Conditional questions

A question can stay hidden until an earlier answer makes it relevant. It's how you keep a form short for everyone, while still covering the cases that need more.

Setting one up

Open the question you want to hide and find Display logic. Three fields:

• Source question, an earlier question. It reads "Always visible" until you pick one
• Rule, the comparison
• Value, what you're comparing against

A line underneath reads back what you built: Shows when "Is there a reception?" is "Yes". Clear removes the condition.

The source has to sit above it. Only questions earlier in the form are offered, so if the one you want isn't there, move it up first. Section headings and instruction text can't be a source, and can't be hidden themselves.

The comparisons

Which ones you get depends on the type of the source question.

Multiple choice: Includes. True when they picked that option, among others or alone.

Single choice, Yes / No, Date, Number: Is and Is not.

Short text, Long text, Email, Phone, URL: Is exactly, Is not and Contains.

Contains is only offered on free-text questions, where matching part of an answer makes sense. On a choice question you already know the exact answers, so Is is the right tool.

Matching ignores capitals, so "Yes" and "yes" behave the same.

Worked examples

Only ask about the reception if there is one. Show "Reception venue address" when "Is there a reception?" Is "Yes".

Only ask about travel when it applies. Show "Which airport are you flying into?" when "Are you travelling to the shoot?" Is "Yes".

Follow up on one option among many. Show "How many pets, and what are their names?" when "Who's in the photos?" Includes "Pets".

What hidden means

A hidden question is genuinely not there for that client. It isn't counted in their progress, and it comes back with no answer.

On your copy of a completed questionnaire, hidden questions are still listed, greyed out and marked Hidden, with the reason. Visible conditional questions carry a note saying what made them appear.

Using it well

One condition per question. A question tests one earlier answer, and that's all. There's no way to combine two rules, so build separate questions if you need separate cases.

Hide detail, not basics. Conditions are for follow-ups. If everyone needs to answer, don't put it behind a condition.

Test both paths. Open the link and answer each way. It's easy to build a form where an important question never appears.

Keep it to one level. A question that depends on a question that depends on another question is hard to follow and harder to fix.

Deleting a question clears the conditions pointing at it. The questions that depended on it become always visible. That's safe, but probably not what you meant, so check them.

What it doesn't do

Conditions show and hide questions. They don't work anything out, send people to different endings, or change what happens when the form is submitted.

For genuinely different sets of questions, separate questionnaires are clearer than one form full of conditions.