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Annotation Form v2

The annotation form has been rebuilt to be faster, more reliable, and smarter about saving your work. This guide covers everything you need to know about using the new form, from starting an annotation session to submitting your answers.

Overview

The rebuilt annotation form introduces four key improvements:

What changed Before Now
Loading speed All questions loaded at once (slow with many questions) Only visible questions load -- smooth scrolling even with 100+ questions
Saving You had to save the entire form at once Each answer saves automatically as you work
Work preservation A browser crash meant lost work Auto-saved answers survive crashes, device switches, and session timeouts
Navigation safety No warning when leaving unsaved work A warning dialog appears if you try to navigate away with unsaved changes

Behind the scenes, the form also tracks which version of each question you answer. This is invisible to you but important for data integrity -- it means your answers are permanently linked to the exact question that was asked, even if the question is later revised.

Who This Guide Is For

  • Reviewers/Annotators -- You answer annotation questions for studies in your project
  • Project Administrators -- You can use the Preview tab to see exactly what the rebuilt form looks like, and you control when the new form is enabled for your project

Starting an Annotation Session

  1. Navigate to your project and open a stage that has annotation enabled
  2. Select a study to annotate (or the system assigns one to you, depending on your stage settings)
  3. The annotation form loads with the questions configured for that stage

The form displays questions in the order your project administrator has set. Each question shows its type (dropdown, checkbox, text field, etc.) and any help text that has been provided.

Answering Questions

Work through the questions at your own pace. The form supports all six question types:

Yes/No Questions

A simple toggle. Click Yes or No to record your answer.

Click the dropdown to see the available options, then select one. If the list is long, you can type to filter the options.

Checklist Questions

Select one or more options from the list by clicking the checkboxes. You can select as many as apply.

Free Text Questions

Type your answer directly into the text field. There is no character limit.

Number Questions

Enter a numeric value (integer or decimal). The field accepts only numbers.

Autocomplete Questions

Start typing to search through the available options. The list filters as you type. Select the matching option from the suggestions.

Conditional Questions

Some questions appear only when you give a specific answer to a parent question. For example, if you answer "Pharmacological" to a question about model type, additional questions about the drug may appear below it. If you change your parent answer, the conditional questions update accordingly.

Help Text

Many questions include help text written by your project administrator. Look for the help icon next to the question -- click it to see guidance on how to answer.

Auto-Save

Your answers save automatically as you work. There is no "Save" button to press for individual answers.

How It Works

  • After you answer a question or change an answer, the system automatically saves it to the server within a few seconds
  • A small save indicator appears briefly to confirm each save
  • If your internet connection drops temporarily, the system retries automatically when the connection returns

What Auto-Save Protects Against

  • Browser crash -- Your answers are saved on the server, not just in your browser. If your browser crashes, your work is preserved.
  • Device switch -- You can start annotating on one computer, close the browser, and pick up exactly where you left off on another device.
  • Session timeout -- If your session times out due to inactivity, your saved answers are still there when you log back in.

Auto-Save vs. Submission

Auto-save creates a working draft of each answer on the server. This is different from submitting your session:

  • Auto-save -- Frequent, automatic, creates a working draft. Your answers are preserved but not yet finalised.
  • Submit -- An explicit action you take when you have answered all required questions. Submitting creates a permanent, immutable record of your complete session.

Think of auto-save as a safety net that protects your in-progress work. Submission is the action that finalises your annotations.

Submitting Your Annotations

When you have answered all required questions, click Submit to finalise your session.

What Happens When You Submit

  1. The system creates a permanent record of every answer you gave in this session
  2. Each answer is linked to the exact version of the question that was active when you answered it
  3. Your session is marked as complete
  4. After submission, your answers cannot be edited (this ensures data integrity for reconciliation)

Partial Saves

If you are not ready to submit but want to explicitly save your progress, click Save. This creates a checkpoint of your current answers while leaving the session open for further work. You can save as many times as you like before submitting.

Required Questions

If any required questions are unanswered, the Submit button is disabled and the form highlights which questions still need answers. Scroll to the highlighted questions to complete them.

Working with Large Question Sets

Some stages have many questions -- 50 or more across multiple categories. The rebuilt form handles large question sets smoothly:

  • Virtual scrolling -- Only the questions visible on your screen are rendered. As you scroll, new questions load and off-screen questions are removed from memory. This keeps the form responsive regardless of how many questions the stage contains.
  • Category sections -- Questions are organised into collapsible category sections. Expand the categories you are working on and collapse others to reduce visual clutter.
  • Keyboard navigation -- Use the Tab key to move between questions. The form preserves focus correctly even as virtual scrolling loads new questions into view.

You do not need to do anything special to benefit from these improvements. The form handles them automatically.

Unsaved Changes Warning

If you try to navigate away from the annotation form while you have unsaved changes, a warning dialog appears:

You have unsaved changes. Your most recent changes have not been saved. Do you want to save before leaving?

You can: - Save and leave -- Saves your pending changes, then navigates away - Leave without saving -- Discards any changes made since the last auto-save - Stay -- Returns to the form so you can continue working

Note that auto-save runs frequently, so in most cases your recent work has already been saved. The warning only appears if you have changes that were made in the last few seconds before navigating away.

Reverting Your Work

If you want to discard all changes you have made during your current session and start fresh, use the Revert option. This restores your answers to the last submitted state (or clears them entirely if you have not submitted before).

Revert is useful if you realise you have been answering questions incorrectly and want to start over rather than correcting individual answers.

For Project Administrators

Enabling the New Form

The rebuilt annotation form is available on a per-project basis. To enable it:

  1. Navigate to your project settings
  2. Find the Annotation Form v2 feature flag
  3. Enable it for your project

Both the old and new forms produce compatible data. You can enable the new form for selected projects first, gather feedback, and then roll it out more broadly.

Previewing the Form

Use the Question Management Preview tab to see exactly what the rebuilt form looks like for any stage. This shows you the same view your annotators will see, including conditional question behaviour, help text, and the auto-save interface.

Performance Improvements

The rebuilt form has been designed to handle large question sets without the performance issues that affected the previous form:

  • A stage with 50 questions loads in under 200 milliseconds (previously around 800ms)
  • A stage with 1,000 question units loads in under 300 milliseconds (previously over 5 seconds)
  • Typing in text fields responds instantly with no lag (previously noticeable delays with many questions)

Frequently Asked Questions

Will I lose my existing annotations when the new form is enabled? No. The new form reads from the same data as the old form. All your existing annotations are preserved.

Can I switch back to the old form? Your project administrator can disable the new form feature flag to revert to the previous form. Both forms work with the same data.

Do I need to do anything differently? No. The form works the same way -- answer questions and submit when done. The main differences (auto-save, faster loading) happen automatically.

What does the version number next to each question mean? Each question shows a small version indicator (e.g., "v1"). This tells you which version of the question you are answering. You do not need to worry about this -- it is there for traceability.