# Long text question reference

You can collect answers in your visitors' own words, review common themes, and save the text to your email platform or CRM.

Available on the Grow, Scale, and Pro plans.

A **Long text** question gives visitors a multiline answer box, so they can explain something in their own words.

## When to use it

Use long text when you need an explanation rather than a predefined answer. [WorkForge](https://workforge.rightmessage.com) could ask, "What makes project handoffs difficult for your team?"

You can review the answers for common themes without creating a separate choice for everything someone might say.

## Settings

![Long text question draft with wording, type-specific settings, behavior, and internal name](https://rightmessage.com/help/screens/questions-long-text-settings.light.webp)

| Setting         | Default and what it does                                                                       |
| --------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Placeholder** | **Type your answer**. Shows a hint inside the empty box, not a saved answer.                   |
| **Required**    | Off. Visitors can skip. When on, requires a nonempty response. Whitespace alone doesn't count. |

The editor has no minimum or maximum character-count controls. Visitors can add line breaks and use the Next button to submit, rather than Enter.

See [shared question settings](https://rightmessage.com/help/question-settings-reference) for wording and button labels.

## How answers are stored and synced

**Responses** saves the text and can group answers into themes. Themes summarize a sample, not every response, and don't create segments automatically. A theme from an ordinary text question isn't the same as promoting an Other write-in to a choice answer.

See [collect open-ended responses](https://rightmessage.com/help/how-to-capture-open-ended-responses-along-with-some-best-practices) for help deciding what to ask, or [manage responses](https://rightmessage.com/help/manage-and-export-responses) to review the answers.

**Save answers to** shows your connected platform's name and offers compatible native or custom fields. Answers can still appear in **Responses** without a mapping. Mapping a field doesn't identify the visitor.

Your email platform's field limit may be shorter than the original response. Check the value that reached the destination field as well as the response in RightMessage. See [answer sync](https://rightmessage.com/help/synchronizing-contact-data-with-your-email-platform-or-crm) for identification and destination checks.

Long text answers don't automatically create answer branches. Use [input-answer conditions](https://rightmessage.com/help/conditions-answers) to compare the saved text. A [linked form field](https://rightmessage.com/help/form-fields-reference) submits with its form.

The editor preview doesn't record answers or send data to your email platform. Existing edits autosave to the draft and affect every use after publication. The [Questions library reference](https://rightmessage.com/help/question-library-reference) covers creating and reusing questions.