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Building surveys

Text

A single line of free text.

A short answer such as a role, project name or participant code. Use Long text when you expect several sentences.

Try an answer, then check it. Turn Required off to try leaving it blank.

Try this question

Interactive example. Answers stay on this page and are not submitted. Reset or changing the configuration clears answers and restores Required.

All settings

Select + in the editor, choose Text Input, then select the question and open Content.

All questions also have Title and Description. Replace the starter title with your question; Description is optional and starts blank. Use it for instructions that should remain visible while answering. The defaults below are for a newly added question, not necessarily the example above. The example starts with Required on so you can try validation; real new questions default to optional.

SettingDefaultBehaviour and availability
PlaceholderEnter your answer…Shown while empty; suggests an answer but does not supply one.
RequiredOffUnder Validation. Requires an answer before continuing when this question is shown.

Example: collect a project name

Use the title “What is your project called?” and a placeholder such as “Community garden study”. Put any instructions in Description so they remain visible after the person types. A placeholder disappears as they answer and is not saved as their response.

Text has no configurable character limit, regular expression or answer mask in the current editor. Required checks for a non-empty answer; it does not establish that the project name is meaningful. Choose Email, URL or Number when you need that question type's format checks.

Check the answer and its later use

Try a short name, a long name and a blank answer. If you pipe the name into another sentence, check its punctuation and fallback wording. Keep optional questions optional in your wording too; “You must enter…” would conflict with Required being off.

Branching and piping

Open Advanced → Conditional Logic to route from an answer. In fields that offer { }, use piping to insert an earlier answer. Plan requirements apply to advanced logic, expressions and option attributes; these are separate from the Content settings above.