LSQ Converter

Extract text from LimeSurvey question files (LSQ)

Select File
Drop or upload your .LSQ file

Online File Converter

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How to extract text from your LSQ file

Click the "Select File" button above, and choose your LSQ file.
You’ll see a preview, if available.
Click the "Convert file to..." button to extract text information.

Convert LSQ to another file type

To convert LSQ question files to another format, you need LimeSurvey or other Data software.

Convert a file to LSQ

To convert other file formats to the "Survey Data XML" file type, you need software like LimeSurvey or a similar tool.

About LSQ files

A .LSQ file is a proprietary XML export generated by LimeSurvey, an open-source online survey application. These files encapsulate the structure, logic, translation strings, and attributes of a single question or a specific group of questions. Their primary purpose is to allow administrators to transfer survey components between different LimeSurvey installations or backup complex question logic.

The Problem: While the underlying data is standard XML, the file is not designed for human readability or independent execution. You cannot simply double-click an .LSQ file to preview the visual layout or test the question logic. Opening it requires a live LimeSurvey server environment where you must have administrative rights to "Import" the file. This is a main issue for stakeholders who merely want to review the text or logic of a question without setting up a web server. Furthermore, the XML schema is specific to LimeSurvey, making the file incompatible with other platforms like SurveyMonkey or Qualtrics.

The Solution:

For Review: Convert the file to PDF or HTML. This allows you to read the text content and embedded logic tags without navigating raw code.
For Analysis: Convert to formatted XML or TXT to inspect the raw data structure using a standard text editor.
For Migration: While direct conversion to other survey formats is difficult due to logic differences, parsing the file to CSV or Excel can help extract the question text for manual re-entry.

Convert.Guru analyzes your LSQ file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.

Users also converted LSG, LSS and EUS files.

FAQ

If you want to convert LSQ file to CSV, JSON, XML, YAML, YML, TOML, INI, CFG, CONF, DAT, DB or SQL, you can use LimeSurvey or similar software from the "Survey Question Export" category. In the File menu, look for Save As… or Export….

To convert DBF, XML, SQLITE, XLSX, SQL, TSV, ACCDB, YAML, MDB, CSV, ODS or JSON files to LSQ, try LimeSurvey or another comparable tool in the "Survey Question Export" category.

The LSQ Converter Story

The history of Convert.Guru began over 25 years ago in California with Tom Simondi’s file-format database. A former contributor to Space Shuttle development and a software pioneer of the 1980s, Simondi established a trusted resource for file type analysis that was even referenced by Microsoft Windows XP. Today, we use modern technology to process and convert thousands of file formats while continually improving our LSQ converter.