> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://greatquestion.co/support/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Consent Forms

> Collect participant consent with built-in checkboxes or your own custom PDF forms.

Great Question gives you two ways to collect consent before someone takes part in your research: the built-in **consent checkboxes** that ship with every study, and **custom PDF consent forms** for organizations that need their own legal language.

## Standard consent checkboxes

Every study includes consent by default. Before joining, participants must check the required boxes:

* "I understand that my data is stored for research purposes\[, for \[Company Name]]"
* "I understand that I can request for my research participation data to be deleted at any time"

There is also an optional opt-in box, "I opt-in to being contacted for future studies," that participants can choose to accept.

This built-in consent works for most studies and requires no setup.

## Custom consent forms

Custom consent forms let you upload a PDF with your organization's own legal language and collect a signature from each participant.

<Note>
  Custom consent forms are available on Enterprise plans (and some legacy Self-serve and trial accounts). If you're not sure whether your account has access, check **Settings → Plans**, or contact your Customer Success Manager or support.
</Note>

To upload a custom form:

1. Go to **Settings > [Legal](https://greatquestion.co/legal)**.
2. Click **Attach file**.
3. Upload a PDF file.

When you configure a form, you choose which fields participants fill in. **Name**, **Email**, **Title**, **Address**, and **Phone Number** are all optional, while a **Signature** is always required.

## Consent transfer settings

You can control whether participants re-sign your form for every study or whether a prior signature carries over:

| Setting               | Behavior                                          |
| --------------------- | ------------------------------------------------- |
| **Non-transferrable** | Participants sign for every study                 |
| **For 90 days**       | A previous signature carries over within 90 days  |
| **For 1 year**        | A previous signature carries over within 365 days |

<Tip>
  Use a transfer window when you research repeatedly with the same people, so returning participants don't have to re-sign the same form each time.
</Tip>

## Setting a default form

To attach a form to new studies automatically, click **Set as default** on any consent form in **Settings > Legal**.

## Team-scoped forms

If your organization uses **teams**, you can upload consent forms specific to each team under **Settings > Teams > \[Team Name] > Legal**. This lets different teams use their own legal language.

## Viewing signed forms

You can access signed consent forms from several places:

* A **participant profile**, in the Consent section
* A candidate's **panel profile** — this view shows up to 5 signed forms
* A **bulk export** from a study's participant list — this downloads a single zip file containing every signed PDF, rather than individual records with details

Where individual records are shown (participant profile and panel profile), each one lists the filename, the signing date and time, the associated study, and a download option.

<Note>
  Whether you can see that a form was signed and whether you can download the signed PDF are controlled separately — your role may let you see a record without being able to download it.
</Note>

## Troubleshooting

<table>
  <thead>
    <tr><th>Issue</th><th>What's Happening</th><th>How to Fix</th></tr>
  </thead>

  <tbody>
    <tr><td>Studies revert to the standard checkboxes after I delete a custom form</td><td>Deleting a form doesn't check which studies use it first — every study pointing at that form falls back to Great Question's default consent checkboxes immediately.</td><td>Before deleting a form, check which studies use it. There's no undo, so reassign or pause those studies first if you need to keep using custom consent.</td></tr>
    <tr><td>Need to change the PDF on an existing form</td><td>You can edit a form's team, default status, expiration window, and included fields, but not the uploaded PDF itself.</td><td>Upload a new form with the updated PDF and set it as default (or reassign studies to it), then delete the old one once nothing depends on it.</td></tr>
    <tr><td>A candidate's panel profile or the API only shows 5 signed forms</td><td>Both the panel profile view and the public API cap out at a candidate's 5 most-recently-signed forms.</td><td>For a candidate's full signing history, use the bulk export from a study's participant list instead.</td></tr>
    <tr><td>A participant's booking failed or froze right after signing a custom form</td><td>This can happen on studies where signing the form is a required step before booking.</td><td>Have the participant refresh and retry the booking. If it keeps failing, contact support with the participation ID rather than resubmitting repeatedly.</td></tr>
    <tr><td>Want to be notified when someone signs a form</td><td>There's no in-app notification for individual signings.</td><td>Use the <code>consent\_form.signed</code> webhook event to react to signings programmatically instead of checking manually.</td></tr>
  </tbody>
</table>

***

**Still need help?** Contact us at [support@greatquestion.co](mailto:support@greatquestion.co) — median response time is 19 minutes during [support hours](https://greatquestion.co/features/about-our-support-team).