Everything you need to create, run, and share a poll.
Creating a poll is trivial: enter your questions and send the vote link to your audience.
Provide the questions: every question consists of the question text and one or more answers. Type the question into the "Enter question" field. Answers are entered either after hitting the Tab key or by clicking into the desired answer field.
After entering your e-mail address, click Create poll and send links by e-mail. Your poll is saved, the cockpit controls appear at the top of the screen, and the three links (see below) are e-mailed to you. We ask for your e-mail to keep you informed about the ongoing development of DirectPoll.
Three essential links manage your poll:
Choose between five looks: Dark, Light, their transparent ("clear") variants, and a Custom theme where you set your own bar, background and font colors. Click the one you like best and save your poll. You can also enable "Show vote URL on result screen" so voters can still join if they missed the QR code.
The cockpit is where you add questions, choose the appearance, and manage your poll.
Poll questions consist of the question text and one or more answers. Type the question text and the answers into the input fields. New empty questions and answer fields appear automatically as soon as all blanks are filled. Empty questions and empty answers are ignored when the poll is saved.
Choose Single choice or Multiple choice from the type dropdown on each question. Additional question types are in preparation.
Drag and drop questions using the drag handle (⠿) on the left of each question. You can rearrange answers within a question the same way.
Delete a question or an answer with its ✕ button.
Restrict access to your poll by checking Require token to vote. This lets you control who votes by distributing tokens. Exactly one vote per question is accepted per token – across all browsers and devices.
The first time, click Create poll and send links by e-mail: your poll is saved and its links are e-mailed to you. After that the button becomes Save poll; use Discard changes to revert any unsaved edits. Empty questions and answer fields are ignored automatically. You are free to alter your poll at any time.
DirectPoll can display the correct answer after votes have been cast. To use this feature:
Sometimes it's distracting to see which answer is getting the most votes during a poll – it may influence undecided voters. This feature lets you hide the answer popularity on the results screen while voting is in progress.
All the links you need are shown in the "Links" section of your cockpit.
This is the link for your audience. They access the poll via their smartphones, see the current question, and cast their vote directly. A short URL and QR code are provided for convenience.
All incoming votes are displayed here in real time – this is where the magic happens. Open this link on a large display and set your browser to full-screen mode for the best visual experience.
This is your control link – keep it safe! Full poll control is available here: you may add or alter questions at any time and reset votes when appropriate.
Use the Send links by e-mail button to send all three links to your saved address, so you always have a backup copy. Links are only ever sent to the saved address – change your e-mail and save first if needed.
Click the look you want – including the Custom theme, where you set your own bar, background and font colors. The selected tile is outlined to confirm it's active. You can also enable Show vote URL on result screen. Save your poll again to apply the chosen appearance.
The cockpit steers your poll throughout the session.
Click Start. Your poll is ready for voting immediately. Display the results page and ask your audience to scan the QR code shown.
Switch between questions from the control strip: use Next to step forward, or the question dropdown to jump to any question. The dropdown always shows which question is currently live.
Click Stop to end voting; the results page returns to its start screen and the vote counts are kept for review. To clear the counts, use Reset all votes in the Danger zone.
Existing questions may be edited and new questions added while a poll is running. Any changes take effect as soon as the poll is saved.
The control strip appears at the top of the cockpit once you have saved the poll at least once. It has three buttons – Start / Next, Pause / Resume and Stop – a status label showing the current state, and a question dropdown.
One button steps the poll forward. While the poll is stopped it reads Start and begins the poll, so the first question goes live and the voting page shows its submission form. Once the poll is running it reads Next and advances to the following question; it is disabled once the last question is reached.
This button toggles between Pause and Resume. Pausing freezes voting at any time – your audience sees a pause message on their devices and no votes are accepted. Resume continues where you left off.
Stop ends the poll: no votes are accepted and the results page returns to its start screen (the QR code). Vote counts are preserved for review unless you reset them.
Use the question dropdown to jump to any question out of sequence; it also shows which question is currently live. For questions that mark correct answers or hide answers, the dropdown offers a "(reveal answers)" entry that reveals that question's answers on the spot.
The same controls appear as a small overlay on the results page when you touch it or move your mouse, so you can steer the poll directly from the results display.
Control links let you steer the poll from inside a presentation that supports external links.
This link activates the next question in line when you press Reload in your browser. This lets you steer the poll from a browser window embedded in or alongside your presentation.
You can embed specific links for every question into your presentation. Each link activates one specific question by number. This prevents accidental question activation when switching between slides.
Our PowerPoint add-in shows live results directly on your slides and can drive the poll as you advance through your deck – no switching to a browser. See the Embed your Poll into a PowerPoint Presentation guide for the step-by-step instructions: building a deck works the same everywhere, and so do the decks themselves.
Installation and a few details depend on the platform you present from:
The most reliable way is to switch from your presentation to a browser window showing the results screen. Make the transition seamless by putting the browser in full-screen mode on the presentation display before you start presenting. This works with any presentation software, since all you need is a browser.
Some presentation tools can embed a live web page directly through an add-in or extension. Availability and support for these change over time and vary by platform – check your presentation tool's documentation for a web-viewer or web-embed option. If in doubt, the browser method above is the dependable choice.
These links display poll results in specific ways, useful for multi-screen setups.
This link always shows the results of the currently active question. Useful when you have two independent screens: display the poll on one screen and steer it from the other.
A static link to a specific question. This displays the results of that question independently of whether it is currently active. These links always show the result of the respective question, even when the poll is stopped.