# Questions

> How to answer the questions students send on lessons: public or private answer, drafts, reopening, pinning and deleting. With what the student sees.

A question is a student's query about a lesson, with an official answer from your team. Unlike a comment, it does not become a conversation. Your team answers from the **Support > Questions** inbox.

## The idea in one minute

The student asks once. Your team answers once and chooses who reads the answer:

- **Reply in the lesson**: the answer is **public**. Every student of the lesson sees the question and the answer.
- **Reply to the student only**: the answer is **private**. Only whoever asked sees the answer.

A public answer becomes an entry on the lesson: the next student with the same question finds the answer without asking. A private one is for what only that student should read.

You can correct the answer or replace it later. But each question has only one official answer.

**The most important rule:** review decides who reads the **question** before the answer. The public or private choice decides who reads the **answer**.

## How a question arrives and is answered

The student writes the question below the lesson. They can attach a file, such as a screenshot or a short video. The question enters the **Support > Questions** queue as **Pending**.

Your team answers with formatted text, images and files. Administrators do not send questions: only students do.

| When answering | Whoever asked | The other students of the lesson |
|---|---|---|
| **Reply in the lesson** | Sees the question and the answer, and gets the notice | See the question and the answer |
| **Reply to the student only** | Sees the question and the answer, and gets the notice | Do not see the answer |

### Review first or publish right away

In **Settings > Support > Questions**, **Review questions before publishing** has two options: **Review before publishing** and **Publish immediately**.

Review does not decide whether the question needs an answer. Every question enters the queue. Review decides who else reads the question.

| Review | The other students see the question | They see the answer |
|---|---|---|
| **Review before publishing** | Only after a public answer | Only a public one |
| **Publish immediately** | Right away, including questions still waiting for an answer | Only a public one; a private one stays with whoever asked |

The path of a question, from asking to answering:

```mermaid
flowchart TD
    accTitle: The path of a question
    accDescr: The student sends the question and it enters the queue as pending. With Review before publishing, only whoever asked sees the question; with Publish immediately, it shows on the lesson. When answering, Reply in the lesson makes the question and the answer public; Reply to the student only keeps the answer with whoever asked.
    pergunta["Student sends the question"]
    revisao{"Review before publishing?"}
    autor["Pending: only whoever asked sees it"]
    aula["Pending: visible on the lesson"]
    resposta{"How to answer?"}
    publica["Public: everyone sees the question and the answer"]
    privada["Private: the answer stays with whoever asked"]
    pergunta --> revisao
    revisao -->|Review before publishing| autor
    revisao -->|Publish immediately| aula
    autor --> resposta
    aula --> resposta
    resposta -->|Reply in the lesson| publica
    resposta -->|Reply to the student only| privada
    classDef destaque stroke:#ff005c,stroke-width:2px
    class resposta destaque
```

With a private answer, the other students only see the question if the account publishes immediately. They never see the answer.

When you pick **Publish immediately**, the screen warns you: students' questions will be visible to everyone immediately, and answers still depend on being published.

### The statuses

| Status | What it means |
|---|---|
| **Pending** | Waits for the team's answer |
| **Public** | Answered on the lesson, for everyone |
| **Private** | Answered only for whoever asked |

The three statuses and what moves a question from one to another:

```mermaid
stateDiagram-v2
    accTitle: The statuses of a question
    accDescr: A question starts pending. Reply in the lesson makes it public; Reply to the student only makes it private. Mark as open or deleting the answer sends it back to pending, and a new publication chooses again between public and private.
    state "Pending" as Pendente
    state "Public" as Publica
    state "Private" as Privada
    [*] --> Pendente: Student sends
    Pendente --> Publica: Reply in the lesson
    Pendente --> Privada: Reply to the student only
    Publica --> Pendente: Mark as open or Delete reply
    Privada --> Pendente: Mark as open or Delete reply
```

**Edit reply** corrects the text without changing the status.

### One answer per question

- Publishing again replaces the previous answer. There is no second official answer.
- While you write, the answer is a draft. It saves on its own (**Draft saved**), and the student does not see it.
- On a question already answered and reopened, the student keeps seeing the previous answer until you publish the new one.

**Heads up: this is where most mistakes happen.** Pedro wants to add a sentence to a public answer. He clicks **Mark as open**. The account reviews questions before publishing. Result: the other students stop seeing the question and the answer until he publishes again. To simply add to the answer, use **Edit reply**: it corrects it in place, without taking anything off the lesson.

**Mark as open** sends the question back to the queue without removing the published answer. Whoever asked keeps seeing the answer. Reopening does not notify the student.

## The protections and what the student sees on the channel

- **Minimum characters**: the minimum length of a question. It is 10 until you set another number.
- There is no interval between questions. But the same text on the same lesson is refused for two minutes.
- **Channel name**: the tab on the lesson and in the student area menu. Empty, it stays **Questions**.
- **Question field text**: the hint in the empty field. Empty, it stays **Ask your question**.
- **Sort by** and **Open in a new tab** apply to your queue. **Sort by** has **Newest first** and **Oldest first**.

## The questions inbox

**Support > Questions** has three panels: the list, the conversation and the details.

**The list.**

- The search is called **Search question**.
- The filters are **Status** (**Pending**, **Public**, **Private**), **Product** and **Module**.
- The inbox opens on **Pending**.
- Each row shows the student, when they asked and an excerpt.

**The conversation.**

- At the top: the lesson, the product and the status badge.
- Below: the student's question with its attachment and, if there is one, the answer. An image shows as a thumbnail, a video plays right there and other files are for download.
- On a pending question, the bottom holds the answer editor, with formatting, images and files. The **/** key attaches files or images.
- Below the editor are the two buttons: **Reply to the student only** and **Reply in the lesson**.
- On an answered question, the bottom shows **Mark as open**.
- The bubble of your answer has the **Edit reply** and **Delete reply** menu.

**The details.**

- The **Student**: name and **View profile**.
- The **Question** block: **Status**, **Opened on**, **Product**, **Module** and **Class**. The lesson link opens the lesson as the student sees it, in another tab.
- The **Actions**: **View student profile**, **Pin** or **Unpin**, **Mark as open** and **Delete**.

## Step by step

### Answer a question

1. Open **Support > Questions**.
2. Click the question.
3. Read the question and the attachment.
4. Write the answer in the editor.
5. Click **Reply in the lesson** or **Reply to the student only**.

The queue opens on **Pending**. The draft saves on its own. If you leave and come back, the screen tells you: **You have a draft in progress. The student cannot see it until you reply.**

After you answer, the question leaves **Pending**, the student gets the notice and the draft is discarded.

### Correct a published answer

1. On the answer's bubble, open the menu.
2. Click **Edit reply**.
3. Correct the text in the editor.
4. Click **Save changes**.

The correction takes the answer's place. The student gets no new alert: the correction shows up in the answer they already know.

### Turn a private answer public (or the other way around)

1. Click **Mark as open**.
2. Click **Reply in the lesson** or **Reply to the student only**.

The student gets no new alert. If the account reviews questions before publishing, a question answered privately stays invisible to the other students.

### Withdraw an answer

- **Delete reply**, in the bubble menu, erases only your answer. The question goes back to **Pending**, and the editor appears again for you to write the right one.
- **Delete**, in **Details**, erases the student's question along with the answer.

Neither can be undone.

### Pin a question to the top of the lesson

1. Open the question.
2. In **Details**, click **Pin**.

The question moves to the top of the lesson. **Unpin** undoes it. A pinned question follows the rules of who sees what: private or still under review, it does not show to the other students.

## What the student sees

- Below the lesson: the tab with the **Channel name**. Inside it, the field with the **Question field text** and the attach button.
- They can delete their own question.
- On the first publication of the answer, public or private, they get a notice in the student area.
- Corrections, switches between public and private, and reopenings do not notify again. There is no email with the text.
- With **Questions** turned off in their form, they do not see the channel.

## Good to know

- **A question is not an exam.** An exam grades an attempt. A lesson question asks the team for help.
- **Changing publication does not rewrite questions.** With **Publish immediately**, old questions do not change: what changes is who can read them. A question answered privately may become visible as a question, without the answer.
- **Event only for the public answer.** A public answer produces the "Question answered" event for your integrations. A private one does not.
- **Scope by product.** An administrator limited to some products sees only the questions from those products.
- **Shortcut from the student profile.** In the student's profile, the **Support** block leads to the inbox filtered by that student.

## Frequently asked questions

**I answered privately by mistake. How do I make it public?** Click **Mark as open**, then **Reply in the lesson**. The student gets no new alert.

**I deleted the answer. Did the student lose the question?** No. The question goes back to **Pending**, and the student keeps seeing their question. Only the answer left.

**Can I answer a question twice?** No. Publishing again replaces the answer. To add to it, use **Edit reply**, which corrects the answer in place.

**The student cannot find the answer.** If the answer was private, only they see it, below their own question on the lesson. If the question is still **Pending**, there is no published answer: what you wrote is a draft.

**I reopened a question and it disappeared from the lesson.** The account reviews questions before publishing. A reopened question stays off the lesson for the other students until you publish again. To add to it without taking it down, use **Edit reply**.