Short text is the question type for brief, free-form answers: a name, a company, a one-line reply. It also packs more analysis power than any other text field: Yay! Forms can extract keywords, score sentiment, and classify the answers into categories automatically.
In this article you’ll learn how to add a short text question, edit its text, and configure its settings: required answers, a character limit, AI text analysis, and input masks.
When to use a short text question
Use short text when the answer fits in a single line, like names, cities, job titles, or quick opinions. If you expect longer, multi-sentence answers, use a Long text question instead. And if the answer must follow a specific format (a document number, a license plate), combine short text with a field mask.
Add a short text question
Click + Add question in the left sidebar and pick Short text under Text and number.
Write the question and description
Click “Your question here.” in the canvas and type your question.
To add context or an example of the answer you expect, click the optional description field right below the question.
Question settings
With the question selected, the Settings section in the right panel controls how the question behaves.
Required
Turn on Required to prevent respondents from skipping the question. An asterisk appears at the end of the question line, and the form won’t advance until something is typed.
Max characters
Turn on Max characters to cap the length of the answer. A field appears where you can set the limit (up to 99,999 characters).
Keyword extraction
Turn on Keyword extraction and Yay! Forms will identify the most relevant words across all answers, build a word cloud with them, and let you filter responses by keyword in your results.
Text analysis
Turn on Text analysis to score the sentiment of each answer, so you can see at a glance how respondents felt and filter responses by sentiment.
Text classification
Turn on Text classification (beta) to sort answers into categories automatically. Type your categories in the Categories box, one per line (up to 10). Leave Auto create categories on if you also want Yay! Forms to create new categories on its own as answers come in.
Field mask
Use Field mask to force answers into a specific format: # stands for a number, @ for a letter, and * for either. For example, the mask ###.###.###-## only accepts a Brazilian CPF format. See How to add an input mask to your short text field for the full guide.
Conclusion
You’ve learned how to add a short text question, edit its text, and configure its behavior, from required answers and character limits to input masks and the AI-powered keyword extraction, text analysis, and text classification settings.
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