Customize Builder Defaults and Preferences

Settings includes preferences for how Domandata feels while you build: appearance, readability, question type organization, Flow Canvas behavior, auto-suggest, default survey setup, keyboard shortcuts, Auto Tidy, and notifications.

Use these preferences to reduce repeated setup work and make the editor match how your team builds surveys. They change your working environment; they do not replace the need to preview the respondent-facing survey.

1. Step 1: Open Settings. Use the top navigation or command palette to open Settings.

   Step 1: Open Settings

2. Step 2: Check Accessibility. Adjust appearance, display, and readability preferences before long editing sessions or classroom demos.

3. Step 3: Check Question Type Organization. Arrange the question type list so the types you use most are easy to reach.

   Step 3: Question Type Selector

4. Step 4: Check Flow Canvas. Set Flow Canvas behavior to match how you prefer to inspect routing and conditions.

   Step 4: Flow Canvas

5. Step 5: Check Advanced defaults. Review auto-suggest, keyboard shortcuts, Auto Tidy, notifications, and API-related preferences. Under Shuffle, Balance new arms and outcomes sets whether new condition-set arms, random-assignment variables, and conjoint level weights start even (block/balanced) or random (independent) — see How Randomization Works. It only seeds new ones; existing configurations are never changed retroactively.

6. Step 6: Set up New Default Survey. The New Default Survey card (Settings → Advanced) controls what every brand-new survey starts as. The picker only offers saved templates — whole saved surveys — never a single block or question; picking one makes every new survey you create a full copy of it (blocks, flow, branching, and all). Once a template is picked, the survey-wide General options below it disappear, since the template's own settings apply instead — clear the template to bring them back. In their place, a Workspace specific default toggle lets you restrict the template to one chosen workspace instead of every workspace you belong to. If you lead (own) the workspace the template is saved in, you also get a Set as workspace default template button, which makes it the default for every member of that workspace who hasn't set their own. Until you pick a template, General options preset the same survey-wide settings as a survey's own Survey Options and Deploy tabs — requiredness, tracking, timing, page breaks, shuffle and randomization (including consistent display order), structure (back navigation, question numbers, titles, auto-advance, progress bar, timed survey), reCAPTCHA, publishing (single response per link, QR style), and custom JS DOM access.

   Step 6: Open Settings

• Large surveys: Flow Canvas and Auto Tidy preferences can make routing easier to inspect.
• Repeated instruments: a New Default Survey template (personal, workspace-scoped, or workspace-wide) turns a similar study into a one-click starting point instead of rebuilding blocks and flow settings each time; Balance new arms and outcomes reduces setup time further for experiments.
• Keyboard-heavy editing: shortcuts and command-palette habits speed up adding questions and switching tabs.
• Team demos or teaching: display and readability preferences help the app remain legible on shared screens.
• Notification-heavy projects: notification preferences help separate useful alerts from background noise.

Most Settings preferences affect the builder, not the participant-facing survey. After changing preferences, still use Preview to confirm page breaks, mobile layout, accessibility, and Flow paths from the respondent's perspective.

• How Randomization Works
• Block Builder Keyboard Shortcuts
• Command Palette
• Accessible Research Surveys
• Troubleshoot Survey Flow
• Create Your First Academic Research Survey
• Survey Templates and Study Starters