Images have been cropped to remove blank space. While not needed to understand this article, if you would like to use the time diary used in the screenshots, its sample form can be found here.
Table of contents
- Introduction
- What Go To Prompt looks like
- Anatomy of Go To Prompt
- Getting there by mistake
- Go To Prompt in web forms
- How Go To Prompt can be used
- Resuming partially filled forms
Introduction
When completing a form in SurveyCTO Collect, you may notice a button that looks like an arrow pointing to a dot.
This is the Go To Prompt button. This button opens an interface that allows enumerators to jump back and forth to other fields in the form. If the user has no previous experience, Go To Prompt can be confusing when encountered for the first time, so we suggest you train enumeration teams on this feature. It can also be turned off if you prefer in Admin Settings (accessible from the three-dot menu on the upper-right) under User can access Form Entry items.
There are legitimate reasons to enable or disable Go To Prompt, but to make that decision, you must understand how it works.
What Go To Prompt looks like
When Go To Prompt is opened outside of a repeat group, it will look something like this:
If you are in a repeat group, it will look something like this:
Anatomy of Go To Prompt
Fields and groups
In the Go To Prompt menu, you will be able to view the fields in the form, as well as the answers given so far. They are color coded:
Green: Required fields that are filled in.
Red: Required fields that are not filled in.
Black: Fields that are not required, filled in or not.
You can tap on a field to jump to it.
| Note: If a field uses HTML label formatting, the color applied using HTML will override the above defaults. |
Buttons
Go Up: If you are in a repeat group, go up a level and outside of that repeat group while still inside of the Go To Prompt menu.
Go To Start: Jump to the very beginning of the form. If your field has a note field with the "intro" appearance, it will jump to there.
Go To End: Skip to the end of the form, where you can name the form instance (if you're not dynamically naming form instances), mark it as finalized, and save and exit. Note: If the respondent skips to the end and tries to finalize the form, if there are still incomplete required fields, they will be brought to the first incomplete required field.
You may also see a triangle to the left of some of the rows (the appearance may vary depending on your device). This indicates that row is either a repeat group, or a group with the "organized" appearance. Tap on that row to open it. If you tap on a repeat group instance, you will be brought to that instance in the Go To Prompt menu, and shown the relevant fields in that repeat group instance. If you tap on a field in a regular group, you will be brought to that field.
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| Opening a repeat group in the Go To Prompt menu. |
Getting there by mistake
If you enter the Go To Prompt menu accidentally, simply tap the back button on your device, or tap on the first red field, and you will continue where you left off.
Go To Prompt in web forms
If you are not using web forms, you can skip to How Go To Prompt can be used below.
In web forms, the Go To Prompt button on the top-right is an arrow that says Go to. (Unlike the mobile app, this cannot be removed.)
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| The Go To Prompt menu within a repeat group. |
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| The Go To Prompt menu outside of a repeat group. |
The buttons have the same effect as the mobile app, but there is different color coding:
Light green: Required fields that are completed.
Orange: Required fields that are not completed.
Light blue: Fields that are not required, completed or not.
If you get here accidentally, simply click the orange Close button, or tap on the first orange field, and you will continue where you left off.
How Go To Prompt can be used
Skipping a section
If a respondent is not ready to complete a certain section of the form, Go To Prompt can be used to skip that section so other fields can be completed. That section can then be completed later. If that skipped section is required, and if the enumerator tries to mark the form as finalized, then they will be brought to the first incomplete required field so they can complete the form.
Going back to fix mistakes
An enumerator may enter a value into a field, but based on later answers, it turns out that the first value was incorrect, and they need to go back and fix that answer. For example, a respondent can say they have five different cows, but while checking the health of the cows, the enumerator finds another cow that the respondent didn't consider (maybe because that cow cannot be milked yet, so the respondent didn't think it counted). The enumerator can then use the Go To Prompt menu to go backward in the form more quickly, and fix this error.
Sometimes, it is better to use field links to guide enumerators and respondents to different parts of the form. To learn more, check out our documentation on designing for easy navigation.
Checking completion so far
By checking how many fields and groups are red, an enumerator can estimate how much longer it will take to complete the form. If your form is being completed linearly (no jumping around), it may be better to give the form progress bars to give enumerators and respondents a sense of the completion status.
Resuming partially filled forms
The Go To Prompt menu will appear when a saved form is re-opened from the Edit Saved Form menu. This will be a special version of the menu that includes a Resume button at the bottom of the screen, which you can tap to continue where you left off. This version of the menu can be simplified from the General Settings:
- From the main menu, tap the three-dot menu in the upper-right.
- Tap General Settings.
- Under Edit saved form, uncheck the items you do not want enumerators to have access to, such as everything except for Resume.
| To send settings to multiple devices, check out our best practices for configuring and securing enumerator devices. |
Resuming a crashed form
A special version of the Go To Prompt menu will also open if SurveyCTO Collect is closed before the form instance is saved (e.g. if the device crashes, or the enumerator closes the app from the switch-between-apps menu), and then the enumerator resumes the crashed form.
There are two ways to continue a crashed form instance:
- From the main menu, tap the three-dot menu in the upper-right, tap Resume Crashed Form, and tap the form instance you wish to resume (usually the one with the latest timestamp). If you exit the form without saving, it will be found in the Edit Blank Form menu.
- Open the Fill Blank Form menu, and tap on the blank form of the form instance that had crashed earlier. Instead of opening a blank form, the crashed form instance will continue. If you wish to complete a blank form instance instead, tap the device's back button, and open the blank form again, and a blank form instance will open. However, you can still resume the crashed form from the Resume Crashed Form menu from the three-dot menu.
In this special version of the Go To Prompt menu, there will also be a Resume button you can tap to continue where you left off. If you get an error saying "Sorry, this form doesn't have a saved position", then tap on the first incomplete field (it will usually be red; see Anatomy of Go To Prompt above).
If you exit a crashed form without saving, and it appears in the Edit Blank Form menu (see point 1 above), it will open the crashed form version of the Go To Prompt menu, instead of the Edit Blank Form version that may have been customized from the General Settings. However, if you save-and-exit that form instance, and then go to resume, then it will display that customized version.
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