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Custom questions & conditional logic

Some events need more than a name — the youth trip needs shirt sizes, the potluck needs allergy notes, VBS needs a grade. Custom questions put those on the sign-up form itself, so you're not chasing answers by text afterwards or bolting a second form onto your sheet.

The short answer: Every sheet can ask its own questions — a t-shirt size dropdown, an allergies field, a yes/no — answered once per sign-up, right next to name and email. Mark a question required, or show it only when an earlier answer calls for it. Answers land on your dashboard and in the CSV export. On every plan.

Add a question

Open your sheet in the dashboard and find the Custom questions card. Hit + Add a question and give it a label — that's exactly what volunteers see on the form. Pick an answer type:

  • Short answer — a free-text box (“Any allergies we should know about?”).
  • Dropdown — you list the options, comma-separated (“S, M, L, XL”), volunteers pick one.
  • Yes / No — the one-tap question conditions love (“Do you already have a team shirt?”).

Each question can also carry a line of help text — small print under the label for the details that don't fit in a question (“The deadline to receive a shirt is Oct 12th”).

Check Required when a sign-up isn't complete without the answer. Save, and the questions appear on your public form — in the one summary form at the bottom, next to name and email, so they're answered once per sign-up no matter how many slots someone picks.

Show a question only when it applies

Any question can hide behind an earlier yes/no or dropdown question. On the question, change Ask always to Ask only when…, pick the earlier question, and pick the answer that should reveal it.

The classic setup, in two questions:

  1. “Do you already have a team shirt?” — Yes / No, required.
  2. “T-shirt size” — dropdown (S, M, L, XL), required, asked only when question 1 is No.

Someone who answers Yes never sees the size dropdown; a No makes it appear on the spot. A required question that stays hidden is never demanded — required means “required when asked.”

Conditions can only look up the list — a question can depend on one asked before it, never after. Use the ↑ and ↓ arrows on each question to put them in the right order.

Where the answers go

Each person's answers show on the sheet's dashboard page right next to their sign-up (“T-shirt size: L”), and the CSV export adds one column per question — so the shirt order is a download and a pivot table away.

Answers ride along with the sign-up: re-answering an RSVP or carpool question with the same email updates the stored answers too, so the latest submission is always the one you see.

Planning Center churches (Pro plan) can also send answers into People as a note — an opt-in you turn on by picking a note category in Settings. See What sync updates for exactly how that works.

Common questions

Can I make a question required?
Yes — check Required on the question. Volunteers can't finish signing up without answering it. A required question that's hidden by its show-only-when condition is never demanded, and someone answering an RSVP with a “no, can't make it” isn't blocked on event questions either.
How do I show a question only after a certain answer?
On the question, change “Ask always” to “Ask only when …” and pick an earlier yes/no or dropdown question plus the answer that should reveal it. For example: “Do you already have a team shirt?” (Yes/No), then “T-shirt size” set to appear only when the answer is No.
If someone signs up for three slots, do they answer three times?
No — questions are asked once per sign-up, in the same form as their name and email. All the slots they picked in that submission share the one set of answers.
Where do I see the answers?
On the sheet's dashboard page, next to each person's name (“T-shirt size: L”), and as their own columns in the CSV export — one column per question, ready for a pivot table or the shirt order.
Which plans include custom questions?
All of them, including Free — like the rest of the form-field settings, it's basic form editing, not a premium extra.
Do answers sync to my ChMS?
Not unless you turn it on. Planning Center churches on Pro can pick a People note category in Settings, and each sign-up's answers are then added to the person as one note there. Other systems, and churches that haven't picked a category, keep answers in SignUpChurch only.
What happens to answers if I edit or remove a question later?
Editing a question's wording keeps its existing answers — they stay attached to the question, not the wording. Removing a question stops asking it and drops its column from the CSV; already-collected answers aren't shown anymore but nothing else changes.

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