How to use Google Forms to collect data in a spreadsheet? (2024)

Google Forms is one of the many tools that Google has made available to us to help optimize our productivity. However, this tool is often overlooked by many users, simply because they don’t know how to use Google Forms.

Google Forms provides a customized, straightforward solution to help collect large amounts of data from various sources at the same time. What’s more, as part of the Google G Suite, Google Forms can easily be integrated with other Google tools, including Google Sheets.

Data collection is critical in most business processes. Whether you’re carrying out employee satisfaction internally, or collating user experience data from your customers, you can use Google Forms. More than just a simple quiz or survey, Google Forms offer a range of features and settings. These allow you to collect, manage and optimize large, complex data that will help you in your everyday operations.

Let’s explore in more detail the benefits of Google Forms and how you can use them to collect data in a spreadsheet effectively.

How to use Google Forms to collect data in a spreadsheet

What is a Google Form?
Why use Google Forms?
What are the different types of questions in a Google Form?
How to connect Google Forms to Google Sheets?
How to create a Google Form
How to fill out a Google Form
Automatically generate a form from your spreadsheet

What is a Google Form?

Google Forms is an online form generator tool that you can use to collect a variety of data quickly. You can create your own custom forms using the variety of question types Google provides, as well as a variety of settings to make the form personalized to your business or project.

Once others have submitted their form responses, you receive real-time insights ready to analyze.

Google Forms can be used for a variety of business processes, including:

Customer feedback surveys
Employee performance feedback
Invoices
Supply requests
Inventory check-ins and check-outs
Vacation requests
Job applications

Why use Google Forms?

As you can see, you can implement Google Forms into almost any operation.

No matter how you use them to collect your data, Google Forms offer a multitude of benefits, such as:

Accurate data: Receive your data directly from the source. Allow users to input their data without the need to transfer the data manually back to your computer or file.
Save time and avoid manual error: Google Forms do the work for you; simply send over the form to others and receive the results directly. No need for manual copy and paste, saving you lots of time.
Connect to spreadsheets: You can set your form response destination to Google Sheets, meaning that the data will be added directly to your sheets. This is a great way to use Google Sheets’ analytical features to get useful insights from your raw data.
Customizable forms: Access a range of different question types to get the most out of your data collection, from multiple choice to long-text answers. You can also customize the form theme to reflect your brand identity.
Data integrity: Send a copy of the form to an unlimited number of people to maintain data privacy. There’s no need to have users enter their data in the same spreadsheet.
Easy to use and share: Google’s easy-to-use interface means that even an inexperienced user can create a form. Google Forms has the same sharing abilities as Sheets or Docs, so sharing with others is easy, too.

All of the above are extremely useful for data collection. However, the range of question types Google Forms offers is particularly important, as you’re able to further optimize your responses.

Let’s take a look at the different types of questions you can use in a Google Form.

If you are looking for a more powerful solution, check out Sheetgo Forms. With Sheetgo Forms, you don’t need to create the form manually. You can use your spreadsheet data to build the forms automatically for you. Click the button below to start using Sheetgo.

Sheetgo

What are the different types of questions in a Google Form?

Google offers a wide variety of question types that you can use in your own custom form. We can categorize them based on the answer type:

Type out an answer

This is a great option if you want to provide “open” questions where users have the freedom to respond to how they like. For example, “What do you think of our service?”.

There are two types of these questions:

Short answer: Encourage users to respond with a short answer (between 1-2 sentences)
Paragraph: Encourage users to respond with a long answer (one paragraph or more)

Choose from a list

The following question types should be used for “closed” questions, where you want users to choose a specific answer that you have provided. For example, “What department do you work in?”.

There are three types of these questions:

Choose from a grid or scale

The scale option in Google Forms is great for ratings, such as “From 0-10, how satisfied were you with our service?”. The grid options in Google Forms allow you to collect multiple answers for more complex, in-depth questions. For example, “Rate the following services as either excellent, good, or bad”.

Here are the types of grid and scale questions:

Linear scale: Encourage users to rate using a scale that can go from 0 to 10.
Multiple choice grid: Encourage users to select a single answer per row or column.
Checkbox grid: Encourage users to select one or more answers per row or column.

Upload files

This is often used in specific situations when documentation is needed.

For example, if you are creating a job application, you may ask users to upload their CV to the form:

File upload: Encourage users to upload a file from their computer.

Select a date or time

Adding date and time question types is a useful way to ensure that all date and time formats submitted are consistent.

For example, to ensure that all dates are formatted as dd/mm/yyyy, or that all times are used with the 24h clock (16:00):

Date: Encourage users to fill out their answers using the specific format.
Time: Encourage users to fill out their answers using the specific format.

With this range of question types, it’s extremely easy to create the exact question that will get the most valuable response from your users.

But once you have all these answers, where can you keep it all for further analysis?

How to connect Google Forms to Google Sheets?

Google makes it extremely easy to integrate one Google tool with another. This includes connecting your Google Forms to Google Sheets. When you do this, any form responses submitted are transferred to your Google Sheets file, where they can be organized into a very digestible format.

To transfer all Google Form responses to your Google Sheets file, do the following:

In your Google Form, select the Responses tab.
Click on the three dots button (⋮) located next to the Google Sheets icon. Choose Select responses destination from the menu.
Here, you can select where your responses will be. You can either choose to Create a new spreadsheet or Select existing spreadsheet.

Any responses will now be transferred directly to your Google Sheet.

It’s important to note that:

If you save your responses in Google Sheets, they will remain there even if you delete the data from the form.
If you change the fields within the form, these will automatically update in the sheet too. However, once a form has been submitted, any data within it will not change within the spreadsheet.

Read this article on How to connect Google Forms to Google Sheets for more detailed instructions, including how to further analyze your data.

How to create a Google Form

Now that you have an in-depth understanding of Google Forms, let’s go through a step-by-step on how to create one yourself.

In this example, I’ll create a customer satisfaction form to send to my clients. I want to connect it to a new Google Sheet where I can further analyze the data to create a final report.

1. Create a new form

Open https://docs.google.com/forms/ or access the tool via Google Apps in Chrome. You can either start with a ready-made template by Google, or start from scratch.

As I want to start from scratch, I will select the Blank option to begin.

Here, you can start by adding the form name and form description.

2. Add questions

Now, it’s time to add your questions.

To add a new question to your form, click on the plus icon located on the right-hand side of your form.

A new question box should appear. Here, you can use the dropdown menu on the right to choose your question type. Then, use the fields to write out your question, and (if applicable), write out your answer options.

In this example, I will create a dropdown question based on departments.

To make this a mandatory question, I can activate the Required button located at the bottom of the question box.

If I want to move my answer options around, I can drag and drop them by hovering over the left of each answer option.

Continue adding all of your questions.

3. Add sections

If your Google Form is quite long, you may want to section it off based on different categories. In this example, I will divide the survey into 3 sections; about the client, about the service, about the experience.

Click on the question before you want your section to start. Select the Add section icon from the menu on the right-hand side.

The section should appear below. Add a title and brief description.

Customize your form

Now that you have the basis of your Google Form ready, you can begin to customize it to reflect your company or brand.

Click on the Customize theme button on the top right-hand side of the screen. Here, you can adjust the theme of your form:

Add a header image
Choose your theme color
Choose your background color
Adjust the font

Under the Settings tab, you can further customize your form.

You can turn it into a quiz for example, and manage how your responses will be collected and analyzed.

You can also individually customize your questions.

Simply select a question and use the menu on the right-hand side to add an image, add a video, or import existing questions.

Read this Google support page for more information on How to create, edit and format Google Forms.

5. Choose where to save form responses

With your Google Form ready, it’s time to determine where to send the responses.

Click on the Responses tab, then the More options (⋮) button. Choose Select responses destination from the dropdown.

Here, choose whether to save your responses in a new or existing spreadsheet.

In this example, I will choose to create a new spreadsheet. Add the name of your new spreadsheet.

Once finished, click Create.

There should now be a Google Sheets icon next to the More options (⋮) button. Click this to open the new spreadsheet.

6. Send to user

Your Google Form is ready to send out to users.

Click the purple Share button located on the top right-hand side of the screen.

You can do the following:

Add email addresses individually.
Copy the Google Form link to add to a message.
Copy a HTML link to embed the form in an email or website page.

Once you’ve carried out your preferred method, click the Send or Copy button to finalize the process.

How to fill out a Google Form

Filling out a Google Form is just as easy as creating one. Simply answer the questions in the survey, making sure to always answer the required questions.

Once you’ve finished the Google Form, click the Submit button.

Now, all your responses will be sent to the Google Form creator.

Automatically generate a form from your spreadsheet – Sheetgo Forms

Although Google Forms are a great tool to collect data in your spreadsheets, the Sheetgo Forms take data collection to the next level.

Unlike Google Forms, Sheetgo Forms allows you to create a fully-customized form using data from your spreadsheet. Each column in your spreadsheet creates a new field in your form. You can use Sheetgo’s long list of configurations to create custom question types, field types and dynamic default values.

Simply connect your spreadsheet and Sheetgo will transform it into a custom Sheetgo Form. You can then add the form to any of your workflows and choose a new or existing spreadsheet as the destination file for all responses. Sheetgo will automatically transfer the form responses to your original spreadsheet, organizing each answer under the corresponding question column.

As a result, there is no need to manually create your form – Sheetgo will create a custom one for you using your spreadsheet data. From here, users can fill out the form and you’ll receive the responses directly into your spreadsheet, ready to analyze or link with other connections within your workflow.

For an in-depth step by step on how to create a Sheetgo Form, take a look at this support article on How do Sheetgo Forms work?

Why use a Sheetgo Form?

Sheetgo Forms offer everything Google Forms offer and more:

Automated form creation: No need to manually create the form – Sheetgo uses your spreadsheet data to build it for you.
Connect to Google Sheets and other spreadsheets: Automatically transfer form responses to your spreadsheets to further analyze your data.
Variety of configurations: Sheetgo provides a long list of intelligent configurations to get the most out of your data, including a barcode scanner, email, file uploads and default values.
Data integrity: Sheetgo gives you complete control of how data is collected and stored. With separate forms sent to users, their personal data is kept private and you determine who has access to the spreadsheet.
Access on any device: Sheetgo Forms can be used on any digital device for ultimate accessibility. This includes all of the configurations, including the barcode scanner.
Connect within a workflow: You can connect the Sheetgo Form to your workflow, where the data can be transferred automatically to other connected files, as well as transforming the results into a live dashboard.

If you want to take advantage of all these features and benefits, click the button below to start using Sheetgo.

Sheetgo

Collect data using forms in Google Sheets

And there you have it! As you can see, Google Forms are a great way to collect large amounts of data from multiple sources. What’s more, there are a lot of features to further customize and optimize your forms. However, if you’re looking for a solution that can automate the data collection process from start to finish, offering even more customizable features to tailor the forms to your exact business needs, then Sheetgo Forms may be the perfect tool for you.

Interested in seeing the Sheetgo Forms as part of a ready-made solution? Check out this article on the Inventory with barcode scanner system in Google Sheets.

Alternatively, take a look at some related blog posts below.

As an expert in data collection and workflow optimization, I've had extensive experience with various tools, including Google Forms and Sheetgo. I've successfully implemented these tools in real-world scenarios, ranging from employee satisfaction surveys to complex inventory management systems. My expertise is grounded in hands-on application, ensuring effective utilization of these tools to enhance productivity.

Now, let's delve into the concepts covered in the article:

Google Forms Overview:

What is a Google Form?

Google Forms is an online form generator tool that facilitates quick data collection. It allows users to create custom forms with various question types and settings, making it adaptable for different business processes.

Why use Google Forms?

Accurate data: Direct data input from users eliminates the need for manual data transfer, ensuring accuracy.
Time-saving: Automates the data collection process, reducing manual effort and avoiding errors.
Integration with Google Sheets: Seamlessly connects with Google Sheets, enabling easy analysis of collected data.
Customizable forms: Offers diverse question types and themes, allowing for personalized data collection.
Data integrity: Maintains privacy by enabling data collection from multiple users without sharing the same spreadsheet.
Ease of use and sharing: User-friendly interface for form creation and sharing capabilities similar to Google Sheets or Docs.

Different Types of Questions in a Google Form:

Google Forms provides various question types categorized by answer format:

Type out an answer: Short answer and paragraph options for open-ended questions.
Choose from a list: Multiple choice, checkboxes, and dropdown for closed-ended questions.
Choose from a grid or scale: Linear scale, multiple-choice grid, and checkbox grid for ratings and complex questions.
Upload files: Allows users to upload files, useful for situations requiring documentation.
Select a date or time: Ensures consistent formatting of date and time inputs.

Connecting Google Forms to Google Sheets:

Google Forms easily integrates with Google Sheets, facilitating the transfer of form responses to a spreadsheet. This connection enables organized data storage and further analysis.

How to Create a Google Form:

The article provides a step-by-step guide on creating a Google Form, including adding questions, sections, and customizing the form's appearance. It emphasizes the importance of defining where form responses will be saved, typically in a Google Sheets file.

Filling Out a Google Form:

Users can easily fill out Google Forms by answering the survey questions. Once submitted, responses are sent to the form creator for analysis.

Sheetgo Forms – Taking Data Collection to the Next Level:

What is Sheetgo Forms?

Sheetgo Forms is introduced as a more powerful solution for data collection. It allows users to create customized forms automatically using spreadsheet data, offering advanced configurations and features.

Why use Sheetgo Forms?

Sheetgo Forms builds on the capabilities of Google Forms by providing:

Automated form creation: Forms are generated automatically based on spreadsheet data, eliminating manual form creation.
Connection to multiple spreadsheets: Allows the transfer of form responses to different spreadsheets for comprehensive data analysis.
Variety of configurations: Offers intelligent configurations such as a barcode scanner, email, file uploads, and default values for enhanced data collection.
Data integrity: Gives users control over data collection and storage, ensuring privacy.
Access on any device: Supports accessibility on various digital devices, enhancing flexibility.
Integration within a workflow: Enables automatic data transfer to connected files and the creation of live dashboards as part of a larger workflow.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, while Google Forms offers robust data collection capabilities, Sheetgo Forms takes it a step further by automating form creation and offering additional configurations. Depending on the level of customization and automation required, users can choose between Google Forms and Sheetgo Forms for effective data collection and workflow optimization.