How to Make a Google Form

Edited 4 days ago by ExtremeHow Editorial Team

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Creating a Google Form is a great way to gather information, conduct surveys, or collect data from multiple participants. Google Forms is a free tool that is part of the Google Workspace suite. It is easy to use and can be accessed from any device with an internet connection. This guide will walk you through the steps to create a Google Form from scratch.

Step 1: Sign in to Google Account

Before you begin, you need a Google account. If you don't have one, you can create one for free on the Google website. Once you have an account, sign in to it.

Step 2: Access Google Forms

There are several ways to access Google Forms:

• Go directly to the Google Forms website: forms.google.com
• From Google Drive, click the New button, then choose Google Forms
• If you're using Google Docs, Sheets, or Slides, you can access Google Forms from the File menu by selecting "More" and then "Google Forms"

Step 3: Create a new form

When you arrive at the Google Forms home page:

1. Click on the blank form with the "+" sign to start from scratch. You also have the option of using template forms provided by Google.

Step 4: Name your form

After opening the new form:

• Click "Untitled Form" at the top of the page to enter a name for your form.
• Below the name of the form, you will find a field to add a description. Fill in this field if you need to provide details about the form for respondents.

Step 5: Add questions

Adding questions to your form is easy. Follow these steps:

1. Click the “Untitled Question” field to begin typing your first question.
2. You can choose the type of question from the dropdown menu next to the question field. The types of questions are as follows:
• short answer
• Article
• Multiple Choice
• check box
• drop down
• File Upload
• linear scale
• Multivariate grid
• Checkbox Grid
3. Enter possible answers if you selected the multiple-choice, checkbox, or dropdown question type.
4. To add more questions, click on the “+” icon on the floating toolbar on the right side of the screen.

Step 6: Customize your form

Google Forms lets you customize the look and feel of your form. Here's how:

• Click the palette icon at the top right of the screen to open the theme customization panel.
• You can choose the theme color, background color, and font style.
• To add a header image, click the "Choose Image" button under the "Header" section.

Step 7: Configure the form settings

You can modify various settings to suit your needs:

• Click the gear icon at the top right of the screen to open the Settings menu.
• Under the “General” tab, you can decide whether or not to require respondents to sign in to Google to fill out the form, limit responses, and more.
• In the “Presentation” tab, you can customize the confirmation message that respondents will see after submitting the form and manage how the form is presented.
• In the “Quiz” tab, you can turn your form into a quiz by enabling the “Make this a Quiz” option, which allows you to assign points to questions and provide feedback on responses.

Step 8: Preview your form

Before you share your form, it's a good idea to see how it will appear to respondents:

• Click the eye icon at the top right of the screen to open the preview.
• Check the form carefully and make sure all the questions and options are displayed as expected.
• Close the preview tab to return to the editor.

Step 9: Share your form

Once you're satisfied with your form, you can share it with others. Here's how:

• Click the "Send" button in the top right of the screen.
• You can choose to send the form via email by entering the email addresses in the corresponding fields.
• To share a link to the form, click the chain link icon to get a shareable link. You can shorten the URL by checking the "Shorten URL" box.
• To embed the form on the website, click on the "< >" icon and copy the HTML code provided.
• You can also share the form via social media by clicking on the relevant service icon, such as Facebook or Twitter.

Step 10: Collect and view responses

After you share your form, you can view incoming responses:

• Go to the "Responses" tab at the top of the form editor.
• Here, you can view a summary of responses or view individual responses.
• You can also export the responses to a Google Sheets spreadsheet by clicking the sheet icon. This makes data analysis easier.
• If you need to stop collecting responses, toggle the "Stop accepting responses" option. This will prevent additional submissions.

Additional Tips and Tricks

Here are some additional tips and tricks to make your Google Forms even better:

• Sections: Use sections to divide your form into different parts. This is useful for long forms. You can add a new section by clicking the double rectangle icon in the floating toolbar.
• Logic Branching: Google Forms allows you to create logic branches. This means you can direct respondents to different questions based on their previous answers. To enable branching, use the three-dot menu on a question and select "Go to section based on answer."
• Import questions: If you have another form with questions that you want to reuse, you can import the questions. Click the Import Questions icon on the floating toolbar to bring in questions from another form.
• Collaboration: You can collaborate with others on your form by clicking the three dots in the upper right corner and selecting "Add collaborator." Give your collaborators permission to edit the form by entering their email addresses.
• Validation: Add response validation to ensure the collected data meets certain criteria. For example, for a short answer question that requires a number, click the three-dot menu, select "Response Validation" and set the rule.

Conclusion

Google Forms is an extremely powerful tool that is both simple and versatile. It is useful for a wide range of tasks, from simple surveys to complex data collection. By following these steps, you can create, customize, and share your own Google Forms to effectively collect the information you need. Whether it is for personal use, business, education, or research, Google Forms provides a solution that is easily accessible and user-friendly.

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