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New: Offline Participation

Ken Van Mechelen avatar
Written by Ken Van Mechelen
Updated this week

What is offline participation?

Not all engagement happens online. Some residents might lack internet access, face technical barriers, or simply prefer pen‑and‑paper participation. The platform supports several ways to bring offline contributions into the system, ensuring all voices are counted and your project data stays complete.

Offline participation types

  • Ideas / Inputs submitted offline

    • Bulk Excel import

    • PDF scan upload (hand‑written)

  • Survey responses collected offline

    • Bulk Excel import

    • PDF scan upload (hand‑written)

  • Votes cast offline

    • Manual vote addition

Currently NOT supported: Uploading offline comments or reactions.

What are the limitations of offline participation?

  • Offline comments and reactions cannot be imported.

  • Always keep clear records of offline forms for audit purposes.

  • Use Excel imports when data is structured; PDF scans for handwritten inputs.

How to import offline ideas and inputs?

  • Collect ideas offline via workshops, events, or paper forms.

    • Ideation/Proposal Phase > Input Manager Tab > Import > Download template

    • PDF: Make sure to use the PDF template provided by the platform, custom PDFs will not work

    • Excel: Make sure to use the structure provided by the template Excel

  • Choose import method:

    • Excel template: Fill in required columns (idea title, description, author info, etc.).

    • PDF scan upload: Scan paper forms into PDF for batch processing.

  • Upload via the Ideation/Proposal phase > Input Manager Tab > Import > Importing.

How to import offline survey responses?

  • Compile survey answers gathered offline.

    • Survey Phase > Results Tab > Import > Download template

    • PDF: Make sure to use the PDF template provided by the platform, custom PDFs will not work

    • Excel: Make sure to use the structure provided by the template Excel

  • Choose upload method:

    • Excel upload: Enter responses into template, matching survey question structure.

    • PDF scan upload: Scan survey sheets for processing.

  • Upload to the Survey Phase > Results Tab > Import > Importing.

How to add offline votes?

  • Navigate to the Voting Phase in your project.

  • Manually enter vote counts or add individual offline votes.

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