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Google Forms

Google Forms: Two tricks to import questions into a survey

By Blog, Video

From @in30minutes, learn how to import questions into a survey in Google Forms. Length: about 6 minutes. Narrator Ian Lamont is the founder of i30 Media Corporation, publisher of GOOGLE DRIVE & DOCS IN 30 MINUTES.

Web: https://in30minutes.com/?y
Amazon: https://amzn.to/2DTPiG4
Twitter: https://twitter.com/@in30minutes
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/in30minutes

NOTE: This is not an official Google video, nor do I represent Alphabet Inc. Please review Google’s terms of service before using this feature. i30 Media Corporation cannot be held liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, consequential, or special damages of any kind, or any damages whatsoever, arising out of or in connection with the use of this video.

Google Forms Templates: Create an event registration form

By Video

From @in30minutes, Learn how to create a basic event registration form in Google Forms using a template. The results can be viewed in Google Forms and Google Sheets. Length: about 10 minutes. Narrator Ian Lamont is the founder of i30 Media Corporation, publisher of GOOGLE DRIVE & DOCS IN 30 MINUTES.

Web: https://in30minutes.com/?y
Amazon: https://amzn.to/2DTPiG4
Twitter: https://twitter.com/@in30minutes
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/in30minutes

NOTE: This is not an official Google video, nor do I represent Alphabet Inc. Please review Google’s terms of service before using this feature. i30 Media Corporation cannot be held liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, consequential, or special damages of any kind, or any damages whatsoever, arising out of or in connection with the use of this video.

Google Forms for educators: Create a self-grading quiz!

By Video

From @in30minutes, learn how to create a quiz in Google Forms that grades itself! Length: about 9 minutes. Narrator Ian Lamont is the founder of i30 Media Corporation, publisher of GOOGLE DRIVE & DOCS IN 30 MINUTES.

Web: https://in30minutes.com/?y
Amazon: https://amzn.to/2DTPiG4
Twitter: https://twitter.com/@in30minutes
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/in30minutes

NOTE: This is not an official Google video, nor do I represent Alphabet Inc. Please review Google’s terms of service before using this feature. i30 Media Corporation cannot be held liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, consequential, or special damages of any kind, or any damages whatsoever, arising out of or in connection with the use of this video.

How to send Google Forms that can be filled out in email

By Video

An explanation of how to send a Google Form to email recipients, and allow them to respond to the form questions right in the email program, on desktop, mobile, Outlook, etc. Length: about 4 minutes. Also includes a folder naming trick. Narrator Ian Lamont is the founder of i30 Media Corporation, publisher of GOOGLE DRIVE & DOCS IN 30 MINUTES.

Web: https://in30minutes.com/?y
Amazon: https://amzn.to/2DTPiG4
Twitter: https://twitter.com/@in30minutes
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/in30minutes

DISCLAIMER: This is not an official Google video, nor do I represent Alphabet Inc. Please review Google’s terms of service before using this feature. i30 Media Corporation cannot be held liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, consequential, or special damages of any kind, or any damages whatsoever, arising out of or in connection with the use of this video.

How to embed Google Forms on WordPress or other sites

By Video

In recent months, I have talked about how to create a Google Form and how to change the design. If you use Google Forms to make surveys, scheduling forms, or other online data-entry pages, you may prefer to simply email the Google Forms URL to users or post it on social media. However, there is another way to use Google Forms, that lets you embed Google Forms on WordPress or another type of website. It can be used for all kinds of websites, including corporate websites and WordPress blogs.

There are several advantages of embedding a Google Form on your own website:

  1. The web browser will show your web domain (e.g., in30minutes.com) instead of the Google Forms URL.
  2. You can leverage the branding you may have on the website, such as logos or links to other resources.
  3. Other people may be more likely to use the form if it comes from a trusted source, such as your business URL or an official brand URL.

In order to embed the form on a website, the website will need to allow HTML to be added to a specific page, and you (or someone who has access to the content management system of the website) has the ability to add a line of computer code. This is important, because not all websites allow such access, or you may not know how to do this. However, if you manage your own website or blog, and you are comfortable with copying and pasting, it’s not hard to place Google Forms on WordPress or another type of website.. The following short video shows how, using a WordPress business website as an example.

Google Forms new interface and tutorial

How to make a form using the new Google Forms

By Video

I always thought that Google Forms was one of the great, hidden features of the Google Drive/Google Docs suite. Not only did it let users quickly create an online survey form that could be sent to people or inserted into a webpage, the responses were automatically fed back into Google Sheets for sorting and other actions. I wasn’t the only one who was impressed; soon enough I began to see all kinds of other uses of Google Forms, from small businesses setting up appointments to online surveys for startups researching market trends.

Now there is a new Google Forms interface. It is superior to the old interface, looks better, and allows for quicker form creation and data review. As before, Google Forms is free, and in that sense provides a great alternative to Survey Monkey, which locks up some features behind a paywall. While Microsoft’s free online spreadsheet program Excel Online offers a new form creation tool, the interface is positively primitive compared to Google Forms.
Google Forms interface and tutorial

In the short video below I won’t get into all of the details of the new Google Forms interface, but it shows how to set up a basic form. I have also created another video that shows how to change the design of Google Forms.

How to change the design in Google Forms

By Blog, Video

Last year, I wrote a post about how to create a form using the new Google Forms interface. In today’s episode, we’re going to look at how to change the design in Google Forms, Google’s free alternative to Surveymonkey that integrates with Google Sheets and Google Drive.

If you use Google Forms to to gather information from customers or survey a group of people, you can really improve the look of the form by changing its design. There are all kinds of reasons for changing the design:

  1. The default Google Forms design looks too plain.
  2. You want to apply your own design sensibilities to the form
  3. You have branding elements such as logos or special photos you want to incorporate into the design.
  4. You want the form to better match the fonts, colors, and other elements of your product or website.
  5. You think your audience will respond more enthusiastically to a different design.

This last point is not just being considerate of your audience’s aesthetic sensibilities. If different design elements convince more people to start the form and finish it, that means you will get more (and perhaps better) data.

Change the design in Google Forms: Step by step

Changing the design in Google Forms is not hard to do. This quick video will show you how to add photos, change background colors, and alter other design elements of Google Forms:

Google Forms tutorial using the new forms interface

By Blog

I recently tried out the new Google Forms while writing an update to Google Drive & Docs In 30 Minutes. The new interface is a lot slicker than the old version of Google Forms, and gives more control over the look and feel of the forms. It’s a great way to create an online survey, or have people enter data for a variety of purposes. It’s also worth noting that Google Forms has been partially decoupled from Google Sheets, meaning it’s possible to create a form directly from Google Drive and see the results within Google Forms, instead of having to open up Google Sheets. This post will show what the new Google Forms interface looks like, and then give a brief Google Forms tutorial.

Google Forms is a tool to build online forms, which can then be emailed, shared on social media, or embedded on a public-facing website. The forms can really change the way you gather data. Think about it: Instead of manually entering data, you can make a simple form or survey, post it on the Web and let other people do the work for you! This tool is perfect for signup forms, surveys, and simple reporting.

Once a form has been created, it can be accessed via a Google link that you can email or post on a social network. The form can also be embedded on a blog or company Web page. Customization options can make the form look more professional, or match the fonts and colors you want to use. The data from the form is only visible to you and designated collaborators (as described in ).

The Google Forms tutorial below applies to the updated interface for creating new forms, which was rolled out in late 2015 and early 2016 for some users. I expect it will be rolled out to most Google Drive and Docs users later in 2016.

How to create a form

  1. You can either use an existing spreadsheet (select Tools > Create a form) or make a new form from Google Drive’s main screen by pressing the New button and selecting More > Google Forms.
  2. The form editor appears (see screenshot, below).
  3. Enter the title.
  4. Enter the description. Make it clear what the form is being used for, and add any instructions that can help people complete the form. Absent context or appropriate instructions, users may be reluctant to use the form, or they may enter the wrong type of data.
  5. Edit the first untitled question. Change the name of the question by clicking on the title. Change option labels by clicking on them. Select different question types from the drop-down menu labelled Multiple choice. Select Required to force users to answer a question.
  6. Add a new question using the Add question There are more than a half-dozen types of questions that can be used.
  • Short answer. A one-line text field.
  • Paragraph. Allows for longer answers.
  • Multiple choice. Create a multiple-choice question, with as many possible answers as you want.
  • Checkboxes. People can check off one or more items from a list.
  • Dropdown. Creates a drop-down menu.
  • Linear scale. Users choose from a range of numbers.
  • Multiple choice grid. Users fill in data according to a table.
  • Date or Time. Users can select the date or time (useful for scheduling purposes).

Google Forms tutorial based on the new Google Forms interface

The form builder has additional functions:

  • Icons allow form creators to add titles, sections, photos, and video.
  • Change the colors used in the form by clicking the easel icon.
  • Preview the form by clicking the eye icon.
  • The settings icon (look for the gear) controls who can use the form, as well as presentation options. Use the drop-down menu to select Anyone or one of the other options, if available.

When complete, click the Send button, which shows various distribution options. Email is the default choice, but social media icons, Web links, and embed code (which can be used to insert the form into a blog post) are other possibilities.

Data entered into the Web form can be accessed via the Responses tab at the top of the form editor. Click the Sheets icon to flow the data into a new or existing spreadsheet, which can then be formatted, sorted, filtered and otherwise manipulated. To return to a form, search for it in Google Drive or visit https://docs.google.com/forms.

I hope this Google Forms tutorial was useful. For more information, check out the updated version of Google Drive & Docs In 30 Minutes.