If you work with Qualtrics regularly, you've likely accumulated QSF files: exported surveys sitting in a downloads folder, inherited from a colleague, or received from a client. They contain everything: every question, every logic rule, every embedded variable, every API integration. The problem is that all of that information is locked inside a deeply nested JSON structure that is not designed to be read by humans.
Short of importing the survey back into Qualtrics and clicking through every screen, there has been no straightforward way to review, document, or audit a QSF file. Until now.
The Pirai AI QSF to Excel Converter reads your QSF file and produces a structured 13-sheet Excel workbook with every layer of your survey organised into readable, shareable spreadsheets. This guide explains exactly what you get, who it's for, and how to use it.
New to QSF files? Read our complete guide to Qualtrics Survey Format first. It covers what a QSF file is, how to export one from Qualtrics, and common use cases.
What the Converter Produces
Upload a .qsf file and the converter generates a single Excel workbook containing 13 dedicated sheets. Each sheet targets a specific layer of your survey, from basic question metadata right through to custom JavaScript embedded at the question level.
Everything runs in your browser. No file is uploaded to any server, no account is required, and no Qualtrics licence is needed to read the output. Your survey data stays entirely on your machine.
What the 13-sheet workbook covers
- Survey metadata and architecture statistics
- Full question inventory with types, selectors, and flags
- All answer choices with default selection states
- Survey block structure and question groupings
- Branch logic and conditional flow elements
- Display logic conditions with parsed human-readable strings
- Embedded data variables and their types
- API integrations (web service calls, methods, URLs, response mappings)
- Email trigger configurations and their logic conditions
- Validation rules per question
- Recode value mappings with auto-detected purpose
- Custom JavaScript code per question, fully extracted
- A flow summary dashboard with counts across all components
How to Use the Tool
Export your QSF file from Qualtrics
In Qualtrics, open the survey you want to analyse. Go to Tools → Import/Export → Export Survey. This downloads a .qsf file to your computer. If you've received a QSF from someone else, skip this step.
Upload to the converter
Open the QSF to Excel Converter and click the upload area or drag your .qsf file in. The tool reads the file immediately. You'll see the survey name confirmed once it's loaded.
Click Convert and download
Click the Convert button. Processing takes a few seconds regardless of survey size. Once complete, your Excel workbook downloads automatically, named after your survey.
Want to explore before uploading? The tool includes a sample preview mode that shows you the structure of a typical output without needing your own QSF file.
The 13 Sheets: What Each One Contains
The workbook is organised into four logical clusters. Here's what each sheet gives you and who benefits most from it.
Survey ID, name, owner, brand ID, status, creation date, last modified date, and language, all in one place. Below the metadata sits an architecture summary: total questions, API integrations, embedded data variables, survey blocks, and branch logic element counts. Useful for a quick complexity assessment before you start a detailed review.
Every question in the survey with its Question ID, export tag, question text (HTML stripped), question type, selector, sub-selector, validation status, and flags for whether it has display logic, custom JavaScript, and answer choices. This is the starting point for any survey audit or documentation exercise.
Every answer choice across every question: Choice ID, display text, and whether it is selected by default. Useful for reviewing label consistency, validating recode mappings, or documenting response scales for a research report.
Block IDs, types, descriptions, sub-types, element counts, and the full list of Question IDs included in each block. Gives you a structural map of how the survey is organised, which is essential when reviewing a large survey you haven't built yourself.
All branch elements from the survey flow, including Flow ID, description, logic type, the number of sub-elements, and the context showing which parent element they belong to. Branch logic controls routing at the survey level, determining which blocks respondents see based on earlier answers.
Every question that has a display logic rule, with the condition count and a parsed human-readable condition string. Instead of reading raw JSON like {"Type":"BooleanExpression"...}, you see something like IF: Question [QID5] EqualTo Yes. This makes logic coverage reviews significantly faster.
A single-page dashboard with counts for every component type: web service calls, embedded data variables, branch elements, blocks, questions, display logic rules, email triggers, validation rules, recode mappings, and questions with JavaScript. The fastest way to understand what you're dealing with before diving deeper.
All embedded data elements from the survey flow, including the Flow ID, field name, description, type, variable type, and default value. Embedded data variables are how Qualtrics manages data outside of direct question responses: piped values, hidden tracking fields, recipient attributes, and system variables. Seeing them all in one place reveals the full data architecture of a survey.
Per-question validation settings: force response, force response type, validation type, content type (email, number, date, phone, zip), minimum and maximum values or lengths, and any custom error messages. QA teams use this sheet to confirm that required fields are marked correctly and that input constraints are consistent before fieldwork goes live.
Every choice-to-value mapping across the survey, with the original choice text and recoded value side by side. The converter also auto-detects the likely purpose of each mapping: binary (1/0), numeric scoring, or data transformation, which helps analysts understand how the data is structured before they run it through a stats package.
Every web service call in the survey flow, including the HTTP method, URL (up to 120 characters), content type, number of headers, body parameter count, and response mapping count, with the flow context showing where in the survey each call is triggered. Complex Qualtrics surveys often use web services to look up data, generate distribution links, or write to external systems. This sheet documents all of it.
All automated email trigger configurations: trigger name, action type, event type, recipient and sender details, subject line, message, whether a report is included, condition count, and a parsed logic summary showing what conditions fire the trigger. Useful for documenting workflow automations attached to a survey, especially when handing over to a new team.
Every question with custom JavaScript attached. The full code extracted into a cell, along with flags for which event hooks are used, specifically OnLoad, OnReady, and OnUnload. Many Qualtrics surveys contain custom JS that has never been documented anywhere outside the platform itself. Extracting it into Excel makes it reviewable, shareable, and searchable without needing Qualtrics access.
Who Gets the Most Value From This
Researchers inheriting a survey
When you take over a complex survey you didn't build, this workbook replaces hours of clicking through Qualtrics screens to understand what's there.
Teams migrating platforms
Before moving a survey to a new platform, you need to understand exactly what you're migrating. The Excel workbook becomes your migration specification.
QA teams before go-live
Review validation rules, display logic coverage, and required fields systematically using spreadsheet tools rather than clicking through each question manually.
Survey admins documenting a library of surveys, consultants delivering work to clients, and project managers creating audit trails will also find the workbook useful, particularly in any situation where you need a human-readable record of what a survey contains.
Two Different Jobs: Reading vs. Deploying
It's worth being clear about what this tool does and does not do, because the distinction matters for choosing the right tool.
| Tool | What it does | Output |
|---|---|---|
| QSF to Excel Free | Reads an existing QSF file and extracts its contents into a structured workbook for documentation, auditing, and analysis | 13-sheet Excel workbook |
| Pirai AI Platform platform.piraiai.com | Converts a QSF file or a Word, PDF, or Excel document into a platform-ready survey file for deployment on Qualtrics, QuestionPro, REDCap, and 20+ other platforms | Survey-ready import file for your target platform |
If you need to understand or document a survey you already have, use the QSF to Excel converter. If you need to deploy or migrate a survey, whether from a QSF, a Word document, a PDF, or an Excel spec, the Pirai AI platform handles the conversion and produces the correct import file for whichever platform you're targeting.
For more on how the platform handles Word and Excel survey specifications, the Excel Specification Format Guide and Word Specification Format Guide walk through those workflows in detail.
Related Free Tools
The QSF to Excel converter is part of a broader set of free tools available in the Pirai AI Toolkit Hub. A few that complement this one:
- Extract Qualtrics Dashboard Field Mappings: useful if you need to document what's in your Qualtrics dashboards rather than your surveys, this tool does the equivalent job for field types and data source mappings.
- Text iQ JSON to Excel, which converts Qualtrics Text iQ analysis exports into readable Excel format, useful when your survey includes open-text responses that you've run through sentiment analysis.
- Embedded Data Generator, which builds embedded data variable sets from CSV files, complementing the embedded data visibility you get from the QSF converter.
All tools process data in your browser. No files leave your machine.
Try the QSF to Excel Converter
Upload any Qualtrics QSF file and get a 13-sheet Excel workbook in seconds. Free, no account required, runs entirely in your browser.
Convert Your QSF File Deploy to a Platform →Frequently Asked Questions
Does it work with all QSF files?
Yes. The converter handles QSF files from any version of Qualtrics. Both array and object formats of the survey block payload are supported. If a particular sheet comes back empty, for example, the API Integrations sheet, it simply means that component isn't present in your survey.
What if a sheet is empty?
Empty sheets indicate that your survey doesn't use that feature. A survey with no web service calls will produce an empty API Integrations sheet. A survey with no custom JavaScript will produce an empty JavaScript sheet. That's expected behaviour, not an error.
Is the display logic always fully parsed?
For standard BooleanExpression display logic, yes. The converter produces a human-readable condition string. For highly complex or nested custom conditions, it falls back to a truncated JSON string. The condition count is always accurate regardless.
Can I use this for surveys with hundreds of questions?
Yes. The converter is designed for production-scale surveys. Large surveys with hundreds of questions, dozens of blocks, and multiple API integrations process correctly. Processing time scales with file size but typically completes in a few seconds.
Where can I get my QSF file?
In Qualtrics, go to the survey you want to export, click Tools → Import/Export → Export Survey. This downloads the .qsf file to your computer. For more detail, see our complete QSF file guide.