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Survey123 analog to MS Access checkbox or tickbox

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01-05-2024 09:44 AM
EricaNova
Frequent Contributor

I'm transferring a database from MS Access to Survey123. In Access, some questions were in the form of a "tickbox" or "checkbox". What is the closest I can get to this in Survey123 - a single select question with two choices, defaulting to "FALSE" or "No"? 

I liked that in Access you just left the box unchecked if FALSE. It seemed cleaner somehow.

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DougBrowning
MVP Esteemed Contributor

In our old Access database we had these checkboxes and they got stored as 0/1 and then no one knew what the heck that meant 2 years later and we always had to go back and look.  It was actually super annoying.

So instead now we have True/False or Yes/No and then set a default so False/No.  Simulates the same function rather well and now everyone knows False=False.

Then for some projects we never knew if they meant False or they just missed the question.  So then we went back and removed the default and added a required.  Crystal clear then.

Hope that helps

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abureaux
MVP Frequent Contributor

I don't think "tic boxes" are a real thing. SharePoint also has those, but in reality they are TRUE or NULL fields. What does the data look like exported? It has been forever and a day since I looked at Access.

In the end, a custom select_one will likely be the answer. Just make the choice list's name equal to the values Access has in that column.

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EricaNova
Frequent Contributor

It's a TRUE/FALSE field. 

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DougBrowning
MVP Esteemed Contributor

In our old Access database we had these checkboxes and they got stored as 0/1 and then no one knew what the heck that meant 2 years later and we always had to go back and look.  It was actually super annoying.

So instead now we have True/False or Yes/No and then set a default so False/No.  Simulates the same function rather well and now everyone knows False=False.

Then for some projects we never knew if they meant False or they just missed the question.  So then we went back and removed the default and added a required.  Crystal clear then.

Hope that helps

abureaux
MVP Frequent Contributor

This is they way.

I do the same thing in SharePoint. Microsoft's checkbox field feels like a trap. I always make a choice field for Yes/No and make the questions required in S123. Removes all ambiguity.

I think I misunderstood the initial question.