Now you're familiar with the most common types of selection from Lessons 1 and 2, we'll move onto selector options and less common selector types.
Break Apart
The 'Break Apart' option gives you the ability to make one large selection (say over a list of bullet points), then break them apart into individual questions (one per bullet). You're then free to remove or tweaks the individual parts - e.g. combine the first and second bullet by removing the second and expanding the first.
All selections can be broken down until they are a collection of multi-part selections, which you can use to build up any question. In this way, you can always select the question in any document, even if you need to break apart / build them out of separate parts.
Refs
A 'Ref' is the unique reference given to a question within a document e.g. "Q1.1". These are picked up automatically by many of the selectors (for example, they will default to the numbering in numbered lists), but in some cases they are not.
If a Ref isn't specified, then Answertree will add its own (a simple number). Equally, if a Ref is repeated, Answertree will add (2,3 etc) after it so that all Refs in a document are unique. This is important so that when completing a document, users can talk about the Ref and know that it relates to a specific question.
If you've selected a question and the Ref is not correctly set, then you can override it by clicking on the selection tile, then clicking into the Ref option and changing it.
If the Refs aren't selected correctly in a list of questions, you can 'Break Apart' the list first, and then set the Refs on each question.
Maximum Word counts
Sometimes, a question will specify a maximum word count for a question. Answertree will often pick this up and set it automatically. If it fails to do so, you can click into the Selection tile and set it manually.
If the word count applies to a set of question, you may need to 'Break Apart' the selection first.
Text Range Selections
Answertree generally works on the principle that questions are organised into paragraphs (or table cells). This holds true most of the time, however there are instances where a question may be only part of a paragraph.
In order to select this, double click on the paragraph (or cell in Excel view) and select the text.
Multipart Selections
Usually documents follow straight forwards patterns. Questions are in lists, or as paragraphs or in tables and selection is very easy, but there are of course weird and wonderful exceptions. A multi-part selection allows you to build up a question from multiple pieces.
You can also select multiple answer parts.
Headings
Headings are a way to break up your question list. Headings are added automatically in Excel selection according to the sheets being selected.
In Word/PDF selection, you can click on a heading and mark it as such. Then, all following questions until the next heading will be placed under it.
Note: Only one level of heading is allowed in any document, but this could be a heading or sub heading in the original Word file.
Sections
Sometimes a list of questions only makes sense given some piece of text above them. For example:
"Please provide details of the project manager:
1. Name
2. Position
"
If we were to select just the 'name' and 'position', the automatic matching would have a hard time figuring out what they relate to. The name of a person? or a place?
Sections provide a way to capture a block of text before a list of questions.
There are two flavors of section. The first is one that gets added automatically when you make the selection. In the example above, just drag the selector over the section text and the bullets below, and Answertree will suggest that it's a section with bullets.
You can also add sections manually by dragging the selection over the area you wish and choosing 'Section' from the matches. You're then able to select the text that makes up the section and separately the questions that go into it.
In table selections, you can select individual rows as sections.
Answer location
By default, answers are assumed to appear below the question being asked, and when you make selections, the answer location is set to 'Below Content'. The exception to this rule is in Table selections where you select one or more columns to contain the answer.
Sometimes however, this is not the case. Answertree provides two alternatives:
External document - in this options, the question and answer will be exported to an external document when the user exports the project
In document - this option provides the ability to select somewhere else in the document to place the answer. Furthermore, you can select whether to append the answer text or replace the text. For example you might opt to replace the text "Enter answer here".
Next Up
Now you've been introduced to all of the concepts in Selection. Don't worry if you don't remember them all at this stage. Once you start selecting documents, it will all make sense! Next, we'll deal with the best strategies for handling badly formatted or unusual documents.