Build a form

What we'll build

To show how it works, we'll build a sign-up form for an event: an open day at a community garden. By the end you'll have a form that asks each guest for:

  • their name and email address
  • how many people are coming (from 1 to 6)
  • which tour they'd like, from a short list
  • any dietary needs, if they have some
  • anything else you should know

You'll share it with a link, and read the answers as they come in. Your own form will have different questions, but the steps are the same.

1. Make the form

  1. Sign in, and on Forms choose New form.
  2. Give it a name, like "Open day sign-up". Only you see the name. People answering see the form's own title, which we'll add next.
  3. Choose Create form, then open it.
The New form window, with the name Open day sign-up and the Create form button outlined.

Made a form you like before? Start from a template instead, and the new form begins with its questions and colours.

2. Add a title and some words

Everything in a form is an element. Choose Add element to add one.

The Add element button, outlined.
  1. Add an element and change its type to Title. Type "Riverside Garden Open Day".
  2. Add another and change its type to Text. Say what the form is for: "Join us on Saturday 14 November. Tell us who is coming so we can plan the tours and the food."

Everything you type saves as you go.

3. Add the questions

Add an element for each question, type the question, and pick the kind of answer you want. We'll add five.

  1. Full name and Email, both as Short answer. Switch on Required for each, so nobody sends the form without them.
  2. How many people are coming? as a Number. Turn on Required, then set Min to 1 and Max to 6. Anyone who enters 0 or 10 is asked to change it.
  3. Which tour would you like? as Multiple choice, where people pick one. Rename the options to "Morning tour", "Afternoon tour" and "No tour, just the stalls", using Add option for more.
  4. Any dietary needs? as Checkboxes, where people pick any. Add "Vegetarian", "Vegan", "Gluten free" and "Nut allergy".
  5. Anything else we should know? as Long answer, for a few sentences. Leave it optional.
The Full name question, with its Required switch on and outlined.
The number question, with Required on and a lowest answer of 1 and a highest of 6.
The Which tour would you like question, a multiple choice with three options.
Need to be sure an email address is real, like a parent's or a client's? On an Email address question, turn on Verify this address with a code. People ask for a code, we email it to the address they typed, and they enter it before they can send their response. The code works once and lasts ten minutes. A response shows (verified) beside an address that was confirmed this way, and the JSON and API list those questions under verified.
Need each ticket number, member ID or code to be used once? On a Short answer, Email address, Number or Date, set Times each answer can be given (1 for once only, or a higher number to allow a few). On Multiple choice, Dropdown and Checkboxes, set Times each option can be picked instead, which closes an option once it's full, like seats on a tour or slots in a day. A full option is greyed out and marked "(full)" when the form is opened. Capitals and extra spaces don't count as different. To count it, we keep a scrambled fingerprint of each answer next to the form, with how many times it was used. The answer itself isn't kept there, and nothing links it to a person or a response. Deleting a response doesn't free its answer. Part of Pro.
A Text element can be formatted: **bold**, *italic*, [a link](https://example.com), and lines starting with - for a list. Pictures (the Image and Draw on image elements) can be PNG, JPEG, WebP or GIF, up to 5 MB.
Want people to mark something on a picture, like where it hurts or what's damaged? Add a Draw on image question and upload the picture. People draw on it with a mouse, finger or pen. You see their marks laid over your picture when you open the response, and in its PDF. Downloads in other formats just say Marked up.
Have a list people should choose from, like staff, members or product codes? Add a List lookup question and paste your list as CSV (the first line is the headings, and the first column is what people choose). They can pick from the list, search it as they type, or have to type a value that's in it. Other columns can fill in other short answers, so choosing a staff ID can fill in the name and phone. With search or exact typing, nobody can see your whole list: they get a few matches at a time. With pick, the first column is visible to anyone who opens the form.
Need people to send you a file? On a Pro form, add a File upload question and choose how many files each person can attach (up to 5). Files can be up to 10 MB each, and PDFs, images, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, text, CSV and zip files are accepted. Only you can open them, from the response. They're deleted when you delete the response, the link or the form.
Need a signature? Add a Signature question. People draw it with a mouse, finger or pen, and you see the picture when you open the response, and in its PDF. Other downloads just say Signed. It's a drawing, not a verified electronic signature, so it doesn't prove who signed.
Want a quick poll? On a multiple choice, dropdown or checkboxes question, turn on Show results after people answer. Once someone sends their response, they see how many people picked each option (never anyone's individual answers), and the question says so up front. It's off unless you switch it on.

4. Give it some shape

This is how the form looks in the builder, with all of its elements:

The whole form in the builder: a title, some text, then the five questions.
  • Drag elements to reorder them, or use their menu: Move up, Move down, and Join row above to put up to three side by side. Name and Email would sit nicely in one row.
  • Dividers, spacers and images break up a long form. A banner photo of the garden would suit this one.
  • Show only if hides a question, title or any other element until an earlier answer matches. Hidden questions are never asked for, so a required one doesn't block anyone who doesn't see it. Put the rule on a title to show or hide its whole section: everything below it, up to the next title or page break.
  • Colours sets the form's colours and the page behind it, and its font (Standard, Serif, Rounded or Typewriter). We chose a pale green for the form. To use the same look on another form, save it as a theme in the same window, then choose Use next to it on the other form.
The Form colours window, with pale green chosen for the form background.

5. Preview it

Choose Preview to see the form as people will, and Edit to go back. Required questions are marked with a star. On a phone everything stacks into one column, and the Phone, Tablet and Desktop buttons above the preview show you how.

The preview of the open day form, with a star beside the three required questions.

Nothing you do in the preview is saved, so try it out.

6. Share it

  1. On the form's page, choose New shared link, give it a fitting name for how it will be shared ("Newsletter", "Poster") and choose Create link. For the open day, "Invitation email" fits.
  2. Copy the link and send it, or download its QR code for a poster or a slide.
The New shared link window, named Invitation email, with the Create link button outlined.
The link's page, with the share link outlined and its QR code on the right.

Each link keeps its own responses, so one link per place shows you where answers came from. Free forms can have 2 links. More in Sharing & QR codes.

Once a form has links, changes that would muddle its answers (like deleting a question) are locked. See Editing a shared form.

7. Read the answers

Open the link and choose its Responses tab. Each guest is a row, with their answers across the page. Choose Download for a CSV or JSON file.

The Responses tab: two guests' answers in a table, and the Download button outlined.

To hear about new responses, see Alerts. More in Responses & downloads.

What a form can have

  • Questions: short and long text, email addresses, numbers, dates, multiple choice, dropdown lists and checkboxes, each of which can be required or kept to a range.
  • Choice matrix: a grid where people pick one answer per row from the same columns, such as rating food, service and price as Good, Okay or Poor. List the rows and columns one per line. You can let a row take more than one answer, and if you make it required, every row has to be answered.
  • Calculation: a number worked out as people fill the form in, such as a total. Give each choice a Value in its options (a price, a score), then pick the number questions and choices to add up, multiply, average, or take the lowest or highest of. You can add a symbol like $ before it. The form shows it as they go, and it's worked out again when they send it, so it can't be changed on the way. It can also count the days between two date questions, such as the nights of a stay.
  • Display elements: titles, text, dividers, spacers and images. A page break splits a long form into pages with Next and Previous buttons. Turn on One question per page to show a question at a time instead.
  • Up to three elements side by side, and colours for the form, its page and each element.