Pasting Lists

If your answer, loop, prompt or scale list is going to be extensive, instead of adding each item individually it may well be quicker to create the list in another application then copy and paste the complete list into the question. This can be done for all answer, prompt and scale lists.

1. In the question, click Add many....

The Paste a list overlay opens.



Figure 1 - The Paste a list overlay

2. If you have created your list in a separate application, copy the list and paste it into the text field or write the answers into the text field using Return to separate the answers.



Figure 2 - Copying the pre-recorded list into the overlay

Note: If you wish to create more than one column, close this dialog and copy/paste the columns directly into the list on the question details page.

Note that the total number of answers that will be created is given in the lower-right corner of the text field.

3. When your list is complete, click Create answer labels.

The list is created in the question details overlay.

Figure 3 - The completed answer list in the question

You can rearrange the items in the list if required, using the drag-and-drop button (go to Moving Answers for more information).

If you wish to add items to an existing list using the Paste list functionality, note that the existing list will not be overwritten; any “new” items will be added to the bottom of the existing list.

Bulk Pasting of List Items

You can paste answer lists or scales in any language, and corresponding code and score values as necessary, directly into the question by copying and pasting into the text field.

Figure 4 - Bulk-pasting of answer lists and codes

Existing values can be overwritten or kept. If you wish to overwrite existing values and your copied block of values is larger than the existing list then additional rows will be added to the list as necessary. If your copied block of values is smaller than the existing list then only the appropriate number of rows will be overwritten; any additional existing rows will be kept.

Texts, codes and scores can be pasted simultaneously, or the operation can be performed on a column-by-column basis. This method is particularly useful for multilingual lists where you need the ability to paste in additional language texts to a previously created list without disturbing the existing codes.

If you wish to paste multiple columns simultaneously, for example answers and corresponding codes, then in the Item Editor menu select Advanced answer settings to show the additional columns (go to Advanced Answer Settings for more information). If Advanced answer settings is not selected then only the first column of the selected data will be pasted into the list irrespective of how many columns you select (to reduce the risk of mistakes, deselect Advanced answer settings when pasting additional language texts into an existing list).

• If the list exists and you wish to add to the current values, or if the list is currently empty, click Add one to add a new row at the required location. Note that a code for that row is added automatically, so when you paste into the list you will be asked if you wish to replace the existing values.
• If the list exists and you wish to overwrite the current values, click into the first row of the list that you wish to overwrite and paste in the new values. The selected row and subsequent rows as necessary will be overwritten; any additional rows from the existing list that are not overwritten will be kept.

1. In the application from which you wish to copy the list (for example Excel), select and copy the desired column(s) of values.
2. Click into the row in which you wish to add the first row of the copied text (click Add one as necessary), and paste the text into the list.
3. Confirm that you wish to replace the existing values.

The selected values are copied into the list. New rows are added to the list automatically as required such that each value is a placed in a separate row. If you have included Codes and Scores in your copy/paste operation then if Advanced answer settings is set these will be added to the appropriate columns.

The values you are pasting can include group heading texts, and when pasting to a list containing group heading field the heading texts will be set accordingly. Use the Add one button and the options in the Actions menu to build the rows in the list in the required order. Then when you paste the values into the list, the group heading texts will be pasted into the appropriate rows.

If the list you are pasting into already includes a reusable list, then this will be ignored when you paste in the values; the values will be pasted in above and below the reusable list as appropriate depending on the number of items in the list.