Instructions are text blocks that appear before a question in your assessment. They let you provide context, guidance, or introductory information to respondents without collecting any answers or affecting scores. You can use instructions for assessment introductions, section overviews, inline guidance, or Terms and Conditions wording.
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1. Common Uses for Instructions
Instructions are flexible and can be used anywhere you need to communicate with respondents. Common uses include:
- Assessment introductions - add instructions to the first question to welcome respondents and set expectations.
- Section introductions - add instructions to the first question in a section to explain what that section covers.
- Subsection introductions - provide context before a group of related questions.
- Inline guidance - provide definitions, examples, or clarification before a specific question.
- Terms and Conditions - display T&C wording that respondents must acknowledge before continuing.
2. How to Add Instructions
- Open your assessment in the Builder.
- Click on a question (or add a new question).
- Select the Instructions tab in the Question dialog.
- Enter your instruction content using the rich text editor.
- Click Save.
Note: Instructions are always attached to a question. You must create a question first before you can add instructions. If the purpose of the question block is to display instructions only, you can leave the question name empty.
3. Viewing Instructions in the Builder
By default, instructions are hidden in the Builder view. This keeps the Builder clean so you can focus on your questions and answers. However, instructions will always be visible when you test the assessment via a preview response and when respondents take the assessment.
To show instructions in the Builder, click the Show Instructions button at the top of the Builder.
Note: Toggling Show Instructions only affects the Builder display. It does not change whether instructions appear to respondents - they will always see instructions when taking the assessment.
4. What You Can Include in Instructions
The Instructions editor supports rich content through a formatting toolbar. You can include:
- Text formatting - bold, italic, underline, font selection, size, color, headings, and bullet or numbered lists.
- Images - insert images that have been uploaded to your Graphics table with Graphic Type set to Assessment Body. (Creating Image-Based Questions)
- Videos - insert videos uploaded to the Graphics table with Graphic Type set to Video.
- Downloadable documents - link to PDFs or Office documents uploaded to the Graphics table as PDF and Office Document type. (Inserting Downloadable Documents)
- Tables - add structured data using the table button in the toolbar.
- Links - add hyperlinks to external URLs.
- Horizontal rules - insert a thin gray divider line.
- Merge fields (Question Piping) - dynamically insert answer text or answer report text from previous questions. (Using Question Piping)
- HTML - view and edit the underlying HTML for advanced formatting.
Tip: Images will not display in instructions unless they are uploaded with Graphic Type set to Assessment Body. Videos require Graphic Type set to Video. This is the most common reason images appear broken in instructions.
5. Additional Options
Display as Tooltip
Check the Display as Tooltip box to show the instruction as a tooltip icon next to the question instead of as a paragraph above it. This is useful when you want to provide optional guidance without taking up page space.
Show after Question Text (not before)
By default, instructions appear before the question name. Check the Show after Question Text (not before) box if you want the instructions to display after the question name instead.
6. Tips and Best Practices
- Plan your instructions strategically. Place introductions on the first question of each section so respondents see context before they start answering.
- Use tooltips for supplementary info. If the guidance is "nice to have" rather than essential, display it as a tooltip to keep the page clean.
- Check your Graphic Type. Images require Graphic Type = Assessment Body. Videos require type = Video. This is the most common issue when images appear broken.
- Conditional visibility. Instructions don't have their own conditions, but they inherit the visibility of their parent question. If a question is hidden by conditional logic, its instructions are hidden too. To conditionally show instructions, set the condition of the question.
- Preview before publishing. Use the Show Instructions toggle in the Builder and also test via a preview response to confirm everything renders as expected.
FAQs & Troubleshooting
Use the questions below to troubleshoot common issues with instructions.
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