Requiring participants to submit their final answer

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Multiple choice and open response questions normally count a participant's answer the instant they tap or send it, and the participant can change their mind at any time. You can turn that off for any question so participants have to press Submit before their answer counts, and once they do, that answer is final.

This is useful for anything that wants a real final answer moment, such as a graded question, a commitment exercise, or a one shot poll where you do not want someone flipping their vote after seeing how the room is trending.

Lock in an answer before it is submitted

The control lives in a question's response settings, under Allow changing answers.

1. Edit a multiple choice or open response question.
2. Open Response settings.
3. Turn off Allow changing answers.

Allow changing answers, the default:

Turned off:

Note: This is a per question setting, not a per poll setting. Each question has its own toggle, so a poll can mix questions that allow changes with questions that do not.

Where it works

This is available on multiple choice questions, bar, donut, likert and radar, and on open response questions, word cloud and Q&A. Ranking, pinpoint, and other question types are not included.

What participants see

With the setting on, tapping a choice counts it immediately and there is no Submit button. Tapping a different choice changes the answer at any time.

With the setting off, a Submit button appears. Before a choice is tapped, Submit is disabled.

Tapping a choice selects it but does not count it yet, and Submit becomes enabled.

Pressing Submit counts the answer and locks it. The participant sees a Submitted confirmation and can no longer change their answer.

Open response questions work the same way, except there is no separate Submit step, pressing Send both submits and locks the response when the setting is off. The only visible difference is that the delete icon on the participant's own submission disappears once it is locked.

Note: If a participant taps a choice but closes the page or never presses Submit, that answer is never counted, in the live results or afterward.

Set the default for new questions

If you almost always want one setting, you can set your own personal default so new questions start that way.

1. Go to Settings.
2. Find Allow changing answers under the presentation settings.
3. Turn it on or off.

This sets the starting value for questions you create from now on. Questions you have already made keep whatever they were last set to, and you can still change the setting on any individual question.

Set the default for everyone in the account

Account administrators can set the same default for the whole account. Go to Organization settings, open the Defaults tab, and find Allow changing answers under Questions.

Apply the default to polls that already exist

Changing the account default normally only affects questions made from then on. Right after you change it, the setting also offers to apply your choice to questions that already exist.

1. Set Allow changing answers to the value you want.
2. Select Apply to all existing polls.
3. Confirm.

Note: This changes every multiple choice and open response question in the account, including questions where someone has already picked a setting for themselves. The work happens in the background and can take a few minutes on a large account.

The offer only appears when the default actually changes. If you have moved on from the page and want it back, set the option to the other value and then back again.

When the setting is locked

Administrators can lock Allow changing answers so the whole account works the same way. The lock sits on the same setting, alongside the toggle.

While it is locked:

• Nobody else can set their own personal default.
• Nobody can change the setting on an individual question either. The toggle shows a lock icon and cannot be used.
• Questions that already have a different value stay that way until an administrator applies the locked default to existing polls.

Administrators can exempt individual people from a lock. Anyone exempt keeps the ordinary toggle everywhere.

Frequently asked questions

Can I change this after a question has already collected responses? Yes. Changing the setting only affects answers submitted from that point on. Answers already locked in stay locked in, and answers already counted with the setting on stay counted.

Does turning this off affect live results? Yes. With the setting off, a tap does not move the presenter's live count until the participant presses Submit, so live results can lag behind what participants have actually selected.

Can participants delete their answer once it is locked? No. Once an answer is submitted with the setting off, it cannot be changed or deleted, by the participant or from their own response history.

Does this apply to survey questions? No. This setting is for live polls only.

Why is the toggle on this question disabled? Your account has Allow changing answers locked. Ask an administrator to unlock the setting or to exempt you from it.