Multiple Choice questions — Single Select and Multiple Select — are the foundation of most surveys — screening, attributes, brand lists, and yes/no paths. Both types support rich answer text, images, display logic, skip logic, piping, and carry forward.
When a list gets too long to scroll comfortably, switch its Display Type to Searchable Dropdown instead of adding a different question — respondents type a few letters and the list narrows to the matches. See "Display Type: Buttons, Dropdown, or Searchable Dropdown" below.
Switching between Single Select and Multiple Select#
In the builder, Single Select and Multiple Select are one question called Multiple Choice. Add it from the Standard group: clicking the card adds a Single Select question, and the ▾ menu on the card adds Single Select, Multiple Select, or With info icons directly.
To change an existing question, open its Settings tab and use Selection Type. After you confirm, the question is replaced by the other kind, with a new question number:
- Its text, answer options and settings carry over.
- Display logic, skip logic, piping, quotas and carry forward that used it move to the new question.
- Answers already collected stay saved with the original question and are never re-read as a different kind of answer. As with deleting a question, those answers no longer appear in HM Admin results once the survey is published again.
- Switching to Single Select warns you if a rule requires several choices to be selected at once, because a single answer can never match it.
- Comments on the question stay with the original question.
A question with info icons is its own interface and cannot be switched to or from plain Multiple Choice.
Single Select#
Respondents pick exactly one option from a list (radio buttons).
When to use it:
- Yes/No questions.
- Screening questions where only one answer applies.
- Any time you need a single best answer.
Configuration tips#
- Use the properties panel to add, reorder, or recode answer options.
- Answer Columns (Settings tab) lays the options out in up to 4 columns, set separately for desktop and mobile. Once either is above 1, a Fill Order toggle appears: Left/Right fills across each row (A, B on the first row; C, D on the second) and Top/Bottom fills down each column (A, B in the first column; C, D in the second). Left/Right is the default, and the choice applies whether or not answer randomization is on.
- Apply display logic when the question should only appear for some respondents.
- Use skip logic to branch based on the selected option.
- Piping can insert the selected label into later question text.
Logic support#
Condition operators include Selected, Not selected, Is any of, Is none of, Answered, and Not answered. See Logic, Flow & Conditions for the full operator tables.
Multiple Select#
Respondents can select one or more options (checkboxes).
When to use it:
- "Select all that apply" questions.
- Multi-select attribute lists.
- Any time respondents may have more than one answer.
Configuration tips#
- Set whether a minimum or maximum number of selections is required (when supported in properties).
- Rich text and image URLs work on individual options, same as single choice.
- Answer Columns (Settings tab) lays the options out in up to 4 columns, set separately for desktop and mobile. Once either is above 1, a Fill Order toggle appears: Left/Right fills across each row (A, B on the first row; C, D on the second) and Top/Bottom fills down each column (A, B in the first column; C, D in the second). Left/Right is the default, and the choice applies whether or not answer randomization is on.
- Use Includes any of, Includes all of, and Does not include in the condition builder for set-based rules.
Logic support#
Multiple choice uses set-style operators (Includes any of, Includes all of, Does not include, etc.). See Logic, Flow & Conditions.
Display Type: Buttons, Dropdown, or Searchable Dropdown#
Both Single Select and Multiple Select have a Display Type setting in the properties panel that changes how the option list is rendered to respondents — it does not change how the question behaves. Everything else in this guide (display logic, skip logic, piping, carry forward, randomization, recode values, exclusive options, "Other, please specify", and images) works exactly the same under all three Display Types.
- Buttons (default) — the familiar radio-button / checkbox list.
- Dropdown — the option list collapses into a single closed box. Respondents click it to open a plain list, then pick; there is no text filter.
- Searchable Dropdown — the same box doubles as a search field. Respondents type a few letters and the list narrows to the options that match.
When to use Dropdown or Searchable Dropdown: lists that are too long to scroll comfortably — a 64-condition cardiac screener, a country or state list, a drug or procedure list, a full product catalogue. For short lists (a handful of options), stick with Buttons — seeing every option at once is faster than opening a box.
How respondents use Searchable Dropdown#
- Click or tap the box to open the list. Nothing typed yet means the full list is shown.
- Start typing to filter. Matching is case-insensitive and looks anywhere inside the option — typing
atrialfinds "Chronic Atrial Fibrillation". Options that start with what was typed are listed first, so the list jumps straight to that part of the list. - The matched letters are shown in bold inside each option, so it is obvious why an option is in the list.
- If nothing matches, the list shows No matching options rather than sitting empty.
- Keyboard: ↑ / ↓ move through the list, Home / End jump to the first or last option, Enter picks (Multiple Choice: toggles and keeps the list open) the highlighted option, Esc closes the list.
- Single Select: the selected option stays in the box; an X button clears the selection so a different one can be chosen.
- Multiple Select: checked rows stay in the list as more are picked; the box shows the selected labels, or a "N selected" count once there are several.
Configuration tips#
- Answer options are authored exactly the same regardless of Display Type — add, reorder, recode, and rich-text them in the properties panel; the Display Type dropdown is just another setting alongside them.
- Long lists are fastest to build with Bulk edit (paste one option per line) or AI Suggest Answers.
- Answer randomization, randomization groups, the exclusive option flag, and "Other, please specify" all carry over unchanged — group headings appear in the unfiltered list and are hidden while a search is active.
- Options can come from a previous question with carry forward, and the question can feed carry forward, piping, and Section Loops in turn, the same as Buttons mode.
- Recode values control what is written to your export columns, unaffected by Display Type.
- Switching Display Type does not change the stored answer — you can flip between Buttons, Dropdown, and Searchable Dropdown without losing or reshaping existing responses.
- Layout (vertical/horizontal), the column count settings and Fill Order only apply to Buttons — Dropdown and Searchable Dropdown always render a single box.
Logic support#
Display Type does not change condition operators — Single Select and Multiple Select use the same operators listed above regardless of which Display Type is active. See Logic, Flow & Conditions for the full operator tables.
Related guides#
- Question Types — overview and when-to-use table
- Logic, Flow & Conditions — display logic, skip logic, choice operators
- Display Blocks & Plugins — Graphical Choice and other single-choice plugins
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