Dropdown Select question type

About the Dropdown Select question type

The "Dropdown Select" question type lets respondents choose a single answer from a collapsible list of options. This question type is especially well suited when you have many options to display in a space-saving way and when you need a compact layout — ideal on mobile devices too.

Example use cases:

• Selecting countries or regions
• Specifying occupational groups
• Compact queries about preferences or typical decisions
  (e.g. "Which leisure activity do you do most often?")

Question type settings

The "Dropdown Select" question type offers the following settings and functions:

1. Import from File: Especially useful for longer lists, such as lists of countries or cities. You can easily import answer options from Excel or CSV files. You'll find a more detailed guide later in this article.

2. Export to CSV: You can download the list of options as a CSV file — for example, to

   • reuse it in another question or survey
   • share it with colleagues
   • save it locally for documentation purposes

   With long lists in particular, editing in Excel is often more convenient. Once adjusted, the updated list can be imported again.

3. "Edit Alternatives" section: Click the bar with the pencil icon to unfold and edit the list of options. To save space in the editor, you can collapse the section again by clicking once more.
4. Marking the prompt to answer: You can define an answer option as a "selection prompt" — e.g. "-- Please select --". It is shown when the page first loads, but does not count as a given answer and is not saved. It merely helps orient respondents.
5. Sorting options: The answer options can be conveniently sorted in ascending or descending order by clicking the corresponding icons.

6. Item settings Each answer option has its own helper menu with the following options:

   

   1. Is prompt (e.g. "Please select…"): This option determines whether the current option serves as a selection prompt — e.g. "-- Please select --".
   2. Custom Text Field ("other"): Adds a free-text field to this answer option — typically for options like "Other", so respondents can enter their own text.
      If this option is selected in the dropdown, an additional input field appears to the right of the select list for the individual entry.
   3. Answer to "Other" mandatory: When enabled, the text field must be filled in as soon as the "Other" option has been selected.
   4. Text field placeholder: Here you set a hint text that appears in the empty text field — e.g. "please specify". The placeholder is for orientation only and is not saved.

List groups in dropdown lists

Answer options in dropdown lists can be combined into groups. This lets you better structure and visually separate options that are related thematically or functionally. It makes it easier for respondents to find their way around and choose — especially with long lists such as federal states, occupational groups or product categories.

The following functions are available:

1. Name the group: Enter a label for the group. This is shown in the dropdown list as a non-selectable heading and stands out visually from the selectable options.

The group's helper menu (highlighted in violet) also provides the following functions:

2. Add Group: Creates a new group within the dropdown list. This lets you organize your answer options thematically or logically.
3. Move Group Up / Down: Changes the position of the group within the list. This makes it easy to adjust the order of the groups if needed.
4. Delete Group and Its Contents: Deletes the entire group including all the options it contains.

Editor for longer lists

If a dropdown list contains more than 20 answer options, a compressed excerpt appears with the "Edit List" button.

Click this button to open the list in the extended editor mode and edit it in full.

In the editor you have the following additional functions available:

1. Search function: Search the list for specific entries — matching options are shown filtered right away. Especially helpful with very long lists.
2. Clear List: Removes all existing options with a single click.

Importing answer options

Especially with long lists that have many answer options, or when using multiple list groups, it's often far easier not to enter the data manually but to upload it conveniently via file import (e.g. from Excel or CSV).

Start the import

In the right-hand properties panel, open the "Import from File" button. A dialog appears with the following options:

1. Upload Media:
   Simply drag and drop the file into the highlighted dropzone, or click the area to manually select the file (.xlsx or .csv) from your device.

After the upload, a data preview is shown automatically. There you can check whether the right content was loaded and exactly which data should be imported.

Import Settings

2. Import all columns:
   By default, only the first column of your file is imported. If you want to bring in multiple columns — e.g. to split them across several groups — enable this option.
3. First Row Contains Header:
   If your file has column headings in the first row, check this option. The first row is then not used as a data row, but as the label for the list groups. This setting is enabled by default.

4. Encoding:
   The encoding determines how the characters in your file are interpreted. As a rule, QUESTIONSTAR detects the right encoding automatically. If needed, you can choose between common encodings — such as:

   • UTF-8 (recommended)
   • ISO-8859-1 (Western Europe)
   • Windows-1251 (Cyrillic)
   • GB2312 (Chinese)
5. Delimiter:
   If your file has multiple columns, specify here how the columns are separated. The default is "Detect automatically"; alternatives include Comma, Semicolon, Space, Tab or Custom Delimiter.
6. Enclosed:
   Define here the character that encloses text values in your file (default: " — single quotation marks). This is especially relevant for text that contains spaces or special characters.

Note: When importing from Excel files (.xlsx), the settings for encoding, delimiter and enclosing character do not apply. Instead, a dropdown is shown automatically, letting you select the sheet you want.

Preview and assignment

7. Assign columns:
   A dropdown menu appears above each detected column. There you specify whether and how the respective column should be imported:

   • Do not import – the column is ignored
   • Create new list – the column's contents are imported into a new list group
   • Select existing group – the contents are added to an existing list group or replaced there (depending on the setting under point 8)
8. Overwrite:
   Check the "Overwrite" box if the existing contents in the selected list group should be replaced by the new data.
   If you leave this box unchecked, the new contents are added to the existing data.

Complete the import

9. Import Data:
   Click "Import Data" to complete the process. Your selection is applied, and the answer options appear directly in the question editor.

Example of a dropdown question

Dropdown lists are especially well suited to offering a choice from many options in a space-saving way — for instance with countries, occupational groups or compact selection lists.

In the following example you'll see two variants: a question with the "Other" option and a grouped country list for selecting the federal state or canton.

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