Text formatting and inserted values

The texts of a form are stored as plain strings. Two things are interpreted when a text is shown: a small set of formatting marks, and placeholders in double braces that are replaced with data of the current response.

Where it applies

Text	Formatting	Inserted values
Question title and properties.description	Yes	Yes
Welcome page and end page title and properties.description	Yes	Yes
End page properties.button_url and properties.automatic_redirect_url	No	Yes
Option labels (choices[].label), row texts, scale labels	No	No

Formatting

You write	Respondents see
**bold**	bold
*italic*	italic
***both***	both
~~struck~~	struck
[our terms](https://example.com/terms)	a link that opens in a new tab
	an image
a line break	a line break

Rules:

• Links accept http, https, mailto and tel addresses. Images accept http and https.
• Links are not available on the free plan. There, the link text is shown without the link.
• HTML tags are removed. A form text cannot hold markup or scripts, and the editor refuses to save one that does.
• To show a formatting character as it is, put a backslash before it: \* shows an asterisk.
• One text can be up to 10000 characters long.

Inserted values

A placeholder is replaced with a value from the response being filled in. When there is no value yet, it is replaced with nothing.

Placeholder	Replaced with
{{component:<ref>}}	The answer to the question with that ref.
{{hidden:<name>}}	The value of a hidden field.
{{variable:<name>}}	The current value of a variable.
{{response:id}}	The identifier of the response.
{{response:time}}	Time spent on the form so far, as m:ss or h:mm:ss.
{{response:seconds}}	The same time in whole seconds.
{{compare:<ref>|…}}	A check of the answer against the correct one. See Quiz feedback.

A placeholder without a prefix, {{name}}, is also accepted. The form looks for a variable with that name first, then a hidden field, then a question with that ref.

Inserted values are always shown as plain text. Formatting marks and tags inside an answer or a hidden field are not interpreted.

Example

{
  "type": "rating",
  "title": "Thanks, {{hidden:first_name}}! How would you rate **{{component:5c1e9a40-3b7d-4f1e-9d2a-7a6f0c8e2b11}}**?"
}

With the hidden field first_name set to Anna and the earlier question answered Laptop, the respondent reads: “Thanks, Anna! How would you rate Laptop?”.

How an answer becomes text

Question type	Inserted text
text	The text.
dropdown	The label of the picked option.
number, rating, customer_sat, opinion_scale	The number.
phone_number	The phone number.
date	The date as DD/MM/YYYY.
yesno, legal	Yes or No.
multiple_choice, picture_choice	The labels of the picked options, separated by a comma and a space. For the “Other” option, the text the respondent typed.

The answers of matrix, ranking, slider, numbers_scale, constant_sum and semantic_differential questions cannot be inserted.

What the editor offers

The editor writes placeholders for you: a text field has a list of the values that can be inserted at that point.

Text	Values offered
Question title and description	Answers to earlier questions, variables, hidden fields.
Welcome page	Variables and hidden fields.
End page title and description	Answers to all questions, variables, hidden fields, {{response:time}}.
End page button and redirect addresses	The same, with {{response:id}} and {{response:seconds}}.

Quiz feedback

{{compare:…}} shows whether an answer was correct. It is meant for the end page of a quiz and for the questions after the checked one.

Form	Meaning
{{compare:<question ref>|ref:<option ref>}}	For multiple_choice, picture_choice and dropdown: the correct option, by its ref.
{{compare:<question ref>|'expected text'}}	For other questions: the expected answer as text.

The placeholder is replaced with a check mark and the correct answer when the respondent’s answer matches. Otherwise it shows the respondent’s answer struck through, followed by the correct one.

A choice answer matches when the respondent picked exactly that one option. Because the option is named by its ref, the check works in every language of a translated form.