Today, most companies opt for digital forms to collect data and survey information. Quite useful to get the feel of a market or get a sense of public mood before launching a campaign or a new product. The digital form is a better alternative to tried and trusted pen and paper method, which is time-consuming and requires several human hours. And you barely get the desired outcome. With social distancing becoming a new norm, many resort to online forms and survey building. And out of many options, Google Forms is perhaps one of the best for the majority of people. Google Forms includes templates, design themes, other Google apps integration, seamless sharing, data export, and more. On top of that, it’s completely free to use. Refer to our compilation of the best web form builders. In this post, we talk about the top ten Google Forms tips and tricks to use it like a pro. Let’s get started. Visit Google Forms
1. Use Built-In Templates
As it’s the case with other Google services like Google Docs, Google Sheets, Google Forms comes with a bunch of templates to get you started quickly. From the homepage, you can tap on the ‘+’ button and begin to create a form from scratch. But I would advise you to browse the template section for a suitable ready made form template. These templates are neatly categorized in three categories — Personal, Work, and Education. Often, I find the relevant template in the gallery.
2. Import Questions From Other Templates
If you are dealing with dozens of templates to create a number of forms, then you can import the common questions to save some time. Google Forms lets you import questions from the other forms to the current form. It’s a time-saver, users don’t have to add the same questions repeatedly. From the form builder menu, tap on the import questions option and it will ask you to choose the form from where you want to import the question. Select the form and in the editor menu, the questions will appear on the right side. Select the relevant ones and import them in the current form.
3. Choose the Type of Questions
Google Form is quite flexible to let you choose from the bunch of questions type. From the form builder menu, tap on the ‘+’ option to add a question block in the form. The default question type is set at multiple choices, which you can change to short answer, paragraph, checkboxes, drop-down, tick box grid, and so on. It depends upon the question that you are adding.
4. Add YouTube Videos
While building a form, you might want to attach YouTube videos for further information. Thankfully, one can directly add the YouTube video to the Google Form. Tap on the video button at the bottom, search for the YouTube video, or use the URL option to directly paste the video link. The video with title and thumbnail will appear in the Google Form.
5. Customize Themes
Google Forms offers various ways to customize the look and feel of the form. You can change every detail of it. Go to form editor, tap on the customize theme option at the top and it will open the side menu to play with the theming engine. You can add/change the header image, theme background color, theme color, and font type of the form (Go with Formal fonts). For the header image, Google has added hundreds of relevant images to choose from.
6. Allow Respondents to View Summary Charts and Text Responses
There are two ways to build forms. You can either allow the respondents to view the summary of the data or not. It depends on the type of form you are creating. Sometimes it’s wise to keep the option on and sometimes it makes no sense to let the respondents read the summary. To turn on the option, tap on the Settings > General > Respondents can > select the checkbox to enable the option — see summary charts and text responses.
7. Add Confirmation Message
It’s always advisable to add a confirmation message after the user has filled up the form. It’s a common practice in the marketing and surveying industry. After creating a form, go to Settings > Presentation > and add a confirmation message. You can change the default message with something more personalized approach.
8. Use Quiz Option
One can also use Google Forms to create quiz questions and assign points based on the answer provided by the users. I expect to see this practice catching up in the education sector. From the form builder menu, go to Settings > Quizzes > enable make this a quiz. You can also assign points for each question and let the users known about the correct or wrong answers.
9. Create a Spreadsheet From Responses
Google Forms comes with Google Sheets integration. One can create a Google Sheet with the received answers in the Google Forms. Move to the Responses menu and tap on the create spreadsheet option. It will create a sheet with a user name, email, and their answers. Neat, right?
10. Add Collaborators
Google Forms is flexible when it comes to sharing. Google Forms lets you invite others to collaborate with form building. It is useful in many scenarios. Tap on the three-dot menu at the upper right corner, select add collaborator, and add their email ID or copy the sharing link. Admin can also prevent the editors from changing access and adding new people.
Use Google Forms Like a Pro
As you can see from the list above, Google Forms is an excellent web tool for quickly creating surveys and forms for free. It’s flexible, full of templates, free, comes with excellent sharing functions, and don’t forget the Google Sheets and YouTube integration. Next up: Microsoft Forms is a capable service that locks horns with Google Forms. Read the comparison below to discover which form making tool suits your needs. The above article may contain affiliate links which help support Guiding Tech. However, it does not affect our editorial integrity. The content remains unbiased and authentic.
