# Send a one-time distribution

Send a Pristo CX questionnaire once to a selected audience by SMS or email, now or at a scheduled time, with a one-time delivery distribution.

A **One-time Delivery** distribution in Pristo CX sends a questionnaire once to the contacts in your population, right after you activate it or at a date and time you choose. You set it up in **Management** > **Distributions**.

## Before you start

- Role: account admin or program admin. See [roles and permissions](https://docs.pristo.io/cx/users/roles-and-permissions).
- Plan: the **Distributions** page appears under **Management** on the Pro plan.
- Setup: a questionnaire with a published form and contacts in the population. See [Import contacts](https://docs.pristo.io/cx/populations/import-contacts).

## Steps

![Sketch of the main tab of a new one-time distribution. Marker 2 is on the one-time delivery type option. Marker 3 is on the two timing options: send as soon as the distribution is activated, or at a scheduled time. Marker 4 is on the date and time fields of a scheduled delivery. Marker 5 is on the button that goes to the next tab, at the bottom right, below the anonymity levels.](https://docs.pristo.io/_astro/distribution-main-one-time.DG69mWO7.webp)

1. Start a new distribution and choose the questionnaire, as described in [Create a distribution](https://docs.pristo.io/cx/distributions/create-a-distribution).

2. On the **Main** tab, enter a **Description** and select **One-time Delivery**.

3. Under **Schedule Delivery**, select **Immediate Delivery** to send as soon as you activate the distribution, or **Scheduled Delivery** to send later.

4. For a scheduled delivery, choose the **Date** and the **Time**.

5. Choose the **Anonymity Level** and select **Next**.

6. On the **Samples** tab, optionally limit the audience under **Sampling Segmentation**.

7. Under **Distribution Rules**, choose when the link expires. To leave out contacts who received any questionnaire recently, set the number of days in the first rule; see [Choose who receives a distribution](https://docs.pristo.io/cx/distributions/sampling-and-rules). Then select **Next**.

8. Write the message on the **Wording** tab and select **Next** to save.

9. In the list, open the menu at the end of the row, select **Activate** and confirm.

## Result

The status shows **Waiting to send**, and the **Next run time** column shows when it will send. After it sends, the status changes to **Distribution completed**.

The questionnaire goes to every contact who, at that moment, matches the segment, is active and subscribed, passes the distribution rules and has a usable phone number (SMS) or an email address (email). Contacts you add later do not receive it.

## Limits

- The scheduled date and time use the questionnaire's time zone, shown in **Management** > **Questionnaires**.
- Times are in 15-minute steps, and the date and time cannot be in the past.
- A one-time delivery sends at the chosen time and has no sending windows by day.
- Send spacing: 0, 1, 3, 7, 10, 14, 21, 30, 60, 90 or 180 days.
- Link expiry: from 5 minutes to 1 year, or no expiry.
- After it starts sending, the distribution is read-only and cannot be deleted. You can still deactivate it.

## Troubleshooting

**The distribution still shows Inactive.** New distributions are saved inactive. Activate it from the menu in its row.

**Some contacts did not receive the questionnaire.** Check whether they unsubscribed, are inactive, have no usable phone number or email, fall outside the segment, or were left out by a distribution rule.

**The schedule shows Invalid date or time.** The date and time you chose have already passed. Choose a later time.

**I need to send the same questionnaire again.** Create a new one-time delivery. A distribution that has sent cannot be changed or sent twice.

## Related

- [Create a distribution](https://docs.pristo.io/cx/distributions/create-a-distribution)
- [Distributions overview](https://docs.pristo.io/cx/distributions/overview)
- [Send surveys after events](https://docs.pristo.io/cx/distributions/event-based)
- [Import contacts](https://docs.pristo.io/cx/populations/import-contacts)