Frequently Asked Questions
How "everyone has answered" (auto-end quiz timer) works
How "everyone has answered" (auto-end quiz timer) works
This feature automatically ends the quiz timer once all participants have submitted their answers. It counts the highest number of participants who were in the quiz at the same time after the presenter clicked Present. For example, if your quiz had a peak of 100 participants but 1-2 later left, the system still treats the total as 100 — so the timer won’t auto-end until it has responses accounted for from all 100. The count only resets when the presenter exits presenting mode and clicks Present again. The presenter can also manually end the timer by hovering over it and clicking End now.
Can I turn off the timer on quizzes?
Can I turn off the timer on quizzes?
No. Every quiz slide keeps a time limit — you can set it anywhere from 5 seconds to 20 minutes, but you can’t switch it off, because quiz scoring is based partly on how quickly players answer. While presenting, you can end the countdown for the current question early by hovering over the timer and clicking End now, but that ends the question rather than removing the timer.For an unscored question where you’d rather let participants respond at their own pace, use a slide type where the timer is optional instead. On Poll, Word Cloud, Open-Ended, and Rating Scale slides the timer is off by default — you can switch it on if you want one, but nothing forces a countdown.
How do I stop players seeing the correct answer and the leaderboard during the quiz?
How do I stop players seeing the correct answer and the leaderboard during the quiz?
Adjust two settings: turn on Manually show correct answers in the general quiz settings so the correct answer is only revealed when you choose (note this doesn’t work in Self-paced mode); and to hide the leaderboard between questions, delete the in-between leaderboard slides (or turn off the Leaderboard setting on each quiz slide) and keep a single leaderboard at the very end — see Adding and Deleting a Leaderboard on your Quiz.
Is there a character limit for quiz questions?
Is there a character limit for quiz questions?
Yes. Each quiz question can be up to 300 characters long. As you type in the Your question box, a counter shows how many characters you have left, and the box stops accepting input once you reach the limit.The same 300-character limit applies whether you type a question directly in the editor or import your questions from a spreadsheet. If you need to give players more detail than the limit allows, add a heading or content slide before the quiz slide to carry the extra context.
Why do participants see "the quiz isn't open" when they scan the QR code?
Why do participants see "the quiz isn't open" when they scan the QR code?
This happens when no live host is driving the quiz at the moment they scan. In the default host-led setup, participants can only join and answer while you are in Present mode on a quiz slide — the quiz isn’t “open” before you press Present, or while a non-quiz slide is on screen. There is no way to keep a host-led quiz permanently open for people to join on their own.Which fix you want depends on how you’re running it:
- Running it live, with you hosting. Press Present and move to a quiz slide before people scan. They land in the lobby and answer in step with you. See How to Make and Run a Quiz.
- Letting people answer any time, with no host. Switch to self-paced mode: on the presentation edit screen open the Settings tab, click Who takes the lead, and choose Audience (self-paced). Participants can then open the link or scan the QR code whenever they like and work through the quiz at their own pace. See Setting up a self-paced presentation on AhaSlides.
Can I move, resize, or layer the text and images on a quiz slide?
Can I move, resize, or layer the text and images on a quiz slide?
No. Quiz slides use a fixed layout: the question, the answer options, and the slide image sit in set positions, and you cannot drag, resize, or stack them. There are also no line-spacing or letter-spacing controls for quiz text.You can still style a quiz slide. Change the font and the text colour from the text toolbar, and set a background colour, a background image, and its transparency under the Design tab. Each slide uses one background at a time — a colour or a single image — rather than multiple stacked background layers.For full design freedom, use a Content slide instead. It gives you a free-form canvas where you can add several text boxes, images, and GIFs, position and resize each one anywhere on the slide, and stack them using Bring forward and Send backward. A common setup is a Content slide for the themed intro or the answer reveal, followed by the quiz slide itself.
Where to Go Next
How to Make and Run a Quiz
The full walkthrough — choosing a quiz slide, editing it, getting players in, and presenting.
Quiz settings on AhaSlides
Per-slide points, time limits, partial scoring, hints and audio, plus the general quiz settings.