Google Forms

For all Google Forms support - click the link for access to Google Forms Help

Google Forms

Forms is Google’s answer to SurveyMonkey. It is an online, collaborative survey program that is part of Google Drive and G Suite. As long as you are connected to the internet, all your changes are saved instantly.

You can access Forms by going to forms.google.com or you will see your Forms files in your Drive.

Creating a form

To create a new Form, simply type forms.new into the address bar at the top of your browser page.

In Drive, simply click the +New button or the Waffle button to launch Forms.

Basic Options

The image below shows the first opening of a blank form along with quick description of each thing you will see.

You can set the name for your form as well as change the main colour or theme of the form, use the small toolbar on the right to add questions, titles, images and more.

Questions & Answers

There is no limit to how long a question can be and you can add an image in to accompany a question.

There are 11 different options for the type of answer that is acceptable for the question, based on your question you can select exactly what type of answer you want in return. If you look at the image below, you’ll just need to click the Multiple choice button to see the list of options. Below the picture we will go through each type of answer and what they mean. One thing to note, you can change the settings of some questions by clicking the More icon in the bottom right of the question.

Type an answer

  • Short answer – People can write answers in a few words.

  • Paragraph – People can write long answers over one or more paragraphs.

Choose from a list

  • Multiple choice – You provide options, people can select just one option. Add ‘Other’ to allow users to type a short answer.

  • Checkboxes – You provide a number of options, people can select more than one option. Add ‘Other’ to allow users to type a short answer.

  • Dropdown – You provide a number of options, people can select one option.

Upload files

  • File upload – People can upload files as an answer. You can select the maximum file size and restrict what type of file is uploaded. Not available if form is create in a Team Drive.

Choose from a grid

  • Chart – Create a graph based on the data in your spreadsheet.

  • Table – Create and add a table.

  • Diagram – Create and add in a flowchart.

  • Slide numbers – Add slide numbers to each slide.

  • New slide – Add a blank slide before the currently selected slide.

Select a date and time

  • Date – People can enter a data as an answer.

  • Time – People can enter a time or duration as an answer.

Sections & Logic Branching

Sections allow you to separate questions so the user isn’t just seeing a long endless page with tonnes of questions but short and quick pages.

Logic Branching

In simple terms – Show questions based on answers

This is where you can set for the user to answer a question then get routed to a specific question based on their answer.

So for example, in the screenshot on the right, you can see that in the Course Choice Form there is a question that asks the user if they are interested in one of the college courses. When the user selects their desired choice they will then go to the section based on the response.

This can only be used on 3 types of questions:

  • Drop-down

  • Checkboxes

  • Multiple Choice

To turn this option on for your question, to do that follow the steps below:

  1. At the bottom right, click the three vertical dots and select Go to section based on answer.

  2. You can also choose Submit form if you want the survey to end based on an answer.

  3. Choose specific sections to send people to.

It’s best if you have already named your sections.

Responses

At the top of your edit view of your form you will see the Responses tab, it will display the number of responses once people have submitted responses for it. Once you click on this tab, you will see all the responses and can view either the individual responses or a summary of all responses.

You can also export all the responses into a Google Sheets document, by clicking the Sheets icon, which is then automatically updated if anyone else submits responses later on.

You can edit some settings of the responses using the More button and use the Accepting responses toggle to turn off the ability for users to send responses.

For all Google Forms support - click the link for access to Google Forms Help