General Look & Feel Settings

Suite
Customer Experience Employee Experience Strategy & Research
Product
Qualtrics
What's on this page

About General Look & Feel Settings

The General section of the Look and feel menu contains options for changing key aspects of your survey’s appearance. These options include changing the next and back button text, adding a progress bar, limiting the number of questions per page, and adding a survey header or footer.

image of the general tab in the look & feel menu
image of the general tab in the look & feel menu

Changing Next and Back Button Text

By default, the buttons at the bottom of each page will show → and ← to cater to an international audience. These buttons can be customized with your own wording.

image of the general tab in the look & feel menu. The next and previous button text options are highlighted.
image of the general tab in the look & feel menu. The next and previous button text options are highlighted.
Qtip: Surveys by default don’t include a back button. You can add a back button in the survey options.
Warning: In some cases, a back button won’t show on a page even if you have the setting selected in your survey options. This is caused by having elements between blocks in your survey flow. Any element (branch logic, embedded data, randomizer, web service, etc.) will disable the back button on the first page of the block that follows it.

Changing button text for the entire survey

The look & feel menu option highlighted, the general tab in the look & feel menu. The next and previous button text options are highlighted.
The look & feel menu option highlighted, the general tab in the look & feel menu. The next and previous button text options are highlighted.
Navigate to the Survey tab.
Open Look and feel.
Go to the General section.
Type new text into the Next Button Text and Previous Button Text boxes. Note that you can’t use HTML or make other rich content edits to the next and back button text.
Click Apply.

Changing button text for 1 page of the survey

Place the questions for that survey page into their own question block.
Select the whole block (not just a question in the block) and then select Next/Previous button text.
Selcting a block; an editor appears to the left with the next/previous button text option described
Selcting a block; an editor appears to the left with the next/previous button text option described
Type new text for your buttons.
image of the next/previous button text editor when editing them from Block Options. The blue arrow for uploading a library message to the fields is highlighted.
image of the next/previous button text editor when editing them from Block Options. The blue arrow for uploading a library message to the fields is highlighted.
Click Save.

Translating the Next / Previous button text

While editing the button text (either while editing a block or in the Look and feel editor), click the blue dropdown.
image of the library dropdown menu when selecting a library message to be used as the next/previous button text. the new message option is selected for creating a new message from within the editor
image of the library dropdown menu when selecting a library message to be used as the next/previous button text. the new message option is selected for creating a new message from within the editor
Hover over the library where you’d like to save the translation.
Click New Message.
While in the message editor, type the button text in your default survey language.
image of the create new message screen for creating a message for next/previous buttons.
image of the create new message screen for creating a message for next/previous buttons.
Give your message a description.
Click Save.
Navigate to the Library from the global navigation menu.
image of the message library tab found by clicking library in the top right hand corner of your account. The messages library is selected. The next/previous button text message is highlighted. The Translate Message option is found by clicking the grey gear to the right of the library message.
image of the message library tab found by clicking library in the top right hand corner of your account. The messages library is selected. The next/previous button text message is highlighted. The Translate Message option is found by clicking the grey gear to the right of the library message.
Select your message.
Select Add / Edit Translations.
translate message option
translate message option
Translate your message according to the guidelines in Translating Messages page.
Qtip: To revert to the default button text, click Use Fixed Text from the drop-down menu.
image of the Use Fixed Text option found when changing the next/previous button text within Block Options
image of the Use Fixed Text option found when changing the next/previous button text within Block Options

Adding a Progress Bar

With a progress bar, participants can see how far along they are in the survey. We generally recommend a progress bar over question numbers because it gives participants an idea of both how far they’ve come and how much further they have to go.

Image of a progress bar appearing at the top of a survey
Image of a progress bar appearing at the top of a survey
Qtip: The progress bar counts every survey question in its calculation. If logic in your survey skips participants past a set of questions, their progress will jump accordingly. If you want certain content not to be calculated in the progress bar, see Exclude from Progress Bar Calculation.

Qtip: The progress percentage is calculated based on all elements in the survey, including elements in the survey flow. If your survey contains many elements, the progress percentage can be less than 1% even when questions are answered. Progress less than 1% is rounded to 0%.

Adding a Progress Bar

Progress bar settings in the General tab of look and feel
Progress bar settings in the General tab of look and feel
Navigate to the Survey tab and open Look and feel.
Go to the General section.
Select a progress bar style from the Progress Bar dropdown.
  • None: No progress bar.
  • With Text: A progress bar with 0% and 100% labeled at the ends.
  • Without Text: A progress bar with no extra text.
  • With Verbose Text: A progress bar labeled with “Survey Completion” and with 0% and 100% labeled at the ends.
Determine if the Progress Bar Position is at the top or bottom of your survey.
Click Apply to save your changes.

Specifying Questions Per Page

By default, your entire survey will show up on 1 page unless you added page breaks or logic to your questions. The questions per page feature is a quick way to add page breaks automatically, saving you time as you create longer surveys.

Specifying a set number of questions per page

General tab of the look & feel menu. The questions per page option is highlighted and a number is entered into the option
General tab of the look & feel menu. The questions per page option is highlighted and a number is entered into the option
Navigate to the Survey tab and open Look and feel.
Go to the General section.
Type a new number in the Questions Per Page field.
Click Apply to save your changes.
Qtip: If your survey includes timing questions, consider manually splitting your survey into pages using page breaks. Questions per page may result in timing questions working on a different page than the page you intended.
Qtip: If you’re editing a conjoint or MaxDiff project, see differences in page break behavior in Building Additional Survey Content.

Adding a Survey Header/Footer

Survey headers and footers are useful for displaying content on every page of your survey at either the top or bottom of the page. You can use these fields to add a custom company logo, a survey title, or instructions for your survey respondents.

Qtip: If you need a header or footer for just 1 page, try a text / graphic question instead. This question displays information without asking for feedback and is perfect for instructions or section headings.

Adding a header/footer:

Navigate to the Survey tab and open the Look and feel menu.
General tab of the look & feel menu. Edit button next to header field
General tab of the look & feel menu. Edit button next to header field
Go to the General section.
Enter your header or footer content into the respective text box. Click edit to access the rich content editor.
Qtip: You can also click the drop-down arrow, choose the appropriate library, and click New Message to access the rich content editor and create a header that can be translated and used in multiple surveys.
In the rich content editor, add and format text and/or images.
image of the header/footer editor screen. a qualtrics logo appears in the editor.
image of the header/footer editor screen. a qualtrics logo appears in the editor.
Click Save.
Click Apply.

Translating Header/Footer Text

Navigate to the Survey tab and open the Look and feel menu.
General tab of the look & feel menu. The dropdown arrow next to the header/footer field is highlighted for selecting a library message to be used as the header/footer. The New Message option is selected for creating a new library message.
General tab of the look & feel menu. The dropdown arrow next to the header/footer field is highlighted for selecting a library message to be used as the header/footer. The New Message option is selected for creating a new library message.
Go to the General section.
Click the drop-down arrow next to the header or footer you’d like to translate. Choose a library and select New Message.
Give your message a description.
image of the create new message screen when selecting new message for a header/ footer
image of the create new message screen when selecting new message for a header/ footer
Type your header/footer text in the survey’s default language.
Click Save.
Click Apply.
Navigate to the Library page.
Choosing library from the top-level navigation in the top-left of every page of the website
Choosing library from the top-level navigation in the top-left of every page of the website
Click the 3 horizontal dots to the right of your message and select Translate message.
Translate message from gear
Translate message from gear
Translate your message according to the guidelines on the Translate Survey page.

FAQs

How can I change the background/theme of my survey?

How do I change the header/footer on my survey?

How do I show respondents their progress in the survey?

Why are all of my fonts different in my survey? How do I fix it?

Why are my page breaks being ignored?

How do I update or report problems with static themes?

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