Survey into results

I want to create a form that I can select from a list of foods. After I select the foods I want, I want to be able to see on the results pdf on one side, the foods that were selected and on the other side the foods that were not selected. Apparently, according the the jotform AI, it will not display unselected items. Is there a workaround for this or can this feature be enabled somehow?

Hi Paul,

Thanks for reaching out to Jotform Support. I'm an AI assistant here to assist you.

You can actually control whether a field in your PDF shows only the selected options or all options, including the unselected ones. This is managed through the Show Only Selected Options setting for choice fields in PDF Editor. With that, you can list all foods and visually separate which were chosen and which were not, by using layout and styling.

Let me walk you through it:

1. Open your form in PDF Editor from the top navigation bar.
2. Add your food selection field (Single Choice, Multiple Choice, or similar) to the PDF if it is not already there, using Add Element → Form Fields.
3. Click on the choice field in the PDF, then click on the Gear icon to open its settings.
4. Look for the option Show Only Selected Options and uncheck it so that all options (selected and unselected) are displayed in the PDF.
5. Adjust the Display Style (for example, list, columns, etc.) so that you can visually distinguish selected vs. unselected items. Selected options will appear checked, and unselected ones will remain unchecked.

Here is how the key setting looks in PDF Editor:

If you want a stricter left/right layout (selected on one side, unselected on the other), you can:

• Duplicate the field in the PDF (not in the form) and place one copy on the left and one on the right.
• Configure one copy to Show Only Selected Options (for the “Selected Foods” column).
• Configure the other copy to show all options, then visually label it as “All Foods” or “Unselected Foods” and rely on the unchecked state to indicate which were not chosen.

This way, the PDF will clearly show which foods were selected and which were not, even though the form itself only stores the selected values.

Give it a try and let us know how it goes.

I want to display a list of only the unselected options. How can I do this?

Hi Paul,

I understand you want the PDF to show only the unselected options from your list of foods.

Right now, the Show Only Selected Options setting in PDF Editor only lets you choose between:

• Checked: show only selected options
• Unchecked: show all options (selected and unselected together)

There is no built-in option that shows only the unselected choices and hides the selected ones, so what you want cannot be done directly in PDF Editor using that field alone.

The closest you can get inside PDF Editor is to show all options and visually interpret unchecked items as “not selected,” but you cannot automatically filter the list down to only those unchecked items.

Let us know if you have any other questions.