Who is this article for?

Administrators who want to learn how to use inline comments.

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Displaying inline comment fields when a respondent answers a certain way ensures you are able to capture more qualitative data relating to the question.

1. Inline conditional comments
2. Using inline comments
   1. Example
3. Field types support conditional comments
   1. Form fields that support inline comments
4. Further reading

1. Adding inline comments to forms

InForm makes it easy to add inline comment fields to forms, allowing respondents to provide additional context or explanations for their answers.
Some key benefits of using inline comments:

• Explain Answers: Respondents can add comments to elaborate on their responses, providing more detailed information.
• Conditional Comments: Comment fields can be set as conditional, only appearing if the respondent selects a certain answer choice.
• Quick and Easy: Inline comments are simple to set up and integrate directly within the form structure. 

For example, if a form includes a question like "Do you have any concerns about this process?", an inline comment field can be added. If the respondent answers "Yes", the comment field would appear, allowing them to explain their concerns further.
This functionality helps ensure forms collect comprehensive information, while giving respondents the opportunity to provide valuable context around their responses.

2. Using inline comments

To set a field to display an inline comment, follow these steps:

1. From the Edit Form page, add a new field or select an existing one.
2. Once you have added or selected a field, locate the Add Comment section.
3. Enable the Enable checkbox to add an inline comment to the field.

To make an inline comment required:

1. First, set the parent field (the field the comment is being added to) as Required.
2. Once the parent field is set to required, the Required checkbox will appear for the inline comment field.
3. Selecting the Required checkbox will ensure the respondent must provide a comment before submitting the form.

This functionality allows you to easily collect additional context and explanations from respondents, helping to gather more comprehensive information through your forms.

2.1. Example

In the example shown below, the Edit Form page is open and a checkbox field has been added to the form. The form field question is: "What types of PPE are required for this task?"

The respondent can select one or more of the checkboxes to indicate the required PPE.

An inline comment has been enabled for this field, and it is set to display only if certain conditions are met:

1. The And operator has been selected.
2. The Other checkbox has been selected.

With these settings, the inline comment with the label "What other PPE is required for this task?" will only appear if the respondent selects the "Other" checkbox.

This allows you to create conditional logic, where additional information is only required if the respondent selects a specific answer choice. This helps ensure you collect the right level of detail, without overwhelming respondents with unnecessary fields.

The ability to add these types of conditional inline comments is a powerful feature of InForm, enabling more targeted and context-driven data collection through your forms.

This is what the respondent would see if they select Other when completing the form.

3. Field types support conditional comments

This table lists the field types that support conditional comments and the available conditional comment settings for each type.

3.1. Form fields that support inline comments

This table lists the form field types that support inline comments, including whether the comments can be conditional and the available conditional comment settings.

4. Further reading