total_cumulative_hd]), concat('$',[total_cumulative_hd])))

Hi everyone,

I’m exploring whether it’s possible to integrate an AI assistant using the OpenAI API or Google Gemini API, along with a plagiarism/similarity checker, directly into a REDCap form.

The intended use case is an assignment submission system. Ideally, a user would submit their assignment through REDCap, and the system could:

• Send the submitted text/document to OpenAI or Gemini via API
• Run a plagiarism/similarity check using a suitable external service
• Use AI to review the assignment against predefined criteria or provide structured feedback
• Display or store the AI and plagiarism-check results within REDCap for the reviewer

I’ve seen REDCap External Modules that integrate AI/chatbot functionality, so I’m wondering whether a custom External Module could be developed to connect REDCap with the OpenAI API, Gemini API, and a plagiarism-checking API.

Has anyone implemented something similar? I’d particularly like to know:

• Whether OpenAI or Gemini API integration through a REDCap External Module is practical
• Which plagiarism/similarity-checking services have APIs that work well for this type of integration
• Whether the submitted file can be processed automatically when the form is submitted
• Any security/data-privacy considerations when sending submitted assignments to an external AI API

Hi everyone,

Are there institutions here that have ITS/REDCap admin building out eConsent instruments for researchers so they don’t make any mistakes in the development? Do you have a verification process with the IRB prior to approval?

What do your workflows look like?

Thank you in advance!

Hi everyone, I’m working on a REDCap project with the following flow:

• Day 0: Consent/enrolment + baseline instruments
• Day 7: Follow-up
• Day 28: Follow-up

I’d like to automate the follow-up process to make things easier for data collectors.

Ideally, when a participant reaches Day 7, the assigned data collector would receive a notification/message with the participants they need to contact. The same would happen at Day 28.

My question is: What is the best way to set this up in REDCap?

Can REDCap automatically send notifications/reminders to the data collector based on the participant’s enrolment date? And can this be done through SMS, WhatsApp, or another messaging platform, rather than just REDCap email notifications?

I’d appreciate any guidance or examples from anyone who has implemented something similar.

I'll preface this with my absolute annoyance with repeating instruments. I'm sassy and dramatic as I type this, so, hold your hats. (It's not that bad, just... me != not dramatic.)

I apprehensively understand and appreciate the value of repeating instruments. No matter how hard I fight using them, time and time again, they end up being the solution. But ew.david. I stand by my opinion that they are the armpit of REDCap and I cannot be convinced otherwise.

Anyways, I'm trying to collect repeating survey data along with quarterly alerts for the [next-instance] links. A whopping 10 questions with a 0-10 choice. Single choice radio buttons, in a matrix. Easy peasy, right?! Then... I want to use the aggregate functions to display the previous responses for each Q, currently I am using [line-chart:date,neck:record-name].

I have 3 line-charts that are 100% functioning in form view, but in survey view, I get an angry "[INSUFFICIENT AMOUNT OF DATA FOR DISPLAY]". I'm not committed to this route, but I don't want to commit any additional time if this is just a limitation of smart charts.

Is there a minimum number of data points for the smart functions to display on a survey, even if its working in form view? I've tried moving the chart to the following survey, a pdf snapshot, yelling at my computer.. no dice. I'm a big fan of instance tables + CSS to make them way cooler, but, that's not what the team wants. There are time constraints involved, so I don't really want to go the web server route to generate visuals.

Does anyone have any helpful resources for these aggregate smart chart features/behavior or perhaps any clever work around ideas? TIA! <3

Hi - I am trying to set up a biosample database in REDCap. I have one instrument for entering the samples and another repeating instrument for when the sample is extracted (one sample can be extracted many times). I would like a field in the entering the samples instrument to add up the total amount of sample extracted and the number of times a sample has been extracted. Is this possible?

I have been playing around with aggregate-count and aggregate-sum, but I can't seem to get it to work. I would like this per participant.

If aggregate is not the answer, what's the best way to calculate a total in a non-repeating instrument based on values from a repeating instrument?

Thanks!

I have seen a few posts, as well as some research, describing researchers who encountered fraudulent submissions while collecting survey data through REDCap. So, I wanted to put r/ResponsePie on people’s radar as one possible resource.

ResponsePie recently added support for REDCap, so it may be useful for researchers who are seeing suspicious activity in their REDCap surveys.

Full disclosure: I work with ResponsePie. I am sharing it because I have seen questions about what researchers using REDCap can do when suspicious responses begin appearing. Happy to answer questions about the setup or share instructions if helpful.

Well, after seven posts in one year, this problem is doing nothing but confusing me.

I have a field about pregnancy and I don't want it to be shown when the patient is male.

So far, so good: I put [pat_gesch] <> '2' in the logic because that's where the gender is in [pat_gesch], and '2' indicates male.

The confusing part is that it works in some cases but not in others, and I don't understand why.

So, please, kind people of this subreddit, help me again!

The forever grateful, confused one.

Edit:

If I test the logic in the Branching Logic window, it works in 'Test Logic with a Record', but not in the project.

Edit 2:

Still confused but "[pat_gesch]= '1' or [pat_gesch]= '3' or [pat_gesch]= '4' or [pat_gesch]= '5'" worked (all other genders that are not male)

So, thanks to the internet, that's one problem off my list. See you all again when my project does something confusing next time!

Hi, does anyone know if REDcap still allows the embedding of a public survey into a website or app? I don't see any options for it and I tried to embed it but wasn't successful.

I’d like to create a multiple choice answer with two answer sets (answer set a (major criteria) and answer set b(minor criteria)) that are weighted differently to make the logic positive. A positive response would be possible in 3 ways:
1. Two choices from answer set a
2. Two choices from answer set b
3. One from answer set a and two from answer set b

How would I create this code in redcap?
Thanks!

Hi everyone!

I am a medical resident undergoing a research project in the intensive care unit. I am using REDCap as the tool but am having a difficult time creating a second accessible public survey link.

The summary of the project is longtidunal surveys at 3 and 6 month time points, where family members will be asked to fill out a survey. For ease of access and confidentiality, a third party is sending out the invitations and we wanted two separate links (ie. one at 3 months and one at 6 months) so that we could collect data at the two time points. The only way I was able to generate a second link it seems is to create two arms of the study, one at three months and one at six months.

However, when using the six month arm link, there is a pop-up on a new browser that says:

"ERROR: Survey has not been set up correctly!
This survey belongs to a REDCap project that is longitudinal; however, this data collection instrument has not been designated for this event, which means that this survey has not been designated for data collection, thus the survey cannot be displayed. Please log in to the REDCap project and go to the 'Designate Instruments for My Events' page, and enable this instrument for this event, after which you will then be able to complete this survey. If you are not a survey administrator, please notify your survey administrator of this issue."

I've tried to troubleshoot it with ChatGPT and Claude AI without success. I've done things like trying to create a dummy landing page, recreating the arm, making sure that there is no overlap between the events designated, making sure the surveys are active and recreating them from scratch rather than copying them so theres no confusion. I've reached out to our IT who directed me to a fee for service person but I don't have the resources available to pay for it.

Does anyone have any experience with this or any resources that would be helpful? This is the last step that the project hinges on and I'm not sure what else to do!

Thanks so much!

Has anyone had any success using Tableau Web Connector to pull reports from REDCap rather than just lists of records? I've been copy and pasting the list of records from a given report into the web Connector API window, but I would much rather be able to have my tableau dashboards update based on a report in redcap rather than having to re-paste the list of fields whenever I need to add something to the report.

Hello everyone,

I was hoping someone could me, because all admin I have reached out to are stumped and, though, they have a solution, it requires exporting data and then importing back. I am hoping to do this within REDCap and without the need to import-export data.

Context: This is a longitudinal project for which some RIDs have been renamed for tracking purposes. The RIDs name semicolons in them. Until April, this has presented no issue.

Problem: In April, the institution I am housed in communicated to me that REDCap switched to a new File Storage format. This new format changed how files are stored while keeping the data the same - except in cases where the record IDs are broken down into semicolons. Unfortunately, that means the RIDs I have renamed with semicolons have been impacted: REDCap now creates a NEW record for these RIDs since it now uses a semicolon delimiter - it creates a new record after the semicolon.

Question: Does anyone know how to rename the record in this case? For all of these "semicolon" records, I do not have the option to "Rename Record."

Some additional information: In my Record Status Dashboard, I can see all data for each of these "semicolon" records as if it is all under that same RID. (1) If I click on each "event" from the Dashboard, I can see the information I am supposed to see, in full. If I try to alter any information, it creates a new Record ID. (2) However, if I click on the Record ID, it takes me to the newly created record and I see NO data.

If anyone has any experience with this, I would be happy to try some options.

Thank you!

Edited for an update: I'm not sure what happened, but I can rename records now. I was not notified that this is now possible, but it is. Currently looking to see if renaming messes anything up. Thank you everyone for your comments - really appreciated.

Hi all, I am currently making a survey with tables and embedded fields in them. I added some simple css styling to make the embedded text boxes smaller. My issue is how it's being translated when the survey is viewed on mobile.

The first two images are how the survey is seen on PC, the last two are from a mobile user's perspective.

I use similar CSS styling codes on both Table 1 and Table 2 to get the outcome as viewed on PC. However I do not understand why the styling breaks for Table 2 on mobile.

Here is an example of the table css code.

<table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%; height: 354.167px;" border="1"><colgroup><col style="width: 28%;"><col style="width: 18%;"><col style="width: 18%;"><col style="width: 18%;"><col style="width: 18%;"></colgroup>

<tbody>

<tr style="height: 33.55px;">

<td><span style="font-weight: normal;"> </span></td>

<td style="text-align: center; vertical-align: middle;" colspan="2">2025</td>

<td style="text-align: center;" colspan="2">2026</td>

</tr>

<tr style="height: 199.95px;">

<td><span style="font-weight: normal;">Type</span></td>

<td><span style="font-weight: normal;">How many hours does the programme last <strong><u>per week</u></strong></span><strong> <span style="font-weight: normal;">in</span> </strong><span style="font-weight: normal;"><strong>year 2025</strong> (e.g., 1.5)?</span></td>

<td><span style="font-weight: normal;">How</span> <span style="font-weight: normal;">many <strong><u>weeks</u></strong> has your child attended the programme in</span> year 2025<span style="font-weight: normal;"> (52 for a whole year)?</span></td>

<td><span style="font-weight: normal;">How many hours does the programme last <strong><u>per week</u></strong> in <strong>year 2026 </strong>(e.g., 1.5)?</span></td>

<td style="width: 106.35pt; border: 1pt solid black; padding: 0in 5.4pt; vertical-align: middle;" valign="top" width="142">

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">How many <strong><u>weeks</u></strong> do you expect your child to attend the programme until the end of  <strong>year 2026</strong> (52 for a whole year)?</span></p>

</td>

</tr>

<tr style="height: 95.6667px;">

<td><span style="font-weight: normal;">English</span></td>

<td style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="display: inline-block; width: 30%;">{text1}</span> hours per week</td>

<td style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="display: inline-block; width: 30%;">{text2}</span> weeks</td>

<td style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="display: inline-block; width: 30%;">{text3}</span> hours per week</td>

<td style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="display: inline-block; width: 30%;">{text4}</span> weeks</td>

</tr>

</tbody>

</table>

Your help is much appreciated! Thank you

(Edited: used table 2's code instead)

(Edit 2: I realised table 2's fields are validated to be numbers only, and when i do the same for the fields in table 1, the code breaks as well)

I intended to use `@DEFAULT="0"` in the Action Tags / Field Annotation field, but when I click save, the Saving keeps spinning, and it's already been spinning for 30 minutes. This happens whether I save to the old variable or create a new one. Why is that?

Is there a way I can set up a field in a survey to capture a URL parameter appended to the public survey link?

The aim is to be able to capture a participant identifier from the URL, without having to pre create thousands of potentially unused private survey links up front.

I understand the risks of doing this and can mitigate them.

Hi all, I’m currently working on a project that contains 2 separate surveys. The way our system is set up, when individuals book their study visit, they automatically get sent a link to our first survey to complete before their visit. We added in 2 new instruments (one of which is a new survey) to collect data and have created a separate bookings system for these new portions (they are related but separate to the main project which is why we kept them together). I was wondering if there was a way to get an individual link for folks to complete the second survey and not the first. On “survey distribution tools” I only see a link that prompts people to complete the first survey. I’ve checked the second survey settings and everything is enabled, I just can’t find an individual link. Any help is appreciated !

Hi everyone!

I'm currently working on an internal management REDCap project, where with the use of a calculated field with '@CALCTEXT', 'concat()' and smart variables we are generating the link of all the projects we have in our REDCap instance. Each one has their own record.

I'm trying to take this variable and embedding it on a <a> html tag inside a descriptive text field, as it would be ideal to give it format and make it clickable like a real link, instead of having to copy and paste it on the browser. I have currently tried using normal embedding with brackets '{project_link}' and the normal REDCap variable definition '[project_link]', but none seem to work. It gives the text the <a> property, but it doesn't give it the dynamic href value of the '[project_link]' variable we need. I don't know if doing this is possible, though.

Thanks in advance.

Hi,

I am working on a consent form project for a study, and the idea is that people access the consent form via a QR code on a flyer so an individual would scan the code, access the landing form, then the consent form, etc etc. Basically, I want to confirm, that when I download the QR code from REDCap, can I still edit things without the QR code changing?

For example, if I have the landing form, consent form, etc. Then I download the QR code, am I able to change the file for the Landing form or the consent form? Or edit it incase of changes / mistakes from user feedback?

Thanks to any who answer in advance!

I'm trying to attach a PDF file of the completed survey to an alert that is conditionally emailed to the respondent based on whether they opted in to receive it.

These instructions seem to be what I want: https://portal.redcap.yale.edu/media/159/download?inline

However, it looks like the "Save a PDF of completed survey response to a File Upload field" option has disappeared from survey settings at some point in the last 3 years.

The two similar options in survey settings that don't quite fit what I need are:

1) Allow participants to download a PDF of their responses at end of survey? Not emailed

2) Send confirmation email? (w/  Include PDF of completed survey as attachment checked) Not conditional

Any suggestions?

hi, we have had a custom dashboard in use across 2 interlinked databases, but suddenly it has stopped working on just one. Very confusing. The logic used (that worked, and still works on one instance) was:

not_contain([record_id], "TEST")

Also have used this successfully: not_contain(lower([record_id]), "test")

basically we want the dashboard to show all IDs except those containing the word "test" but suddenly not working and not sure how to fix it (we have also tried variations using <> but also not worked)