Clear instructions help respondents complete your survey correctly on the first attempt. PaperSurvey allows you to add custom instructions in multiple locations, from page footers to individual questions, ensuring participants understand how to answer each question type.
Adding footer instructions
The footer area provides space for general survey instructions that appear on every page:
- Open the survey and click Settings next to its name. Find the Footer fields in the Paper Survey section.
- Enter text in any of the three fields:
- Left for instructions on the left side. Text here replaces the default "To respond" marking instructions.
- Center for central instructions. Text here appears in place of the footer logo and is available on plans that include branding customization.
- Right for right-side instructions, placed between the logo and the page QR code.
- Click Save Changes in the bar at the bottom of the page.
Surveys on the new paper layout also have a Show footer switch above these fields. While it is off, the footer texts, the logo and the page numbers do not print, so turn it on if your footer text is missing.
Using instruction shortcodes
PaperSurvey provides visual shortcodes to demonstrate how respondents should mark their responses:
[check]shows a checked box[filled]shows a completely filled-in box (used to cancel a mark in the fill-to-unmark recognition mode)[correct]shows a corrected box[multicheck]and[singlecheck]show checked multiple-choice and single-choice boxes
These shortcodes render as visual examples in the printed survey, making it immediately clear how to respond.
Where to add instructions
Beyond footers, consider adding instructions in these locations:
- Survey introduction for an overview and general guidelines
- Section headers for instructions specific to a question group
- Description blocks for standalone guidance text anywhere in the form
- Individual questions using the help text line under each question's text
- Thank you message for next steps or submission guidance
For longer introductions, the survey's Settings also offer a Cover Page section. You can upload a cover image or switch on Use text instead to write a text-only first page, which is printed without corner marks or footers since it does not need to be scanned.