Surveys: collect responses with a Survey_ sheet
Name a sheet Survey_<Name> and describe your survey as a five-column table — one row per question. The Section value carries down until it changes, so you only write it when a new section starts. End with a SUBMISSION section that collects the respondent's name and email.
| Column | What goes in it |
|---|---|
| Section | The section heading (write it on the first question of each section only). |
| Question | The full question, exactly as respondents should read it. |
| Response | How it's answered: rating (stars; rating(10) for a 10-point scale), text, textarea, email, choice (pick one, shown as radio buttons), dropdown (pick one from a select — right for a long master list), multi (pick several) — or any Sheetward data type (integer, currency, phone, …). |
| Choices | For choice/multi: the options separated by |, ; or , ("Excellent | Good | Poor"). For dropdown (and allowed for the others): the name of a List_/Std_ sheet to use master data. On a currency/quantity question, default(USD) preselects the code/unit picker. On a rating question, Choices names the scale's end anchors ("Very unlikely | Very likely"). |
| Required | Yes to make the question mandatory — or key to also make it the survey's business key: a second submission with the same value (say, the same email) is refused. |
| Default | Optional: a value the form starts with — respondents can change it. |
Include the option Other (please specify) in a choice list and Sheetward adds the free-text box next to the question automatically — required exactly while Other is selected. Don't author the "other" question yourself.
A survey app runs by its own rules: every signed-in member gets one response per survey and can update it; Restrict record visibility is always on (members see only their own response, owners see everything); and an editor who opens the app lands straight on the survey — no records grid. When the collection window ends, close the app (Settings → Open/Closed): everything turns read-only and the published page stops accepting responses. Reopen it any time.
A survey can speak several languages: add a Translation_ sheet with question rows (the Object is the question text; per-language columns carry the translations) and choices rows for the answer options — respondents see their browser language, while results stay stored under the one stable option key. Rules_ and Formula_ sheets are not used in a survey workbook — validation lives in the question table itself.
To collect responses, publish the app and share the public link or QR code — the public page is intake-only (it shows the survey and nothing else), and each submission arrives as a record. Add a Report_ sheet and you have a live results dashboard for the app's members: response counts, rating averages, and charts over the choice questions. Your plan carries a separate allowance for survey apps and for published surveys — surveys never count against your regular app limits. One thing a survey app can't do: publish as a downloadable app standalone app (responses are tied to your workspace's members); share it through the public page instead.