You can change the way questions are presented by setting the appearance for each question type. In XLSForm, add an appearance column to the survey worksheet to change the appearance and functionality of your survey questions. In the Survey123 web designer, some of these appearances are available as separate question types, such as Multiline text, Dropdown, and Likert scale. For more information, see Web designer essentials.
Not all available appearances are supported in all the submission apps (Survey123 Mobile, the Survey123 field app, and the Survey123 web app). For more information about app support, refer to the appearances table below, which also indicates applicable question types. This table can also be found in the Appearances worksheet of the Survey123 XLSForm template.
Tip:
In Survey123 Connect, try the Appearances sample to see how questions will be presented in a survey. By publishing the sample, you can see how questions will be presented in the submission apps.
Enter the following values into the appearance column for the specified question types to alter how they appear or behave:
| Appearance | Applicable question type | Description | Submission app |
|---|---|---|---|
| annotate | image | Allows the user to open a canvas window on which to sketch that also supports annotation on images. | Web app Field app |
| autocomplete | select_one, select_multiple1 | Answer choices appear in a drop-down menu with text input to narrow options. | Survey123 Mobile Web app Field app |
| calculator | integer, decimal | Displays a custom calculator widget for this question. | Field app |
| compact | select_one, select_multiple, begin group, begin repeat | For select_one and select_multiple questions, presents choices horizontally in a space-efficient manner. For groups and repeats, presents questions in a collapsed state at startup, which can be expanded by the user. | Survey123 Mobile Web app Field app |
compact-n | select_one, select_multiple | Presents choices horizontally in a space-efficient manner, with a maximum amount of columns specified by n. For example, compact-3 limits the question to a maximum of three columns. | Web app Field app |
| distress | integer | Displays the question as a colored sliding scale. | Field app |
| draw | image | Allows the user to open a canvas window on which to sketch. | Web app Field app |
| field-list | begin group, begin repeat2 | Displays the group of questions on a separate page when the survey style is set to pages. | Survey123 Mobile Web app Field app |
geocode | text | Search for and submit a geocoded address. | Web app Field app |
getinframarkerid | text | Retrieve and store a unique 24-character InfraMarker tag ID. | Field app |
hidden | All | Hides the question from view while still accepting defaults and calculations. | Survey123 Mobile Web app Field app |
| hide-input | geopoint | Collapses the coordinate entry section when the survey is opened in the web app. | Web app |
| horizontal | select_one, select_multiple | Displays answer choices horizontally and in columns. | Survey123 Mobile Web app Field app |
| horizontal-compact | select_one, select_multiple | Same as compact appearance. | Survey123 Mobile Web app Field app |
| image-map | select_one, select_multiple | Displays an attached .svg image with selectable regions. | Field app |
inframarker | text | Supply information to be written to an InfraMaker tag. | Field app |
| likert | select_one | Makes the answer choices appear as a Likert scale. | Survey123 Mobile Web app Field app |
| minimal | select_one, select_multiple, barcode, begin repeat | Presents multiple responses (select_one, select_multiple), multiple questions (repeats), and a text box (barcode) in a hidden or minimized style. | Survey123 Mobile Web app Field app |
| minimal compact | begin repeat | Presents questions inside a repeat as both collapsed (compact) and hidden (minimal). | Survey123 Mobile Web app Field app |
| month-year | date | Selects only a month and year for the date. | Survey123 Mobile Web app Field app |
| multiline | text, image, file2 | Presents a text question as a multiline text box. It allows multiple attachments for an image or file question. | Survey123 Mobile Web app Field app |
new-front | image | Limits the question to only taking a photo, using the front-facing camera as the default. | Field app |
new-rear | image | Limits the question to only taking a photo, using the rear-facing camera as the default. | Field app |
no-ticks | range | Displays the range slider without the lines to show positions. | Survey123 Mobile Web app Field app |
nopredictivetext | text | Disables predictive text for mobile devices. | Field app |
| numbers | integer, decimal | Displays a custom numerical keyboard for this question. | Field app |
predictivetext | text | Enables predictive text for mobile devices. | Field app |
press-to-locate | geopoint, geotrace3, geoshape3 | For geopoint questions, only accepts a location after the user interacts with the question. For geotrace and geoshape (in the web app), it centers the user's location without capturing a point when first interacting with the question. | Survey123 Mobile Web app Field app |
rangefinder | text, integer, decimal | Accepts a specified value that is returned from a rangefinder. Text questions can accept the full JSON object. | Field app |
search | select_one, select_multiple | Populates the choice list with values from a CSV table in the survey's media folder, or an existing feature layer or table. | Field app |
| signature | image | Presents a UI for signature capture. The signature is added to the feature as an attachment. | Survey123 Mobile Web app Field app |
spike | image | Requires a Spike device and Spike app. It uses Spike integration to measure distance and location in a photo. | Field app |
spike-full-measure | image | Requires a Spike device and Spike app. It uses Spike integration to measure distance, location, area, and lengths in a photo. | Field app |
spike-point-to-point | image | Requires a Spike device and Spike app. It uses Spike integration to measure distance between two photographed points. | Field app |
| spinner | integer, decimal | Adds buttons to increase and decrease value. | Survey123 Mobile Field app |
table-list | begin group | Presents a set of select_one questions inside a group with a common choice list in a table format. | Web app Field app |
tabular | begin repeat | Presents the repeat as a table in which the records are rows and the questions are columns. | Survey123 Mobile |
| thousands-sep | decimal | Displays answers with thousands separators. It applies to prepopulated answers only. | Field app |
| week-number | date | Selects a week number. | Survey123 Mobile Field app |
| year | date | Selects only a year for the date. | Survey123 Mobile Web app Field app |
1—The autocomplete appearance for select_multiple questions is only supported in Survey123 Mobile.
2—The field-list appearance for begin_repeat questions and the multiline appearance for file questions are only supported in the web app and field app.
3—The press-to-locate appearance for geotrace and geoshape questions is only applicable to the web app.
Multiple appearances
You can add multiple appearances to the appearance column for a question by separating the appearances with spaces. The appearances can be in any order. For example, an image question could have the following three appearances specified in the appearance column:
annotate new-front multilineYou can specify width appearances for questions in surveys that use a grid layout. Widths can be specified with any combination of appearances that are supported for the question type. For example, a select one question in a grid layout could have the following in the appearance column:
w3 likertHide questions
By setting the appearance to hidden, any question type, including groups and repeats, can be hidden from view when filling in the survey, but will accept and submit default values and calculations. This is more versatile than the hidden question type, as it can be applied to any question type.