The Text Input step is our newest step-type that allows you to set up a question where the user must type their answer in the specified box. To complete the step successfully, their text entry must match a correct answer that you've set up in the step.

Click the button below to see this step-type in action (for the purposes of this demo, we've included the answers as a hint for each step):

The example above shows it used in two scenarios. One is within a software simulation, where text needs to be entered on a form. The other is a general question type where the benefit of using the Text Input step-type is that the learner is required to completely rely on their knowledge recall, rather than being able to pick from a list of possible answers like the multi-choice Quiz step-type.

To create this type of step, add a Text Input step from the "Add Step" menu, then add a title and background image.

Type the question you'd like your learner to answer in the "Question" box.

Then, type out the exact answer you wish them to type. If there are multiple ways to answer the question correctly - e.g. United States or US or U.S. - you can account for this by ensuring that each one is set up as a correct answer. However in the example below, there is only one correct answer: "Laura Hernandez".

After adding the step, you can now position the "Text Area" like you would do for a Hotspot: simply drag and resize this into the location you wish.

In the example below, it has been moved to overlay the existing text field in the image of the software system that's being used, as shown by the box with the turquoise outline:

When using the Sim, the user can type the answer into the box, as seen below:

If you'd like to try out this step yourself, you can always try the interactive example using the button at the start of this article.