Question formatting - how do I get line breaks in my question?

A question that gets asked sometimes is: 'Can I put line breaks in my question?'

The short answer to this is no — not within the actual question box as it's in plain text. This means it doesn't allow any formatting (whatever you type will come out in one paragraph). 

We use such a basic format for questions for reporting reasons, so that your questions can be exported as an .xlsx file. Plain text is the most portable format because it is supported by nearly every application on every machine. However, because of this it can't contain any formatting commands. 

The good news is you can still get the effect you are looking for by using Additional Information answer components.

How to add additional information to your question

In order to have the question in paragraph form, use the question as a headline then add an Additional Information 'Text' option as the first answer component. This text answer component will allow html text, formatting options, and line breaks so you can add the remainder of your question split out how you need it.

An example on how to do this:

1. Add the first part of the question.

2. You'll then be taken to the questions editing screen. from the answer components drop-down list, select 'Text' (under Additional Information) and then click 'Add Answer Component'.

3. You can then enter the rest of the statement you want here. Click 'Add Text', and the text will now appear under the question on a separate line.

4.  You can add any additional answer components to complete the question.  Read about the different things you can do with answer components in Citizen Space.

We also have top tips for translating detailed documents into a Citizen Space survey.