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How to create questions with a dropdown and open text box for each dropdown?


Hi everyone!

I am trying to create a survey where I want to ask companies to fill up which technologies are they involved in and for each of those technologies which of the 15 categories of an carbon emissions calculation are material to them. 

The best option in question type I have found is the Matrix where I could put all possible technologies in left-hand side column and give the option to select which of the categories are material with 15 columns (1 for each category). However, this is not optimal as the matrix would be really long with almost 100 rows and 15 columns, reducing the chances of getting responses.

Is there another way to create this question? The 2 options I have thought about are:

  1. Dropdown to select each technology which is applicable and having an open text box where you can write 1, 2, 3, etc as to what emission category(s) are material for each of those technologies.
  2. Dropdown to select each technology which is applicable and having the 15 columns to select what category is applicable in matrix form.

I haven’t found way to do either 1 or 2. Any advice on how I could create this? Or ideas of alternative ways to create this question, so it is practical and easy to answer.

Thank you!

Best answer by Liz

Hi @gresb Thanks for stopping by the community! I’m afraid we don’t have these field types available. Would it be possible to add short/long text questions instead and allow them to enter the text into those? It’s not the most ideal workaround. 

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Liz
Ex–Typefomer
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  • Tech Community Advocate
  • 15035 replies
  • Answer
  • May 30, 2024

Hi @gresb Thanks for stopping by the community! I’m afraid we don’t have these field types available. Would it be possible to add short/long text questions instead and allow them to enter the text into those? It’s not the most ideal workaround. 


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  • Explorer
  • 6 replies
  • September 8, 2025

Hi! For surveys like this, you might want to use a combination of dropdowns with conditional logic rather than a huge matrix. Here’s one way to set it up:

  1. Dropdown for Technology: Let respondents first select a technology from a dropdown.

  2. Follow-up Question: Use a multiple-choice or checkbox question (for the 15 emission categories) that appears only if that technology is selected. Many survey tools like Typeform or SurveyMonkey allow this kind of conditional branching.

  3. Repeatable Blocks: If respondents are involved in multiple technologies, you can use a ‘repeat’ block or let them add another response for a different technology.

This keeps the survey compact and user-friendly while still collecting detailed information. Avoiding a huge 100x15 matrix will likely improve completion rates.
Hope so this will work for you.


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