Google Forms cheat sheet: How to get started

Need to make a quiz, survey, registration form, order form, or other web page that gathers feedback from co-workers, customers, or others? You can design and deploy one right from your web browser with Google Forms. It’s integrated with Google Drive to store your forms in the cloud.

Anyone with a Google account can use Forms for free. It’s also part of Google Workspace, Google’s subscription-based collection of online office apps for business and enterprise customers that includes Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, Gmail, and more. Forms is lesser known than these other productivity apps, but it’s a useful tool to know how to use. This guide takes you through designing a form, deploying it online, and viewing the responses it gathers.

Starting a new form

First, sign into your Google or Google Workspace account if you haven’t already. You can create a new form in a variety of ways.

In Google Drive: From the home screen of your Google Drive, click the New button at the upper left and select Google Forms. The Google Forms web app will open in a new browser tab, displaying a blank form.

Alternatively, you can start with a template, modifying it to suit your needs. On the Google Drive home screen, click the New button and, to the right of “Google Forms,” select the right-pointing arrow and then click From a template. You’re taken to a gallery where you can pick a ready-made template. These have been designed to gather certain data from people, such as their available time to attend a meeting, contact information, or feedback about something.

In Google Forms: At the top of the home screen, click the Blank thumbnail, choose one of the template thumbnails to the right, or click Template gallery to open the template gallery page as described above.

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In Google Sheets: You can insert a form into a spreadsheet. When people fill out this form, their responses will be recorded onto a new sheet of your spreadsheet.

First, open a spreadsheet in Google Sheets. Then, in the menu bar above your spreadsheet, select Tools > Create a new form. This opens the Google Forms web app in a new browser tab.

Go to Forms.new: Going to Forms.new will immediately open a new, blank form inside a new browser tab.

Building your form

Here we’ll walk through building a form from scratch. If you’ve started a form from a template, just use the same tools described below to edit the items that are already included with a template.

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At the top of the page is the main title-and-description box for your form. Click the “Untitled form” line to enter a title for your form. In the line below the title, you can enter words that describe your form with a little more detail.

Below the title/description box is where one or more element boxes appear.

Working with questions

The element box that you need to familiarize yourself with the most is the question box. In a new, blank form, a question box appears below the title/description box, with the default format of multiple choice. To change this to another question format, click the question box to select it. Click Multiple choice. This will open a menu listing other question formats that you can choose from.

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• Short answer or Paragraph: Respondents type answers into a text field. The Paragraph field is larger than the Short answer field.
• Multiple choice, Checkboxes, or Dropdown: Respondents choose options from a list you provide. With multiple choice (radio button) and dropdown lists, respondents can select only one option. With checkboxes, they can choose multiple options.
• File upload: This allows respondents to upload a file to your Google Drive — for example, you design a form for job applicants, and you want them to upload a PDF of their resume. (Respondents must be signed in with a Google user account to upload a file.)
• Linear scale: Respondents are asked to rate something on a scale, such as from 1 to 5.
• Multiple choice grid or Checkbox grid: Respondents choose from answers that are arranged in a grid layout. With multiple choice (radio button) grids, respondents can select only one option. With checkbox grids, they can choose multiple options.
• Date or Time: The person enters a date or time, which can be in the past or the future. For example, you might ask what’s the earliest date they are available to meet. The form includes a calendar or clock tool that the person can use to enter their response.

After you’ve selected a question format, click the Untitled Question line and type the question you want your respondents to read. You can add an image to go with this question by clicking the picture icon to the right of the line. You’ll be able to upload an image file from your PC or Google Drive.

To add a description for the question: Click the three-dot icon on the lower right and select Description. This will open a “Description” line that you can fill out below the question.

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To add response choices: Below the question, click the Option 1 line and type an answer that you want your respondents to consider choosing. You can include an image with this choice by clicking the picture icon to the right of this line.

Click Add option to add another answer choice, or click add “Other” to add a choice with a blank line where your respondents can type in a response.

To require respondents to answer this question: Click the Required switch on the lower right. If respondents don’t answer this question, they will not be able to submit any of their other responses to your form.

To add another question box to your form, click the + button at the top of the floating toolbar to the right of your form.

You can keep adding questions and responses this way till your questionnaire is complete.

Using the quiz format

If you want to test your respondents’ knowledge — for instance, at the end of a training session — you can format a form as a quiz. Your respondents have to choose the correct answer(s) for each question and are awarded points for doing so.

To set a form as a quiz: Toward the top of the page, click Settings. On the next page, click the Make this a quiz switch.

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Now when you click any question box, you’ll see “Answer key” in the lower-left corner of the box.

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Clicking Answer key will take you to a panel where you click the correct answer (or answers) to the question. You also enter how many points this question is worth if answered correctly. You’ll need to set the answer key for every question in a quiz.

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Adding other elements: titles/descriptions, pictures, or video

In addition to questions, there are three more types of element boxes you can add to your form. Click these buttons on the toolbar to the right of your form.

Add title and description: This box is like the one at the top of your form. It has its own title and description areas that you can fill out. A title/description box can be useful if you want to add a few categories or provide more information for your respondents to read before interacting with a question box. (Adding sections to your form, as described below, may be better for breaking apart a long, more complex form. Ultimately, this is your personal design choice.)

Add image: A panel appears that lets you select an image file from your PC or Google Drive. You can adjust the size of the embedded image by clicking to select it and dragging the corners of the frame that surrounds it.

Add video: From the panel that opens, you can search YouTube or paste in the URL for the YouTube video you want to embed. Your respondents will be able to click to play it.

Managing element boxes

Since you can design a form to have several questions, title/descriptions, images, and YouTube videos, it helps to know how to manage their boxes.

To move an element box: Move the cursor to the top of the box and click-and-hold the six-dot icon that appears. Drag the box down or up, then let go where you want it to appear. (Note: You cannot move the text/description box at the top of the form or a section.)

To copy or delete an element box: Click the box to select it. Click the Duplicate (two pieces of paper) or Delete (trash can) icon. These icons appear along the bottom of a question box, and on the upper right of the other types of element boxes. If you duplicate an element box, its copy will appear below it.

Working with sections

Your form may benefit from being divided into sections — for instance, if it has a lot of questions and images on it, it may look overwhelming for your respondents to go through.

To add a new section: Click an element box to select it. On the toolbar to the right of your form, click the Add section button at the bottom. A new section heading box will be added below. It has its own title/description box that you can fill out. Every element box that is already below this box, or that you add or move below it, will be considered part of this section.

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To manage a section: Click the three-dot icon at the upper right of the section heading box. On the menu that opens, you’ll see options to duplicate, move, or delete the section, or to merge it with the section above. Note that when you select any of these, it affects all the element boxes that are below this section heading box. So if you choose to delete a section, every element box below it will be deleted. To preserve those elements while getting rid of the section divider, choose the Merge with above option.

Finishing touches

Once you’ve got your form built out, a few final tweaks can perfect it.

To change your form’s colors and font: Click the palette icon at the upper right of the screen. The Theme panel opens along the right side. Here you can change the color, background shading, and font used throughout your form. You can also upload a picture to set as the header image for your form.

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To see what your form will look like to respondents: Click the eye icon next to the palette icon at the top right. To return to viewing your form in editing mode, click the pencil icon at the lower right of the preview screen.

To adjust response settings: Toward the top of the page in the center, click the Settings tab. On the Settings page, click the down arrow to the right of “Responses” to open a list of options. Under this section, you can require that respondents enter their email address, have Forms email them a copy of their responses, let them edit their responses after submitting, and/or limit every respondent to one submission.

To adjust presentation settings: On this same Settings page, click the down arrow to the right of “Presentation.” Several options are here, such as showing respondents a progress bar as they fill it out the form, shuffling question order, and writing a custom confirmation message that respondents see after they’ve successfully submitted their responses.

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Collaborating on your form

You can invite others to collaborate with you on creating a form. Anyone you invite can make any changes to your form just as you can.

To invite someone to collaborate: From the form that you are designing, click the three-dot icon on the upper right of the screen and choose Add collaborators.

The “Add editors” panel opens. From here you can invite one or more people to collaborate with you on your form by entering their email address or their name saved in your Google Contacts and, optionally, a brief message.

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If you don’t want your collaborators to be able to invite others to work on the form, click the gear icon on the upper right, and on the next panel, uncheck Editors can change permissions and share.

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Back on the main “Add editors” panel, click the Send button, and your invitees will receive an email with a link that allows them to work on your form.

Sharing your form with the world

Once you’re ready to send out your form for people to fill out, click the Send button in the upper-right corner of your screen. This opens the “Send form” panel.

Through this panel, you can send the link to your form in the following ways:

• Email to people in your Google Contacts (or by entering their email addresses): Click the email icon.
• Copy the link to your PC’s clipboard: Click the chain icon.
• Copy a snippet of HTML, which you can use to embed your form onto a web page: Click the “” icon.
• Share the link on your Facebook or Twitter account: Click the logo for either social network service.

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Toward the top left of the “Send form” panel is a checkbox marked “Collect emails.” When you check this, people who fill out your form will need to enter an email address before they can submit their answers.

To create a link with the answers filled in: You can create a web link to your form that will show it with answers to all its questions filled in. After respondents have taken a quiz, for example, you could share this link so they can see the correct responses.

Click the three-dot icon at the upper right and select Get pre-filled link from the menu that opens. On the page that opens, you’ll be able to go through your form and fill in the answers for each question. After you’ve done this, click Get link at the bottom of the form to copy the web link to your PC clipboard.

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Viewing responses to your form

There are two ways to see the responses to your form: in Google Forms and in Google Sheets.

In Forms: From the Google Drive or the Google Forms home screen, double-click the form to open it. At the top of your form, the current number of submitted responses that your form has received is listed to the right of the Responses tab.

Click the Responses tab to view a dashboard of the results. The email addresses of respondents are listed first (if you chose to gather this information), followed by their answers. Depending on the question formats you put onto your form, their answers are shown as text they entered or as charts. A chart illustrates a summary of responses for a question.

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Clicking the Individual tab switches to a panel that shows you the answers given by the last person who filled out your form. To see the answers from other people, click the > symbol next to the number of respondents.

In Google Sheets: If you inserted a form into a Google Sheets spreadsheet, the summary of responses for your form appears as a new sheet in that spreadsheet. From the Responses tab in Forms, click the Google Sheets icon at the upper right.

The connected Google Sheets spreadsheet opens in your web browser, showing the summary of responses. (Alternatively, you can open the connected spreadsheet directly from Google Sheets or Drive.) The charts that appear in the Responses tab in Forms do not transfer over to a Google Sheets spreadsheet.

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To add a form’s results to a Google Sheets spreadsheet: If you created your form in Google Forms or from Google Drive, you can turn its summary of responses into a Google Sheets spreadsheet or add it as a new sheet to an existing Sheets spreadsheet in your Google Drive.

On the Responses tab in Forms, click the three-dot icon at the upper right. Select Select response destination. On the panel that opens, you can create a new spreadsheet and name it, or select Select existing spreadsheet. This latter option takes you to another panel that lists the Google Sheets spreadsheets in Google Drive that you have access to. Select the one you want to add the summary of responses to as a new sheet.

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To detach a form’s summary of responses from a Google Sheets spreadsheet: Click the three-dot icon at the upper-right of the form’s responses tab, and from the menu that opens, click Unlink form.

Embedding response charts into Google Docs and Slides

You can embed the charts showing your form’s responses into a Google Docs document or Google Slides presentation. This is a neat way to show the results of a survey in a document that you’re collaborating with your co-workers on. For a presentation, you could share with your audience a link to a poll that you created in Google Forms, then later in the presentation show the response chart on a slide that tallies the results.

To embed a response chart: Open the form in Google Forms. Toward the top of the page, click the Responses tab.

Scroll down to find the response chart that you want to embed. Click Copy at the upper right corner of the response chart box. A link to this chart will be copied to your PC clipboard.

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Next, if you haven’t already, open a new browser tab and load your document in Google Docs, or open a presentation in Google Slides. Place your cursor in the document or presentation where you want to embed the chart. Press Ctrl-V, and on the panel that opens, click the Paste button.

The response chart will appear in the document or slide as an image. As with any other image in your document or slide, you can resize it or move it to another area: Click on the response chart. To resize it, click-and-drag on any of the six dots that surround it. To move the image, move the cursor over the image until the cursor turns into a crosshair. Then click-and-drag the image to where you want it on the document or slide.

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If more answers are submitted for this response chart’s question after you’ve embedded it, an UPDATE button will appear on the upper right of its box. Clicking this button will update the tally and chart graphic.

Using Google Forms on a phone or tablet

There isn’t a Google Forms app for Android or iOS. Instead, you can create, edit, and maintain a form through your smartphone or tablet web browser. If you use the Android or iOS app version of Google Drive, your form is listed alongside your other documents that are saved in it. When you tap a form to open it, it loads in your mobile device’s browser.

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It is possible to create a form on a smartphone. But how well you can do this depends on the capabilities of your phone and if you are adept at using its touchscreen. It’s easier to do the heavy-duty form-building on a PC, and then use the mobile version of Forms to make quick tweaks to your form or to view survey results.

Respondents can also fill out your form from their smartphone or tablet. The layout of the form automatically adjusts to look best on their mobile device’s screen, and they can tap answers to the questions through their device’s touchscreen.

This article was originally published in October 2019 and updated in January 2023.