WordPress Poll Maker Plugin User Manual

This is the official documentation(user guide) of the Poll Maker plugin. We are continually updating our plugin, and with each update, we are introducing new features that match the demands of the market and feedback that we receive from our clients. Any feedback that you have for us will be taken into consideration with great interest.

Let’s get started together!

Build awesome polls quickly and easily with Poll Maker.

Polls
Categories
Results
Custom Fields
Settings
Upgrade Free to Pro (Or Update Pro version)

Easy to Use

Quickly build and design any poll you have ever wanted using Poll Maker plugin. Create a poll, configure options, and easily put it into your WordPress site by copying the shortcode and pasting it into your desired place.

Installation

There are two ways to install the Poll Maker plugin:

You can install the Poll Maker from your WordPress dashboard.
You can install it from WordPress.org.

How to create a simple poll in 4 steps with the help of the Poll Maker plugin

Go to the Poll page
Create a new poll by clicking on the Add New button
Fill out the information.
Copy the shortcode [ays_poll id="Your_poll_ID"] of the poll and paste it into any post․

Congrats! You have already created your first poll.

Before creating your first poll, let’s get familiar with how product attributes work. We provide you with a variety of options that help you to release your creativity and save precious time.

1. Polls

1.1 General

Set the basic configuration settings of your poll.

1.1.1 Title: Write the name of the poll.

1.1.2 Categories: Choose the category your poll belongs to. To create a category, go to the Categories page.

1.1.3 Create post for poll (Pro): A new WordPress post will be created automatically and will include the shortcode of this poll. This function will be executed only once. You can find this post on Posts page, which will have the same title as the poll. The image of the poll will be the featured image of the post.

Choose post categories: Choose the category of the new post. To create a category, go to the Categories page in the Posts.

1.1.4 WP Post (Pro): This function will appear only in case you have already created a poll and enabled the above-mentioned option. Click on the View Post button to see your poll. If you hit the Edit Post button, you will be directed to the given post to make changes.

1.1.5 Question: Add an image to the poll by clicking on the Add Image button. Write and design the question as you want with the help of the WP default editor.

1.1.6 Poll Type: Choose your preferred type of poll from the given list: Choosing, Rating, Voting, Dropdown, Versus.

Choosing: Write the possible answers in the Answers field, which are 2 by default.

Answers: Add the possible answers to the poll question. In order to add additional variants, click on the plus (+) button. You can add images to, order, and delete them.
Redirect: Enable redirection to the custom URL(s) after the user votes in the poll. Assign different URLs to each answer separately.
Answer view (Pro): Select the view of the answers.
– List view (Default)
– Grid view (Pro)
Allow custom answer (Pro): Allow users to add their own variants.
Require admin approval (Pro): After enabling this option, the answers added by users will require admin approval to be shown up in the poll.

Rating: Choose the outlook and the scale of assessment of the poll from the Answers field.

Voting: Choose the outlook from the Answers field.

Dropdown (Pro): Write the possible answers in the Answers field, which are 2 by default. Participants need to choose one answer from a list of choices presented in a dropdown menu.

Answers: Write the possible answers to the poll question. In order to add additional variants, click on the plus (+) button.
Redirect: Enable redirection to the custom URL(s) after the user votes in the poll. Assign different URLs to each answer separately.

Versus (Pro): This type of poll enables the quiz takers to decide between two answers to the poll question.

Answers: Choose two different answers, set images to them, and let the user compare and choose one of the answers.
Show labels: If the option is enabled, the titles of the variants will also be shown under the attached images inside the poll.
Select versus direction
– Horizontal (Default)
– Vertical
Select versus icon
– Default
– Times
– Battle
– Classic
– Graffiti
– Material
– Simple
Select icon position
– Start
– Center (Default)
– End

If you change the type of the poll, the number of counted answers will be annulled.

1.2 Styles

Take full control over your poll display. Enjoy the most stylish design options to polish your poll to perfection.

Styling Options

1.2.1 Theme: The plugin provides 7 ready-to-use poll themes. Choose your preferred template and customize it with the given options.

Minimal: Light grey background, dark text.
Classic Light: Light background, dark text.
Classic Dark: Dark background, light text.
Light Shape (Pro): Milky white background with pink borders, blue text.
Dark Shape (Pro): Dark background with red borders, yellow text.
Coffee Fluid (Pro): Milky brown background, brown text.
Aquamarine (Pro): Background combined of marine green, blue, and light yellow, light yellow text.

1.2.2 Main color: Specify the color of the main attributes of the poll. It includes border color, the color of the rate percentage, and the background color of the vote button.

1.2.3 Text color: Specify the color of the text written in the poll.

1.2.4 Icons color: Specify the icon color in voting and rating types.

1.2.5 Background color: Specify the background color of the poll.

1.2.6 Background image: Add a background image to the poll. If you add a background image, the background color will not be applied.

Background image position: Set the position of the background image. Choose one from the list below:
– Left Top
– Left Center
– Left Bottom
– Center Top
– Center Center
– Center Bottom
– Right Top
– Right Center
– Right Bottom
Hide background image on result page -> Hide background image on results page: Decide whether to hide the background image of the poll on the results page or not.

1.2.7 Answer styles: Highlight the background of the answers’ boxes. The option works only with the Choosing type.

Answers Background Color -> Answer background color: Specify the background color of the answer boxes.
Border side: Choose your preferred style for the border of the answer boxes.
– All sides
– None
– Top
– Bottom
– Left
– Right
Answer font size: Choose your preferred size for the answer font. The size should not be smaller than 5 and no bigger than 90.

1.2.8 Answer icon (Pro): Choose your preferred icon for the answers.

1.2.9 Show answer caption (Pro): Make the answers appear along with the images. This option works only when the answer has an image.

1.2.10 Title background color: Specify the background color of the title.

1.2.11 Icon size (px): Specify the size of the icons in Rating and Voting types of the poll in pixels. It should be 10 and more.

1.2.12 Width (px): Specify the width of the poll in pixels. If you enter 0, the width will be 100%.

1.2.13 Min-height: Set the minimum height of the poll by entering a numeric value.

1.2.14 Border style: Choose your preferred style of the border. This option suggests nine styles:

Dotted
Dashed
Solid
Double
Groove
Ridge
Inset
Outset
None

1.2.15 Border radius։ Make the corners of the poll container rounder by setting a numeric value.

1.2.16 Border width։ Specify the width of the border. For the Coffee Fluid theme, the border-width will always be 1px.

1.2.17 Box shadow։ Add a shadow to your poll box. You can choose its color as well.

1.2.18 Background gradient: Add a gradient background to your poll.

Color 1: Set the beginning color value of the gradient background.
Color 2: Set the ending color value of the gradient background.
Gradient direction: Set the direction in which you want the colors to flow:
– Vertical
– Horizontal
– Diagonal (from left to right)
– Diagonal (from right to left)

1.2.19 Answer image object fit (Pro): Specify how an image should be resized to fit its container.

Cover: Resize the image to cover the entire container. The object will be trimmed to fit.
Contain: Resize the image so that it is fully visible.

1.2.20 Disable answers hover: Disable the hover effect for answers.

1.2.21 Poll logo: Add logo image for the poll. The advisable size for an image is 50×50.

1.2.22 Custom class for poll container: Use your custom HTML class for adding your custom styles to the poll container.

1.2.23 Custom CSS: Write your own CSS code. For example: p{color:red !important}

Button Styles

1.2.24 Button size (Pro): Select the size of the button(s) inside the poll.

Small
Medium
Large

1.2.25 Button font size (px) (Pro): Define the size of the button(s) inside the poll in pixels.

1.2.26 Button padding (px) (Pro): Define the distance between the text and the border of the button in pixels․

Left/Right
Top/Bottom

1.2.27 Button border radius (px) (Pro): Make the corners of the buttons rounder by setting a numeric value.

1.3 Settings

Show off your creating prowess. Control the settings and take your poll building to the next level with our features.

1.3.1 Status: Decide whether the poll is active or not. If you choose the unpublished option, the poll won’t be shown anywhere on your website (you don’t need to remove shortcodes).

1.3.2. Allow multivote (Pro): Allow to vote for more than one answer. This option works for the Choosing and Dropdown types.

1.3.3. Show title։ Show the name of the poll on the starting page.

1.3.4 Alignment: Choose the alignment of the content of the poll: Left, Center, or Right.

1.3.5 Allow anonymity (Pro): This option allows participants to respond to your polls without ever revealing their identities, even if they are registered on your website. After enabling the option, the WP User and the User IP will not be stored in the database. Also note that the limitations connected with the WP User and the User IP will not work.

1.3.6 Show creation date: Enable to show the creation date inside the poll.

1.3.7 Show author: Enable to show the author of the poll on the starting page.

1.3.8 Schedule: Define the period of time when your poll will be active. When the time is due, a message will inform the users about it.

Start date: Set a date on which your poll will become active.
End date: Set a date on which your poll will become inactive.
Show timer: Enable the users to see the countdown and the start date of the poll.
– Show countdown
– Show start date
Pre-start message: Set down a message that will inform the users about the activation of the poll.
Expiration message: Set down a message that will inform the users that the poll is no longer available.
Show result button: Activate this button to be displayed in case the poll has already expired.

1.3.9 Randomize answers: Enable to show the answers of the poll in a random sequence.

1.3.10 Enable answers sound: Enable to play a sound when the user clicks on one of the answers. To select a sound, go to the Poll answers sound option on the General Settings page.

1.3.11 Allow not to vote: Allow the user to directly see the results without participating in the vote. If the option is checked, it is impossible to hide the results.

Results button text: Write the text of the results button.

1.3.12 Show passed users count: Enable the number of users who have passed the poll to be shown on the right-hand bottom corner inside the poll.

1.3.13 Redirect after voting: Enable redirection to the custom URL after the user votes the poll.

URL: Choose the redirection URL for redirecting after the user takes the poll.
Delay: Choose the redirection delay in seconds after the user votes the poll.

1.3.14 Vote reason (Pro): Allow users to add their vote reason (description).

1.3.15 Enable Vote button: Show the Vote button during the vote. If this option is disabled, then the user needs to click on the answer to vote without a chance of changing it.

Vote button text: Write the text of the Vote button.

1.3.16 Enable View more button: Show only part of the answers and show the rest of the answers only when the user clicks on this button. It works only with the choosing type of polls.

Count: Indicate the number of answers which will be shown in the first place.

1.3.17 Answer sorting: Select the way of arrangement of the answers on the voting page of the poll. This works only with the Choosing type.

Ascending: The sorting is done alphabetically, from A to Z.
Descending: The sorting is done alphabetically, from Z to A.
Most voted: The sorting is done beginning from the most votes and ending with the fewest votes.
Less voted: The sorting is done beginning from the fewest votes and ending with the most votes.
Default: The sorting is done upon your preferences.

1.4 Results Settings

Set up the results page of your poll by deciding which options to include on it.

1.4.1 Show answer percent: Enable to show the percentage of each question on the progressbar on the results page of the poll.

1.4.2 Hide results: Disable to show voting results to the users on the results page of the poll.

Message instead of results: Set the message that will appear instead of the voting results after the poll. Write and design the message as you want with the help of the WP default editor.

1.4.3 Results message: Write the message that will be shown on the results page of the poll. Write and design the message as you want with the help of the WP default editor.

1.4.4 Result sorting: Select the way of arrangement of the results on the results page of the poll.

Most voted: The sorting is done beginning from the most votes and ending with the fewest votes.
Less voted: The sorting is done beginning from the fewest votes and ending with the most votes.
None: No sorting will be applied to the results.

1.4.5 Show votes count: Show the total number of votes of each answer on the finishing page.

1.4.6 Loading effect: Choose the loading effect applied before displaying the poll results.

Opacity
Blur
Loading GIF: Choose one of the suggested icons.
Custom GIF: Upload a custom GIF.

1.4.7 Enable Restart button: Show the Restart button on the results page of the poll so that the users can take the poll again.

1.4.8 Show results by (Pro): Select the way of displaying the results on the results page of the poll.

Bar Chart
Pie Chart

1.4.9 Social share buttons: Show social media share buttons on the results page of the poll (Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin).

1.4.10 Results bar in RGBA: If the option is enabled, the opacity of the results bar color will depend on the number of votes.

1.4.11 Show passed users avatars: If this option is enabled, you will see the users’ avatars (profile pictures) who have already voted on the results page.

1.4.12 Show answer message (Pro): Show different messages based on the answer.

1.4.13 Refresh answer table (Pro): Refresh the answer table below after adding or removing answer(s) in the General tab.

1.5 Limitations

Control the entries a poll can receive and limit how and who you capture data from.

1.5.1 Maximum number of attempts per user: After enabling this option, you can manage the counts of the attempts per user for taking the poll.

Detect users: Choose the method of user detection:
By IP – Detect the users by their IP addresses and limit them. It will work both for guests and registered users. Note: in general, IP is not a static variable, it is constantly changing when the users change their location/ WIFI/ Internet provider.
By User ID – Detect the users by their WP User IDs and limit them. It will work only for registered users. It’s recommended using this method to get more reliable results.
Message: Write the message for those who have already passed the poll under the given conditions.
Redirect URL: Enable redirection to the custom URL for those who have already passed the poll under the given conditions.
Redirect delay (sec): Specify the delayed redirect in seconds. If you set it to 0, the redirection will be disabled.
Attempts count (Pro): Specify the count of the attempts per user for passing the poll.

1.5.2 Only for logged-in users: After enabling this option, only logged-in users will be able to pass the poll.

Message: Write the message for unauthorized users.
Show Login form: Activate the Login form so that the quiz takers can fill in their data.

1.5.3 Only for selected user role: After enabling this option, only the roles mentioned in the list will be able to pass the poll.

User role: Select the user roles to which the poll will be available.
Message: Set a message for those who aren’t included in the list.

1.5.4 Limitation count of takers -> Limit on taker count (Pro): Decide how many responders can take the poll.

Count: Specify the number of responders who can take the poll.

1.5.5 Password for passing Poll -> Password for poll-taking (Pro): Set a password for responders to take the poll.

Password: Write down the password.

1.5.6 Allow to vote once per session (Pro): Decide how often the users can have access to the poll after the first attempt. For example, if you give a 1-day value to the Session period, the user will have access to the poll once a day.

Session period: Specify the time given for one session in:
– Minutes
– Hours
– Days
– Weeks
– Months
Message: Write the message which will be shown during the restricted time, when the user has already passed his/her limit for the session.

1.5.7 Limit by country (Pro): After enabling this option, the given poll will not be available in the selected country.

1.6 User Data

Trying to keep on top of all the leads generated from your site and to know more about your respondents? This section is intended for it!

1.6.1. Enable Information Form: After enabling this option, the user will have to fill out the information form (data form for the user’s personal information) after submitting the poll.

Select fields: Select which fields the user should fill out. (You can create your own desired fields in Pro)
Select required fields: Select which fields are required.
Information Form title: Write the title of the Information Form which will be shown at the top of the Form Fields.
Custom fields (Pro): You can create custom fields with the following types: text, textarea, e-mail, number, telephone, URL, date, color, checkbox.

1.7 Email

Enable email auto-responders to keep you in the know every time a vote is submitted.

1.7.1 Results notification by email: If the option is enabled, the admin (or your provided email) will receive an email notification about votes every time.

Email address: If you want to set another email, enter it here. Leave it blank for an admin email.

1.7.2 Send mail to user (Pro): Send the message to the emails of the users after the submission of the poll.

Message: Specify the message content for the email. Design the message as you wish with the help of the WP default editor.

1.8 Integrations

The possibilities are plenty.

Integrate your polls with the following services and applications: MailChimp, Campaign Monitor (Pro), Zapier (Pro), Active Campaign (Pro), Slack (Pro), and Google Sheet (Pro).

And, at the end of these steps, click on the Save button.

2. Categories

This field is intended for creating categories and for controlling them. Each Poll can belong to several categories. For creating categories, you need to click the button of “Add new”.

2.1 Title: Write the name of the category.

2.2 Description: Provide more information about the poll category.

2.3 Allow to skip polls: If this option is enabled, the “Next” button will be available and the user can skip the poll and go directly to the result page.

2.4 Next button text: Write your preferred text for the “Next” button.

And, at the end of these steps, click on the Save category button.

3. Results

In the result field, we can see all the results of all Polls. Where you see the person’s IP who voted for the Poll, the time of the voting and what Poll it is belonging to. For seeking the concrete result of the Poll you need to select it in “Result by Poll” field and click the button of “Filter”.

4. Custom Fields (Pro)

This field is intended for creating fields for Information Form and for controlling them. For creating a new field you need to click on then “Add New” button.

4.1 Name: Write the name of the form custom field.

4.2 Slug: The slug of form custom field. The “slug” is the URL-friendly version of the name. It is usually all lowercase and contains only letters, numbers, and hyphens.

4.3 Type: Choose the type of form custom field. (text, number, telephone, date, e-mail, URL, and etc.)

4.4 Attribute status: Choose whether your form custom field is published or not.

And, at the end of these steps, click on the Save button.

5. Settings

5.1 General

Select user role (Pro) - Ability to manage PollMaker plugin for selected user roles.

Disable IP storing - After enabling this options, IP address of the users will not be stored in the database. Note: If this option is enabled, then the Limit users to rate only once option will not work.

5.2 Integrations

For enabling Integrations, you need to fill in all fields corresponding to your preferred integration in this section.

5.3 Shortcodes

Here you can find the shortcode intended for all polls and the shortcode intended for a specific poll with corresponding ID.

Upgrade Free to Pro (Or Update Pro version)

First of all, we want to thank you for choosing our product, as it is you and only you who helps us to grow much faster and improve our quality.

In this article, you will learn how to upgrade our awesome Poll Maker plugin from the Free version to PRO or upgrade your PRO version to a newer one. If you are currently a free user and would like to upgrade to the Pro version then it's quite easy. And the good news is that All your content, plugin settings will remain unchanged even after switching to the Pro version. You don't need to redo what you have already built with the free version. Anyway, you can make a DB backup before upgrading for your safety ( you can use Updraft Plus).
To keep up with the plugin's updates check out the Poll Maker Pro Changelog | Ays Pro.

Ready? Let’s get started together!

Go to the Plugins section of your website admin dashboard.
Click on the Deactivate button of the Free version, the popup will appear.
Click on the Upgrade button(it will keep all your quizzes and settings), after clicking the plugin will be deactivated.
Uninstall the Free version of the plugin.
After the successful purchase of the Premium version, you will get the email with username and password.
Login on our website: https://ays-pro.com
Go to the Poll Maker page: https://ays-pro.com/wordpress/poll-maker
The purchased plan will be available for download.
Download the Premium version zip file and install it on your website.

Get Started with Poll Maker, and Create Interactive Polls

If you are not ready to just yet, you can also try the Poll Maker Demos (Free and Pro).