Collecting a large amount of data from multiple respondents is made easy with Google Forms. But where do the responses from Google Forms go? While you can view the responses within the form itself, you can also collect your Google Forms responses in a Google Spreadsheet. Google Sheets offers numerous features for visualizing and organizing your data, such as creating charts and tables.
In this tutorial, we will explain how to get Google Forms responses into Google Sheets and provide you with some tips along the way. Let’s get started!
Creating a Google Form that populates a Google Spreadsheet
Step 1: Access your Google Form
To link your Google Form to Google Sheets, the first step is to open the relevant Google Form. You can do this by accessing Google Forms and selecting the form from your list, or by directly opening the form from your Google Drive.
Step 2: Access the Responses tab
Once you have opened your form, click on the “Responses” tab at the top of the page. This will take you to a page where you can see all the responses submitted to your form.
Step 3: Select the response destination
At the top-right of the responses page, you should see a three-dot menu. Click on this menu and select “Select response destination.” You can also open the same popup window by clicking on the Google Sheets icon to the right of the “Responses” tab.
This will bring up a popup window where you can choose where you want to send your responses. If you’re wondering how to create a Google Spreadsheet from Google Forms, the new popup window will provide an option for that. It will also allow you to choose a pre-existing spreadsheet to link the form to.
Step 4: Select or create a spreadsheet from Google Forms responses
If you choose to create a new spreadsheet, select the “Create a new spreadsheet” option, enter a name for the sheet in the text box, and click the “Create” button. This will create a new spreadsheet and link it to your form, so that all new responses will be automatically added there.
If you wish to use an existing spreadsheet, select that option and you will be directed to a list of spreadsheets. Choose the one you want to use from the list and click the “Select” button.
This will link the selected spreadsheet to your form, so all new responses will be automatically added there. If you do this, the spreadsheet will have a new tab where these responses will be added. This means you don’t have to worry about data overlap with what you already have in the spreadsheet.
Step 5: Test if the Google Forms to Google Sheets link is working
All columns will correspond between Google Sheets and Google Forms, except for the first one: the “Timestamp.” Whenever a new question is added to your form, a new column will be automatically created in the sheet.
Once you have linked your form to a spreadsheet, it is advisable to test the link between Google Forms and Google Sheets to ensure everything is working correctly. To do this, fill out the form yourself by clicking the “Preview” button at the top of the page.
After submitting a response, go to your spreadsheet and make sure the response appears in the correct column. You can also check the timestamp to confirm that the response was added in real-time.
You should also test different types of responses, such as multiple-choice, dropdown menus, and text fields, to ensure they are all added correctly. If there are any issues, you may need to go back and make modifications in the form.
Congratulations! You have successfully converted your Google Form into a Google Spreadsheet. Easy, right?
Need to edit your Google Forms responses? Learn how to delete Google Forms responses in this article.
Key things to know about your Google Forms responses spreadsheet
You must remove collaborators separately
If you have collaborators on your form, they will likely also have access to the new spreadsheet. However, the two are independent of each other with separate permissions. If you want to remove collaborators, you will need to do so both on the Google Form and the Google Spreadsheet.
To remove collaborators from your form, click on the menu icon (three dots) at the top-right of the screen and select “Add collaborators” from the dropdown menu.
On the Collaborators tab, hover over the collaborator you want to remove and click on the “Editor” menu that appears next to their name. Then, click on the “Remove access” option. Click “Save” when you’re done.
To remove a collaborator from your spreadsheet, open the spreadsheet from which you want to remove a collaborator. Click on the “File” tab. Under the “File” tab, click on the “Share” option.
A list of all collaborators will appear. To remove a collaborator, click the arrow next to their name and then click on the “Remove access” option.
After performing these two operations, the collaborator will no longer have access to the data, whether in the form or in the spreadsheet.
You can unlink Google Forms and Google Sheets and change the link to a new one
So, you know how to link a Google Form to a spreadsheet, but what if you want to unlink them? To unlink your form from the spreadsheet, simply go to the “Responses” tab and click on the three-dot menu. Then, select “Unlink form.” This will break the connection between your form and the spreadsheet, and all new responses will no longer be automatically added.
You can still manually export your responses, but you will have to do it yourself each time.
This is useful if you want to change the spreadsheet to which the responses are sent. Perhaps that spreadsheet is becoming too large or you want to organize the information in a new location. After unlinking your spreadsheet, simply follow the process of linking the form to a new spreadsheet. The process is the same!
Learn how to create fillable forms in Google Docs.
Create more than just Google Sheets from Google Form responses with Form Publisher!
Transferring Google Forms responses to a spreadsheet is a straightforward process. However, if you want your responses to be integrated into different documents, such as a Google Doc or a PDF, the process is not as simple. Unless you want to learn how to use Google Apps Script, you should consider downloading the Form Publisher extension!
With Form Publisher, you can take your Google Forms responses and transform them into beautifully designed documents in various formats with just a few clicks. You can also select a template for the presentation of your document, no design skills required. Plus, it’s free to get started!
And if that’s not enough, you can also take advantage of our approval workflows, personalized email notifications, and automatic sharing features to ensure that everyone who needs to view your form results receives them quickly and easily.
Ready to try everything Form Publisher has to offer? It’s easy – simply install the extension from the Google Workspace Marketplace today!
