What you'll build
By the end of this guide, you'll have a form field that lets respondents drag a list of options into their own preferred order instead of just picking or rating them. You'll set up the option list, customize the drag hint and clear-all text, and see how ranked responses flow into answer piping and an average rank chart in your data block.
When to use this
You're running a product roadmap survey and need to know not just what features people want, but in what order they want them
You've been using multiple rating fields to approximate priority, and the resulting data is too noisy to compare respondents against each other
You need to answer "who ranked X in first place?" and a free-text field can't give you that
You want a single chart showing the average rank per option instead of exporting data and calculating it yourself
Respondents keep re-explaining their priorities in a comments box because there's no field built for ranking
Adding the field in the form editor
The Ranking field lives in the Rating & Ranking section of the Add field panel, positioned right before the Matrix field. Once it's on your canvas, it behaves like the choice-based fields you already know, with a draggable list instead of checkboxes or radio buttons.
1. Open the Add field panel: In your form editor, click Add field and go to the Rating & Ranking section. You'll find Ranking listed before Matrix.
2. Add the field to your form: Click Ranking to drop it onto the canvas. It arrives with a field title input (defaulting to "Ranking") and one pre-populated choice row, so you're never starting from a completely blank list.
3. Build your option list: Use the Add choice action below the list to add more rows, the delete action on a row to remove one, and the drag handle on the left of each row to set your default order. Each row also shows a small position dropdown with its current rank number, which updates live as you drag.
4. Bulk import your options, if you have a long list: This uses the same insert component as choice-based fields, so the behavior is identical to what you're used to on Dropdown or Multi choice.
5. Publish your form: Once your options and settings are in place, click Publish in the island bar at the top of the editor to make the field live.
Note: The order you set in the editor has no meaning to the ranking logic itself, it's just the starting order respondents see before they rank anything.
Field settings
The settings sidebar follows the same layout as every other field: a Field section, an Insert section, and a Translate & Customize section. There's no separate "Settings" section here, since the ranking behavior itself doesn't need extra configuration beyond the option list.
Field type, ID, and visibility: the top section shows the field type, an editable field ID, and toggles for Required, Admin-only, and Invisible, the same controls every field type has.
Field width: the same width options available on every other field.
Insert: bulk import your option list in one paste, identical in behavior to the insert component on choice-based fields.
Translate & Customize: edit the two strings respondents see on the form, the hint text telling them to drag options into their order ("Drag and drop to rank options" by default) and the label on the Clear all button ("Clear all" by default). Both support translation if your form runs in multiple languages.
Form view
Respondents see a list of options they drag into their own order, with the field designed so the ranking affordance is unmissable even to someone who's never used a field like this before.
The drag hint appears between the field description and the first option, styled visually lighter than the description itself (smaller, greyed-out) so it reads as a hint rather than a heading.
Options load in the order you set in the editor, though as noted above, that starting order carries no meaning until the respondent actually ranks something.
A drag handle sits on every row, clearly visible so respondents immediately understand the list is reorderable.
A position dropdown sits next to each row, showing that option's current rank. It updates automatically after every drag, and respondents can also reorder the list by picking a position directly from the dropdown instead of dragging.
Clear all resets the entire list back to the original builder-defined order.
Note: A rank is only captured once a respondent actively reorders or assigns a position to a choice. If they leave an option untouched, its rank stays empty rather than defaulting to its on-screen position.
Answer piping
Ranking fields support answer piping, so a respondent's priority order can flow straight into a follow-up email, a PDF, or an internal notification.
The piped output is a comma-separated string of option labels, in the respondent's ranked order, with no numbers attached, for example:
Mobile App Access, Integrations with Third-Party Tools, Advanced Reporting & Analytics, Dark Mode / UI Customization, Faster Loading Speeds.If you need numbered output in a template, you format that manually, the piped value itself is always the clean, label-only string.
The field's ID shows up in the @ piping menu everywhere piping is supported, including the form editor, the Email Editor, and the PDF Editor.
💡 Want to pull a submitter's own answers into later questions, emails, or PDFs? How to use answer piping in Formaloo covers the @field_id basics, and the full variables reference lists every supported variable.
Data block and charts
Ranked responses show up in your data block as an ordered set of pills rather than a single value, so you can see each respondent's full priority list at a glance, and a chart aggregates that into one clear answer across everyone.
How responses render: each ranking response shows up as a row of numbered pill chips, one per option, each prefixed with its rank, for example
1. Mobile App Access 2. Advanced Reporting & Analytics 3. Dark Mode / UI Customization. Pills wrap inline as needed, and each one is its own clickable element.
What isn't supported yet: sorting or filtering the data block by a ranking field. It doesn't appear as a sort option, so use other fields on the response for that.
The average rank chart: one bar per option, showing its mean rank position across every response. A lower average means respondents consistently placed that option closer to the top, so this chart answers "what should we build first?" without exporting anything.
💡 Want to see only the submissions that matter right now? How to sort and filter your submissions data covers filtering options on every other field in the same data block.
What you now have
You now have a way to capture genuine priority order from respondents instead of approximating it with ratings or free text. Every response preserves the exact sequence someone dragged their options into, that order flows cleanly into emails and PDFs as a comma-separated string, and the average rank chart tells you what to build first without a single export. It replaces a workaround your team has been patching together with scattered rating fields.
What's next
Turn ranked priorities into a follow-up email Once you know what a respondent ranked first, you can reference it directly in a confirmation or thank-you email. → How to create and send custom email templates
Build the rest of your survey with AI If you're starting a roadmap or prioritization survey from scratch, Magic Create can build the surrounding fields in seconds. → How to create any form with AI using Magic Create
Dig into individual responses, not just the aggregate chart The average rank chart tells you the overall picture, but you'll still want to filter down to specific respondents or segments. → How to sort and filter your submissions data
Ready-to-use templates
Don't build this from scratch, we've already put it together for you. None of our current templates are built specifically around a Ranking field, but these are the closest starting points if you're building a prioritization or feedback-driven survey.
AI lead qualification & scoring form — Scores incoming leads with AI to figure out who to prioritize. Add a Ranking field to let prospects tell you directly which of your services matters most to them.
Scholarship & grant application with scoring and approval — Runs applicants through a multi-reviewer scoring workflow. A Ranking field is a natural fit for reviewers ranking candidates against each other instead of scoring them independently.
Job applicant tracking workflow — Tracks applicants across hiring stages. Add a Ranking field to have hiring managers rank finalists before a final decision.
Learn more how-tos
See scoring and ranking work alongside a full review workflow If you want ranking or scoring to feed into an approval decision rather than stand alone, this is a good reference for the surrounding logic. → Scholarship & grant application with scoring and approval workflow
Turn a scored response into a personalized result This walks through calculating and surfacing a result based on someone's answers, the same pattern that applies to acting on a ranked response. → How to build a score-based learning style quiz with personalized results
Route responses based on priority Once you know what someone ranked first, you'll often want to trigger a different follow-up depending on the answer. → How to build an AI-powered lead qualification system