Character Limits

This applies to any question or answer choice using our rich text editor, including Comments/Essay Box, File Upload, and Multiple Choice question text.

Our question and answer choice editors have a maximum limit of 4,000 characters. This limit is applied to the underlying HTML source code, not the number of characters you can see on screen, which can make it hard to understand why you have hit the limit when your visible text looks much shorter.

This guide explains why this happens and how to reduce your character count so you can save your question.

Why the character count may differ from your text

When you copy and paste text from Word, Outlook or a webpage, formatting such as bold text, bullet points, font sizes and hyperlinks is converted into HTML code in the background. This code counts towards your 4,000 character limit, even though you cannot see it in the editor.

Common causes of a high character count include:

• Pasting directly from Word, Outlook, or a webpage instead of using plain text
• Long or multiple hyperlinks
• Extra formatting such as bold, bullet points, or custom font sizes
• Hidden styling added automatically when you change font size

As an example, changing your font size from 14px to 15px using the toolbar’s font size dropdown can add extra styling code to the background HTML. If your question will not save no matter what size you choose, this is likely the cause.

Checking your source code

To see the HTML code behind your question text:

1. Open the Survey Design page for the survey you want to edit.
2. Select Edit Question next to the question you are working on.
3. Click into the text box in the question editor.
4. Select the <> icon that appears in the toolbar to open the source code view.

This shows you the raw HTML behind your text, which is what counts towards the 4,000 character limit.

Reducing your character count

If you are over the limit, try the following steps in order:

1. Paste your text into a plain text editor first (such as Notepad), then copy it from there into the question box. This strips out most hidden formatting.
2. Re-add only the formatting you need, such as bold headings or bullet points, directly in the editor rather than pasting it in.
3. Keep hyperlinks as short as possible. Consider using a link shortening service if a URL is very long.
4. Avoid changing font size more than once. If you need a specific size, set it before adding your final formatting.
5. If your question is very long, consider splitting it. Page text (added above a question) will honor formatting separately from the question text itself, so splitting content between page text and the question can reduce the code in any one place.

If you continue to see a character limit error after following these steps, copy your source code and paste it into an HTML formatter or trimmer to identify and remove unnecessary code (AI tools such as Claude, Gemini or Chat GPT can assist with this).

Formatted text appearing different to the editor when previewing, or using the live survey link

If your text displays correctly in the question editor but appears differently when you preview your survey, or use the live link, for example the text may display in bold when you have not formatted it through the editor, this is usually caused by your survey theme. You may be using an organizational branded theme shared by another user, or have created your own theme; these themes will default to their own settings, which can override the formatting you have set in the editor.

To check whether this is the cause, change your theme to one of our standard themes and try previewing your survey again. If the formatting displays correctly there, this indicates it is the theme you were originally using with your survey.

We are aware that it is not currently possible to see your character count while editing a question, and that the point at which the limit is breached is not always clear. This has been raised with our product team as a priority improvement.