Configuring a Fill in the Blank Question
Write a fill-in-the-blank sentence and mark its blanks by clicking words, the same way the Highlighter widget works.
A Fill in the Blank widget gives learners a sentence with one or more missing words to type in. Its setup has two parts that belong together: the sentence itself (the text and the blanks) and the answer key (what counts as correct for each blank). Both live in a dedicated Configure dialog so the blanks and their answers sit side by side, instead of being split across the narrow right sidebar.
Opening the Configure dialog
Select a Fill in the Blank widget on the canvas. A floating ⚙ Configure button appears just above it.
Click ⚙ Configure to open the dialog. From top to bottom it has:
- A live preview of the widget, so you can see exactly what the sentence will look like on the canvas while you edit (you can't see the widget itself behind the dialog).
- Scoring — whether the question contributes to the score. The Scoring switch, Points, and Group work the same for every scorable widget.
- Content — a preview of the sentence and an Edit sentence & blanks button that opens the authoring dialog.
Building the sentence and its blanks
Click Edit sentence & blanks to open the authoring dialog. This works just like the Highlighter widget: you write the sentence, then mark the words learners should fill in.
- Type the full sentence the way it reads when it's correct — for example,
The capital of France is Paris. - Select a word you want learners to fill in (for example,
Paris) and click Mark as blank. The word turns into a blank, and the word you marked becomes its main accepted answer. Repeat for every blank you want. - To turn a blank back into ordinary text, put your cursor in it and click Remove blank.
Because you write the real sentence first and then mark words, the answer key is built as you go — there's no separate list to keep in sync.
Fine-tuning a blank
Click a blank (the highlighted word) to open its settings beneath the editor:
- Placeholder — an optional hint shown inside the empty blank, like
city. The hint also sets how wide the blank is (never narrower than about five letters), so give a long answer a hint at least as long as the answer, or students can't see all of what they type. - Other accepted answers — use Add accepted answer to accept more than one word for the same blank (for example,
colorandcolour). The highlighted word always counts; these are extras.
Case sensitive answers sits at the top of the dialog. Leave it off to accept paris and Paris alike; turn it on when capitalization matters.
Quick edits on the canvas
Double-click the widget on the canvas to edit the sentence in place. Each blank shows as square brackets around its placeholder — [city], or [] for a blank with no placeholder.
- Edit the words around a blank freely: every blank keeps its accepted answers.
- Delete a blank by deleting its brackets. The blanks after it keep their own answers — nothing shifts onto a neighbour.
- Type
[](or[hint]) to add a blank. A new blank starts with no accepted answer, so open ⚙ Configure to give it one; until you do, the "a blank has no accepted answer" warning below reminds you. - Press Enter or click away to finish. If you didn't change anything, nothing is saved.
Saving your changes
There are two Save buttons, one per dialog. Nothing affects the widget until you save, and the canvas keeps showing the last saved version while you work.
- In the Edit sentence & blanks dialog, Save carries your sentence, blanks, and case-sensitivity choice back into the Configure dialog. Cancel (or Esc / the ✕ / clicking outside) discards them.
- In the Configure dialog, Save applies your Content and Scoring changes to the widget. Cancel throws them away. If you've made changes, you'll be asked to confirm before they're discarded, so an accidental click can't lose your work.
Heads-up warnings
The Configure dialog watches for a couple of common setup mistakes and shows a short warning (with a one-line summary near Save):
- There are no blanks for learners to fill.
- Scoring is on, but a blank has no accepted answer (so it could never be marked correct).
These are reminders, not roadblocks — you can still Save with a warning showing if that's really what you want.
What stays in the sidebar
Only Content and Scoring move into the Configure dialog. Style & Layout — text and background colors, the blank's background, border, fonts, spacing, and the rest of the widget's appearance — still lives in the right sidebar, the same as every other widget. Select the widget and the sidebar shows its Style & Layout settings while the dialog handles the question itself. Students see the same text size, colors, border, corner radius, spacing, and blank background you see on the canvas.