Google Forms – Requiring Exact Number of Checkboxes Based on Multiple Choice Response

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I have a multiple checkbox question that needs to have exactly the same number of ticked checkboxes as given in a multiple choice question. So if a user chooses the option 2 in the multiple choice question, I want to require that they choose exactly 2 options in the following checkbox question.

Best Answer

Google Forms lets you use a validation rule like select exactly 2 checkboxes. In your scenario, the 2 will vary. The rule, however, cannot read the 2 dynamically, so the value will have to be hardcoded.

There is a way to vary the number, though:

  1. Create multiple copies of the checkbox question, with each copy using a validation rule with a different number in place of 2.
  2. Place each copy of the checkbox question in a section of its own.
  3. Modify the multiple choice question so that it uses the go to section based on answer option.

To make sure the user only ever sees one copy of the checkbox question, you would have to use the go to section based on answer again to skip any remaining checkbox sections. This may require that you add another multiple choice or dropdown question at the end of each checkbox section.

All this adds complexity to the form, and I am not sure if it is worth the effort in your use case. It may be simpler to just add text to the form to emphasize to the user that they can only tick as many checkboxes as the multiple choice indicates.

You may also want to consider using another forms package. There are many such packages out there that support writing their responses directly to Google Sheets.

Yet another option is to write your own custom HTML form and deploy it as a web app. See the Web App Demo for sample code.