How To Create a Survey in Google Forms [7 Steps]

Do you want to learn how to create a survey in Google Forms and share it? You’re lucky because I’ve compiled this step-by-step guide on how to create a survey in Google Forms, how to share your form, and tips you can follow to make your survey more goal-oriented and professional-looking.

Even with a powerful tool like Google Forms, your survey can only go as far as your design. The good thing is that creating a survey in Google Forms is simple, efficient, and hassle-free once you familiarize yourself with the tools and settings of the app.

To create surveys on Google Forms, you must first sign in to your Google account. You can then click on the “Blank” form and start adding questions to your form. Once you have finished adding your questions, your survey can be shared as a link.

Let’s get started!

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How To Create a Survey in Google Forms

Knowing how to create a survey on Google Forms will help you collect and view responses with valuable information for your business, academic, or personal projects. Luckily, creating a survey using Google Forms is easy with its user-friendly interface, versatile features, and real-time collaboration capabilities.

Here’s a seven-step guide on how to create a survey in Google Forms:

Step 1. Accessing Google Forms

To get started, sign in to your Google account to access forms.Google.com.

Step 2. Creating a New Form

Under the “Start a new form” section, click the Plus sign (+), which represents a blank form. Once you select “Blank,” you can create a new survey in Google Forms.

Alternatively, you can select a Google Form template among the available ones. For this example, I created a new blank form.

Step 3. Naming Your Survey

Rename your survey title by clicking the first section under “Untitled form.” You can also fill out the “Form description” under the title to include more details. Use this section to enter the form’s purpose and other information you want your recipients to know about in your survey.

Step 4. Adding or Editing A Question

Adding the right questions is the first step to using Google Forms for a survey and what will distinguish it from a quiz or a generic form.

By default, your form will have one question on it. You can either delete it or edit it as one of your questions. You will also see a vertical menu on the right-hand side of your form.

From the menu, you can choose among the following elements to add to your survey:

1. Add question: This element is represented with a plus sign (+) inside a circle. It adds a new question in the default format of an editable question and a multiple-choice answer option.
2. Import questions: If you have another survey form available, you can import a question from that form to your current survey using this option.
3. Add title and description: You can add another title and description section.
4. Add image: If you want to elaborate your survey question using an image, you can use this option to upload photos to your survey.
5. Add video: This allows you to embed a video into your form and add an accompanying description.
6. Add section: If your survey discusses different topics, you can add a new section to organize your questions for each topic.

Additionally, you can customize the questions you’ve already created with the following features:

• Make the response to a question mandatory by ticking the “Required” slider at the bottom of the question box.
• Delete a question by clicking the “Delete” option (a trash icon) at the bottom of the question box.
• Duplicate a question by clicking the “Copy” icon on the bottom part of the question box.

Step 5. Editing Answer Options

Google Forms allows different types of responses per question, such as multiple choice and long or short-form answers. To change the answer type for each question, follow the steps below:

1. Click the question you want to edit.

1. On the right-hand side of the question, click on the drop-down menu (where Multiple choice is selected by default).

1. Select the appropriate answer type you want to receive from your respondents.

Here, you choose the appropriate answer option depending on what answer you want to receive for your question:

• Short answer: This allows respondents to type a one-line answer.

• Paragraph: This will enable respondents to type a paragraph-length answer.

• Multiple choice: This presents a list of options you have entered so your respondents can choose one answer among the different choices.

• Checkboxes: This allows respondents to select multiple answers from the options provided.

• Dropdown: The answer would be selected from a dropdown menu of options.

• File upload: This allows you to request to upload an external file (e.g., images or documents) to answer the question.

• Linear scale: Provide a linear scale where the respondent can choose a point on a numeric or qualitative scale.

• Multiple choice grid: This provides different options in different columns, allowing respondents to mix and match their answers.

• Checkbox grid: Create a checkbox grid where the respondents can select multiple answers corresponding to the rows and columns provided.

• Date: The answer must be a specific date.

• Time: The answer must be a specific time.

For answers requiring multiple options, you can delete an option by clicking on the X icon on the right side of that answer.

Step 6. Customizing Your Survey

By customizing your survey, you can demonstrate how to create a Google Forms survey that’s more visually appealing and attractive to recipients. Google Forms also allows you to change your font header, questions, other texts, and color theme and to add a header image to your survey.

To get started, click the palette icon on the right-hand side of the Google Forms Main Menu.

If you do not want to customize your Google survey, skip this step.

Step 7. Sharing Your Google Forms Survey

Once you have filled out your survey with all the questions and appropriate answer options, you can share it with your respondents. To get started, click the “Send” icon on the right side of the top menu of your survey.

Then, choose among these three methods you can use to share your Google survey:

Share Your Survey Via Email

Google Forms can share your survey as an email for you. This is useful if you already have a list of respondents with their email addresses. To send your form via email, here’s how to do it:

1. Enter the respondents’ email, separating each email with a comma.

1. Enter an email subject and type your message body. This is usually an engaging copy explaining what your survey is about.

1. If you want to include the form in the email, select the “Include form in email” checkbox.
   • Do not tick the checkbox if you do not wish to include the form in the email.

1. Once done, click the “Send” button at the window’s bottom-right corner.

Share Your Survey Via Link

Another option for sharing your survey is by a link, which is helpful when you want to include your form in a social media post, comment, email, or other applicable outlets. To get the link for your survey, simply follow these steps:

1. Select the “Link” tab on the “Send via” options

1. Here, you have the option to shorten your URL.
   • If you want to shorten your URL, tick the “Shorten URL” checkbox.
   • If not, proceed to the next step.

1. Click the “Copy” button on the bottom-right corner of your screen.

Once you’ve copied the URL link for your survey, you can paste it wherever you want to share your form.

Share Your Survey Via HTML Code Snippet

If you want to attach your survey to your blog or website, Google Forms provides a code snippet you can incorporate into your website. However, this requires web development skills to accomplish.

Other options also let you set whether the respondent receives an email of their responses to let them see the forms they’ve submitted. That’s how to create a Google Form survey.

Want a quick and easy way to learn how to create a survey in Google Forms? Check out our short 2-minute video to maximize your Google Forms app!

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