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An anonymous pulse removes names from answers, for every viewer. Owners, Admins, managers, Windy, and MCP all see the answers without names. To check a pulse’s setting, open Settings and look at Response anonymity.

What anonymity hides

  • Names on answers in the Responses tab, Insights, and the CSV export. Each shows Anonymous.
  • Answers on the employee profile Pulse tab. Anonymous responses never appear there.
  • Filters on the Responses tab, except Run.
  • Names in AI summaries. Windy summarizes anonymous responses without names.
  • Who responded. Owners see how many people responded, not who. The Runs tab shows each participant as Anonymous, and Windy and MCP report only totals.

What anonymity doesn’t hide

Response counts and response rates still show in Insights, Windy, and MCP. Answers are still visible to everyone that response sharing allows, without names.
Anonymity removes names, not details. A very specific comment can still point to one person. Keep this in mind when you share results.

Minimum group sizes

Every anonymous pulse has a minimum number of responses before results show. The default is 3. When you choose Anonymous while creating or launching a pulse, you can set Minimum responses to show results to any value from 1 to 10. You can change it in Settings under Response anonymity until the pulse launches, but not after. Below the minimum, Insights shows “Not enough responses yet”, and groups below it can’t be selected. Windy and MCP apply the same minimum.
Values under 3 aren’t recommended. In a small group, people may be able to tell who gave an answer.
Anonymous pulses are left out of Pulse stats, so a person’s survey activity can’t be matched to an anonymous pulse.

Features that are off for anonymous pulses

Anonymity is set at launch

You choose Named or Anonymous when you launch a pulse. You can change it any time before launch, but not after. You can’t change it later in Settings, and Duplicate pulse keeps the same setting. To run the pulse with the other setting, create a new pulse and choose the setting you want. Then pause the old pulse so it doesn’t send again.

Withdrawing a response

Participants can select Withdraw response to remove their answers from the pulse and from Slack. Their answers stay saved as a private draft. Reports that were already emailed may still include the response.

FAQs

No. Windy and MCP report how many people responded, but not who responded or who gave which answer.
No. Create a new pulse, choose Anonymous, and pause the original. Tell participants which pulse to answer.
3 by default. Whoever sets up the pulse can choose 1 to 10 before launch; it applies to launching as anonymous and to showing any result or group.