One of Google’s most underrated features is perhaps the Google Forms, hidden in the corner of Google Drive where no one can see it. But you should not ignore it because the humble Google Forms has a myriad of uses. Google Drive is a great service, but installing the Google Drive app and syncing some files is just the first step.
From email newsletters to surveys and event subscriptions, the Google Forms gives you a quick way to share the necessary documentation for what you are thinking. Only you do not have to use any paper.
Participants can respond to shapes in their Gmail inbox, and all forms are responsive, which means they resize seamlessly on the screen of a mobile or tablet. Adding images, YouTube videos … the possibilities are endless.
Starting Your Very Own Google Form
It’s easy to start with your first Google way. Let’s take a quick look at how you can get it up and start running as fast as possible. We’re going to make it easy – a multiple choice search.
You can see some form settings at the top of the page. Checkboxes are easy to understand, so check or uncheck as required.
In the next section, you need to give your form a title and a description. So if you were doing a search then the title would probably be the question or the subject.
As you can see in the picture above, you need to choose your “Question Type”. I chose “Multiple Choice”.
Now that the question has been asked in the title, it’s time to enter in the options. So, in the provided text boxes, enter the text of the possible responses. Check or uncheck if it is a “required field” (if you are asking for just one question, then this option is irrelevant). When you’ve added everything, click “Done.”
Again, this section is self-explanatory. Choose your options, and then press “Submit Form”. Nothing else to see here. Move along people.
Now you get the sharing box. You get the regular long encrypted link, the option to shorten the URL is Goo.gl, share via social networks, embed the form on another site, adding collaborators, and finally sending the form via email.
But wait, it’s not finished yet. Now you have to decide how you are going to receive your answers. You can choose to make a Google Spreadsheet with your answers, or keep them on your own form. You decide. If you use a spreadsheet application to shred data, then custom scripts could be the master key. Get started with these great Google spreadsheets scripts and make use of your data in new ways.
As they are not yet finished, postpone sending that link to people. Now it’s time to change the theme. Then click this, and you open the themes section.
On the right side, scroll down the large list of possible themes, and if you see any that strike your fancy then just click on it, and your form on the left will change instantly. Do not like? Then click on another theme until you find the one that makes you happy.
And voila, we have our multiple choice research.
This is only a small amount of what Google Forms can do. Its potential is huge, and the fact that you can sync everything on Google Drive and make it very portable and convenient. In addition, the ways of looking very good.
What Else Can Google Forms Do?
Here are some possibilities to awaken your imagination.
Plan a Trip
How many times have you tried to plan a trip with friends, and ended up getting caught up in an endless email exchange about who is coming and not coming, which hotel everyone wants to stay, what all activities want to do … etc, etc. well, not anymore. Now create a quiz, and let your friends comment.
Manage Event Subscriptions
Are you a conference coordinator? A political activist? A public relations manager? Then you will get in the habit of organizing events that will require participants to register. So why not make a Google way and link to it from your site?
Create a Fun Quiz for Family or Office
If you turn on the television, you will find a big number of quiz programs (“Kaun Banega Crorepati” is a popular example). People like to answer questions and show their expertise to try and beat each other. So you could use Google Forms to make a fun quiz for the family, or for your office colleagues.
Power up Your Forms with Add-ons
Not too long ago, Google launched the add-ons for forms. Currently, there are not too many available (16 at the time of writing). But there are 5 add-ons that really stand out. Each has the potential to make your shapes shine. Let’s take a look at them.
To get to the add-ons section, go to the top of a Google Form and list the Add-ons option. Choose Get Add-ons.
This then opens the add-ons section. To add an add-on, simply hover with the mouse and click the blue button that appears. The name of the add-on will appear in the add-ons menu.
So now that you know where they exist, let’s take a look at these 5 stand-outs.
formLimiter
formLimiter turns off a Google form after a certain number of responses, at a date or time, or when a cell in the worksheet equals a value.
You can also modify the message people will get if they try to access the form after it has been closed.
This add-on unlikely is useful if you had a limited time form as a way designed for a competition.
Form Values
“Form Values” is used to store and use the multiple-choice, list, and checkbox issues. Using this, there will be no more need to manually type them all in, if you use the same more and more options.
Obviously, this would save you a tremendous amount of time in the long run (not to mention giving you the process of creating forms for anyone else on your team without hiccups).
Notifications Form
The number of notifications this add-on produces is limited by the email owner’s available quota. It will not send email notifications if the owner’s daily email quota has been exceeded. After all, we would not like to send spam, would we?
It may be a good idea to set up a filter in your email to stop a potential avalanche of email notifications from colliding with your inbox.
Data Everywhere
This really neat add-on allows you to synchronize form data directly to Excel without importing or exporting anything. You can also share data between Excel Sheets and Google Sheets.
When you use it, the add-on creates a free Everywhere account for you. Data from an active Google Form is transferred, via a Food Data Everywhere, to your Excel spreadsheet as soon as the data is received from someone. You could get a Data Everywhere add-on that is installed inside Excel, and the add-on picks up the data and applies it to your spreadsheet.
AppSheet
This very cool add-on that gives you the opportunity to build a custom mobile app, based on your Google Form. It’s very fast, very easy, and absolutely no coding is involved.
After you have released the add-on, click Prepare, and the form data will be placed together and organized. Then press Release! And a link to download the new application will be sent to you.
You (and anyone else who wants to use the app) must have the free AppShare application installed on the phone. This application, which is compatible with iOS and Android, will then run your newly minted application.
Touch the Utility of Google Forms
As I said, Google Forms is less used but at the same time is full of potential. The section of add-ons is definitely something you should check after regular intervals, assuming that Google does not let wilt and die, as well as many other promising properties before it.
Do you use Google forms? Were you aware of the plugins section? If yes, which are your favorites? Let us know in the comments.
