Google Forms lets you create a survey by starting with a blank form, adding questions one at a time, and sharing the link with people you want to answer

Google Forms is a free tool built into Google's suite of office products. You don't need to download anything — you open it in your web browser, create questions, and then send a link to the people whose responses you want to collect. The responses go into a spreadsheet automatically, so you can see patterns without copying data by hand.

The basic process takes about 10 minutes for a simple survey: log into your Google account, open Google Forms, pick a template or start blank, write your questions, choose what type of answer each question allows (multiple choice, short text, rating scale, and so on), then share the link. People who click the link answer your questions and submit their responses, which you can view in real time.

Key Takeaways

  • You need a Google account to create a form, but people answering your survey do not need one — they can respond using just the link.
  • Google Forms stores responses in a linked Google Sheet, so you can sort and filter answers without leaving the platform.
  • You can set questions to require an answer before someone can submit, or leave them optional.
  • The form link can be shared by email, pasted into a website, or turned into a QR code that people can scan with their phone camera.

Starting a new form and choosing a template

Open Google Forms by going to forms.google.com in your web browser. If you are not already logged into your Google account, you will be asked to sign in. Once you are in, you will see a gallery of templates — pre-built surveys for common purposes like customer feedback, event registration, or quiz questions.

Click the blank form icon (a plus sign in a box) to start from scratch, or click any template that matches what you are trying to do. Templates save time because the questions are already written — you just edit them to fit your needs. If you pick a template, you can delete any questions you don't want and add new ones.

Either way, you will land on a blank form with one empty question waiting for you to type. At the top, you will see a text field that says "Untitled form" — click it and give your survey a name that people will see when they open the link.

Writing questions and choosing answer types

Click in the question field and type your first question. Below it, you will see a dropdown menu that says "Multiple choice" by default. Click that dropdown to see all the answer types Google Forms offers: short answer (one line of text), paragraph (longer text), multiple choice (one answer from a list), checkboxes (pick any number of answers), dropdown (pick one from a list), linear scale (rate something from 1 to 10), and a few others.

Pick the type that fits what you are asking. If you choose multiple choice, checkboxes, or dropdown, you will see fields where you type each possible answer. For a rating scale, you set the lowest and highest numbers — for example, 1 to 5 for "very unhappy" to "very happy".

After you finish one question, click the plus sign button on the right side of the screen to add another question. Repeat until you have all the questions you need. You can reorder questions by clicking and dragging them, or delete a question by clicking the trash icon.

Making questions required and organizing with sections

By default, people can skip any question and still submit the form. If you want to force someone to answer a specific question before they can submit, click the question, then toggle the "Required" switch at the bottom right. A red asterisk will appear next to that question's number.

If your survey is long, you can break it into sections to make it easier to read. Click the section icon (three horizontal lines) in the toolbar on the right, then type a section title and description. This creates a page break — people will see one section at a time as they fill out the form.

You can also set up logic so that later questions only appear if someone answers an earlier question a certain way. For example, if someone says "no" to "Do you own a car?", you could hide all the car-related questions that follow. Click the three-dot menu on a question and select "Go to section based on answer" to set this up.

Customizing the look and sharing the form

Click the paintbrush icon at the top to change colors, fonts, and the background image. You can upload your own image or pick from Google's library. These changes are purely visual and don't affect how the form works.

When you are ready to send the survey out, click the "Send" button at the top right. You will see three options: email the link directly, copy the link to paste elsewhere, or generate a QR code. If you email it, type in the email addresses of the people you want to reach. If you copy the link, you can paste it into a message, website, or social media post. Anyone who clicks the link can answer your questions without needing a Google account.

People's responses appear in real time in the "Responses" tab at the top of the form. You can see individual answers, or click the chart icon to see summaries — Google Forms automatically creates graphs showing how many people picked each answer for multiple-choice questions.

Viewing and exporting your results

As soon as someone submits an answer, it shows up in the Responses tab. You will see a count of how many people have responded, and you can click "Individual" to read each person's answers one by one, or "Summary" to see charts and counts for each question.

Google Forms automatically creates a Google Sheet linked to your form. Click the green Sheets icon in the Responses tab to open it. The spreadsheet has one row for each person who answered, and one column for each question. This makes it easy to sort, filter, or copy the data into another tool if you need to.

You can also download your responses as a CSV file (a format that opens in Excel or other spreadsheet programs). In the Responses tab, click the three-dot menu and select "Download responses (.csv)".

Common settings and permissions

Click the settings icon (a gear) at the top right to control who can respond and how. By default, anyone with the link can fill out your form and submit as many times as they want. If you want each person to answer only once, toggle "Limit to 1 response" — Google will ask them to sign in with their Google account so it can track who has already responded.

You can also choose whether to show a confirmation message after someone submits, whether to collect email addresses, and whether to shuffle the order of multiple-choice answers so that the first option is not always the most popular.

If you want only certain people to see the form, you can change the sharing settings. Click the "Send" button, then click the link icon. Change the dropdown from "Anyone with the link" to "Specific people", then type in the email addresses of the people you want to reach. They will need a Google account to open the form.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do people need a Google account to answer my survey?

No. If you share the link publicly, anyone can click it and answer your questions without signing in. If you restrict the form to specific people, they will need a Google account to open it, but they still won't need one to fill it out once it's open.

Can I see who answered my survey?

Not by default. Google Forms collects answers anonymously unless you turn on email collection in the settings. If you toggle "Collect email addresses", Google will record the email of each person who submits, so you can see who responded and who didn't.

What if I want to change a question after people have already answered?

You can edit any question at any time, and the changes will appear for future responses. Existing answers won't change — if you reword a question, the old answers stay the same. If you delete a question, those responses are gone.

Can I make the form look like my brand or website?

Yes. Use the paintbrush icon to add your own header image, change colors, and pick fonts. You can't add a custom domain or embed the form directly into your website with Google Forms alone, but you can copy the link and paste it anywhere.

How do I stop accepting responses?

Click the three-dot menu at the top right and select "Close quiz" or "Close form". The form will no longer accept new responses, but people who try to open the link will see a message saying it's closed. You can reopen it anytime by clicking the same menu and selecting "Accept responses".