Polls turn an article's focused summary into a quick, structured question. Readers can respond from the feed card, then open the article when they need the reasoning, background, or discussion behind the choices.
A Focused Question With Article Context
A poll is one summary format for an article, not a separate document with its own publishing lifecycle. The article title frames the question or subject, the poll offers the choices, and the optional body can explain what readers should consider before voting.
This arrangement works well when an author wants a clear answer from a known set of choices. It also keeps the question useful after the vote: the article can preserve supporting material, related discussion, and the owning space's context instead of reducing the decision to an isolated result card.
The same poll appears in two connected places:
Polls follows the current space area and uses its document folders as a browsing path.
Polls does not provide a separate creation or editing workspace. For more on the relationship between summaries and articles, see Articles, and for feed behavior, see Posts and Feeds.
Shape a Poll That Readers Can Answer
Authors can begin a poll from the main feed by selecting a joined space and choosing Poll, or they can switch an article's active summary type to Poll while editing. Either route creates an article draft whose poll is the selected summary.
A new poll begins with two empty option fields. Write at least two meaningful options; placeholders such as Option 1 and Option 2 are prompts for the author, not finished answers. Use Add Option when the question needs more choices. Options can be removed while more than two remain.
Keep the question and options tightly aligned. A useful poll usually has:
Poll option edits follow the article's autosave flow, and the draft remains private until it is published. Switching the summary to another format can preserve the poll choices for the current editing session, but only the summary type currently selected will be published. Authoring and Publishing explains drafts, save feedback, validation, and publication in detail.
Changing the options of an existing poll clears all votes already cast. This applies even when the edit seems small, such as correcting an option label. Review every choice before publishing, and treat a later option edit as restarting the poll rather than polishing its wording.
Vote and Read the Result
Before voting, the card shows the available choices and the current total number of votes. Select one option to cast a single choice. While the request is being processed, the choices are temporarily unavailable so the same action is not submitted repeatedly.
After a successful vote, the card changes to a result view. It shows:
Poll votes are not anonymous. Names and avatars can appear in the voter preview, so choose with the expectation that other readers may recognize your response.
Results do not update continuously on the open card. Select Refresh Results to load newer totals and percentages after other people have voted. Because the feed card and article summary represent the same poll, reopening or refreshing either surface should show the same current vote state.
The current result card does not provide a control to change a vote or remove it after submission. Check the selected option before voting.
Access Follows the Owning Area
A poll inherits its reading context from the article and the space area that owns it. Poll-backed articles in public areas can be read under the area's normal public access, while protected areas require access to that area. The Polls browser follows the same boundary when it lists folders and poll-backed articles.
Voting has a narrower access check than reading. To vote, a reader must:
This means someone may be able to read a public poll without being able to vote. If selecting an option opens sign-in, or if voting controls are unavailable after joining, check the destination and the permissions supplied by the space.
Common Questions
Is a poll a separate document from its article?
No. It is the article's selected summary format. The article supplies the title, optional body, destination, permissions, draft state, and publication lifecycle.
Why does Polls open an article page?
Polls is a browsing shortcut, not a separate poll workspace. It finds poll-backed articles in the current area and opens the article that owns each poll.
Can I publish a poll with only one choice?
No. A poll starts with and retains at least two option fields. Replace their placeholders with meaningful authored choices before publishing.
Can voters select several options?
No. Current polls accept one choice from each voter.
Can I change my choice after voting?
Not from the current result card. It shows results and Refresh Results, but it does not offer change-vote or unvote controls.
Are poll responses anonymous?
No. Results can include a preview of the people who selected each option.
Why did the results disappear after I edited an option?
Editing the option set clears the poll's existing votes. This keeps the revised choices from being combined with answers to an earlier version of the poll.