---
url: "https://questionstar.com/help/getting-started/structure-user-interface/"
title: "The QUESTIONSTAR user interface"
description: "Learn more about the QUESTIONSTAR user interface with its menu bar, navigation, workspace and properties panel."
lastmod: "2026-07-08"
type: "help"
---

# Structure of the user interface

## About the structure of the interface

The QUESTIONSTAR user interface follows a consistent structure. Every view in the tool is built the same way and divided into four basic functional areas.

![Structure of the QUESTIONSTAR user interface](/api/media/file/Aufbau-Interface.png)

1. **Top menu bar** – shows which questionnaire you're working on and lets you switch between different views as well as between different questionnaires.
2. **Left navigation panel** – lets you quickly navigate between the different elements of the current view (questionnaires, pages/questions, layouts, distribution methods, reports/variables).
3. **Central workspace** – this is the main working area of the current view. Here you edit your questionnaire, its appearance and the invitations, run analyses and create your reports.
4. **Right properties panel** – this panel controls the properties and settings of the element you've currently selected (question, layout element, visualization, etc.).

These four functional areas are explained in more detail below:

## Top menu bar

The primary purpose of the top menu bar is to inform you about the context you're currently in. Here you can see which questionnaire you're working on and which aspect of the questionnaire (questions, appearance, survey invitations, data and analysis) you're editing. The top menu bar also gives you access to context-independent elements and functions — that is, those that exist independently of the questionnaire you're currently editing.

![Top menu bar](/api/media/file/Oberer-Menuebalken-4.png)

1. Indicator of the survey you're currently editing, with a pull-down for switching between survey projects.
2. Search field for quickly finding a survey project.
3. Undo and Redo buttons (available only in the "Edit Survey" view).
4. Navigation between views or editing modes of the survey: "Edit Survey", "Style", "Distribute Survey", "Analyze Results".
5. Menu for accessing context-independent elements and functions.
6. Preview button – shows a preview of the survey as respondents will see it.
7. Synchronization indicator. *While it's spinning, the changes you've made to your questionnaire are being synchronized with the server. When it stops, all changes have been synchronized. And if it turns red with an exclamation mark in the middle, there's a connection error. In that case, restore your internet connection. Synchronization then happens automatically.*
8. Contact support.
9. Access to user-related functions and settings as well as license management.

The top menu bar also serves two further important functions:

![Top menu bar](/api/media/file/Oberer-Men%C3%BCbalken-6.png)

10. Indicator of the survey's status, with a pull-down for quick access to the survey status.**Black** – survey has never been started**Green** – survey is running and collecting data**Red** – survey is paused
11. Clicking the QUESTIONSTAR logo takes you to the dashboard, where you can organize your survey projects.

> 💡
> 
> **Note:** If your company or university has the branded version of QUESTIONSTAR, your company's or university's logo appears in the top left.

## Left navigation panel

The left panel serves to organize ** and navigate *between* the elements of the current view. In other words, this panel holds a list of the elements available in the current view (folders, questions, layout templates, distribution methods, reports or visualizations). Clicking one of these elements brings that element into the focus of your work.

You'll find more about the contents of the left panel and how to control it in the various views in the sections of this online help that describe those views.

## Central workspace

The central area of every view is where the actual work on the questionnaire and its facets takes place. Here you fill the questionnaire with content ("Edit Survey" view), decide how it looks to your respondents ("Style" view), send invitations to your respondents ("Distribute Survey" view) and create your analyses and reports ("Reports and analysis" view).

What exactly you edit in each view, and how, is described in the corresponding sections of this online help.

## Right properties panel

Every element (questionnaire, question, layout element, mailing, graphic, chart, table, etc.) you work with in QUESTIONSTAR has its own properties and settings. These are shown in the right panel and controlled from there — that is, they can be changed and adjusted in the right panel.

What exactly can be adjusted and changed in the right panel depends on the object you're currently working on, or on the view you're currently in. So this is where the settings and properties of the *object currently being edited* are made and changed.