Google Spreadsheets has a new feature that lets you create a form to accept data. When you go to the Share tab, there's a new option to "invite people to fill out a form". The form is very simple and can be customized by changing the order of entries, their labels and the type of answers. It's also a nice way to get feedback people who wouldn't normally collaborate on a spreadsheet.
You can create forms from spreadsheets or using this URL. To keep track of your forms, add this gadget to iGoogle.
I created a form that lets you add your favorite Google service (the form has a public page that I embedded below) and here's the entire spreadsheet with all the answers.
Update. Here are the results of your votes:
Labels: Google Docs
said on February 6, 2008 4:54 PM PDT:
Are you sure you re-publish the spreadsheet after any modification? check that in the publish tab.
Will said on February 6, 2008 5:02 PM PDT:
This kind of reminds me of LimitNone's new iBuild software thats allows you to create a database with forms that run as gadgets.
http://www.limitnone.com/ibuild/
KenBW2 said on February 6, 2008 5:27 PM PDT:
THIS is why I read this blog! I'd miss so much of what I've been wanting for ages - thanks to GoogleOS!
This reminds me of a service from back in the bubble days called Zaplet. You could create forms and then send them via email. The results would live in your original email and refresh at regular intervals.
This works a bit differently but it is very similar and a welcome addition to Google Docs functionality.
As the first comment mentioned, it looks like new entries are not getting published. It still only shows one line even after accepting additional submissions via the form.
I swear that I enabled the republishing option, but it was deactivated somehow.
António said on February 7, 2008 3:18 AM PDT:
Can you tell us how did you embedded the form in your blog and NOT the spreadsheet?...
Thanks!
hebbet said on February 7, 2008 5:10 AM PDT:
Did you post the HMTL Code of your form or is there a function?
said on February 7, 2008 6:14 AM PDT:
This feature is most welcome! Google is really doing handy stuffs.
To niraj sanghvi: Google Spreadsheets are automatically published every 5 minutes. If you add a new item by filling out a form, it might be online after a few minutes.
Chris said on February 7, 2008 10:05 AM PDT:
Google should add the "Forms" button in Google Spreadsheet, otherwise it is tough to locate. Another great new feature from Google. They seem to introduce one new feature a day, when did Microsoft did that (Never) and that too for free.
For those asking about embedding, I used an iframe and the link provided by Google (and also mentioned in the post). The iframe needed some tweaking because IE and Opera required a different width than Firefox (the textareas were bigger).
ALEX said on February 7, 2008 10:37 AM PDT:
very very cool feature...
now, for some of us (like me..) who HAVE a blog, but HAVENTgot a single idea of what an iframe is, could you please help us with it? I have created a form, and I want to embed it in my blog! (blogger)
thanx
Linh said on February 7, 2008 10:38 AM PDT:
This is definitely nice. I was just thinking if someone had written a front end to get some data into google spreadsheets. And today, google makes it easy.
Very primitive, but functional. I hope we'll be able to make simple customizations eventually to how it looks.
An
iframe is a HTML element that lets you embed a web page inside other page. I used this code:
<iframe src="FORM_URL" width="635" height="880" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="margin-left:-15px;"></iframe>
but the width and height need to be adjusted depending on your form.
Can you use this to add and subtract from a database?
For example if I had a Google doc for my inventory could I change the amount in inventory?
ALEX said on February 7, 2008 10:45 AM PDT:
thanx for your quick reply.
I have tried doing this (while waiting for your answer), but the actual result is that what gets embedded is the Spreadsheet, NOT the form!!!
what am I doing wrong?
thanx
Do you know what's the big advantage of forms? You could gather data from people without forcing them to get a Google account and learn how to use Google Docs. It's also a good idea to email a form.
@Bux-Mont Awards:
You can only use it to add rows, but depending how you organize your spreadsheet the rows can be interpreted in different ways.
@alex:
Use the link displayed by Google at the top of the spreadsheet that says "Go to live form" (look at the screenshot from this post).
susane said on February 7, 2008 10:59 AM PDT:
Is it possible for each response to have an email attached to it when I get the results?
ALEX said on February 7, 2008 11:02 AM PDT:
thanx!! it seems to be working now..
How can I NOT see the OUTLINE oF the embedded form in my blog page? which part of the code to I have to change?
thanx
ALEX said on February 7, 2008 11:18 AM PDT:
One more question...
I am Greek, and my blog is visited 100% by Greek people, as I write posts in Greek.
While I CAN create the form, filling all the information in Greek, when I embedd it on my blog, all I get is ??????????????? ??????? ???????? ....
why does it do this? how can I fix this??
thanx AGAIN
ALEX said on February 7, 2008 12:26 PM PDT:
oh, just discovered something else too..
the iGoogle gadget has a problem? I HAD 3 forms in my Docs, and then I erased 2 of them...
but the list on the gadget still shows the 2 erased ones...
any ideas??
E. Wilder said on February 8, 2008 8:21 AM PDT:
This is a wonderful feature! I just was starting to stress out about how I would make an RSVP form for my upcoming wedding and now I know how I will do it.
Google does need to fix it so you can easily get that iframe code so the form itself can be pasted into an existing web page. Also there should be a way to customize the text and colors of the form.
susane said on February 8, 2008 8:42 AM PDT:
I don't think your rsvp is going to work because your spreadsheet will only show the time that someone responded - not their email so you have no way to know who responded... please tell me how you solved it, if you solved this problem, because I'm stuck!!
susane said on February 8, 2008 8:51 AM PDT:
There must be a way to have the email appear in the form since you entered the email in order to make the form available????
said on February 8, 2008 9:54 AM PDT:
I anticipated this long back :) Do you think GSQL will be coming up soon? The mere fact of forms and spreadsheets reminds me of databases and other operations... Who knows one day, Google could come out with its own SQL backend-frontend combo...
Andy said on February 11, 2008 7:43 AM PDT:
It's definitely a cool step forward, but not quite as powerful as I'd like yet. I tried creating an
online poll using this method, with some success but it's not ready for prime-time yet.
susane said on February 11, 2008 8:49 AM PDT:
Andy - what do you find missing?
E. Wilder said on February 11, 2008 11:12 AM PDT:
@Susane: I am able to accept RSVPs and get email addresses because one of the fields in my form asks for the email address. Just add a text field and call it "email address" and the people filling out the form will enter their address there.
E. Wilder said on February 11, 2008 11:23 AM PDT:
Speaking of the iframe, my remaining problem is that the blog page where the RSVP form is located is fairly narrow (~ 380 pixels across). The form for accepting long text blocks (like the one at the top of this page) is 500 pixels across. So the problem is that I can't see the right edge of my text entry box.
Do you know how I can force that large text box to resize to fit inside of the iframe? Or is there another way to do this?
The only thing I thought of is to turn on the scroll bars. It doesn't look great but it does let you see the whole box.
Don't use "paragraph text", stick to "text". Google should add more options for customization.
Has anyone else has problem with long forms? I've got one with 30 questions and it keeps screwing up the final 10. I keep fixing it and it keeps scrapping half of them and doubling the other ones. Weird...and annoying.
I created a form and sent it to myself, but I can't seem to submit my responses in the email itself. When I try, I get the following error message in my browser:
"Something bad happened. Don't worry, though. The Spreadsheets Team has been notified and we'll get right on it."
My email client is Thunderbird, could that have something to do with it? Does my email client have to have a certain setting in order to submit forms data?
Thanks for any help,
I just tried submitting responses via the email using Outlook Express and Mac Mail, and both generated the same "Something bad happened" error.
I'd love to find out what the problem is.
susane said on February 12, 2008 6:37 AM PDT:
-sometimes you just need to copy and paste the link in a new browser window and fill in the form that way
Robin said on February 13, 2008 5:15 AM PDT:
This is so nice! could you please tell me how you do that trick of getting the number of mentions of a certain google product. It is hard to find info about spreadsheet tech...
I used the
COUNTIF function in a formula:
=COUNTIF(C2:C656;"Gmail")
E. Wilder said on February 19, 2008 12:11 PM PDT:
I am wondering if I am doing this wrong or if I am just one of the first to find a bug. I find that the form turns out perfectly the first time I create it. When I go back and edit it and change the order of questions or add questions then the whole form gets jumbled!
This video shows in detail what is happening:
temp/google-form-broken.swfI submitted this problem to google today so I hope they let me know what is the matter. Do any of you know how to beat this bug?
susane said on February 19, 2008 3:51 PM PDT:
ON the form jumbling.. is there any chance that you did a copy/paste and forgot to change the text? - that happened to me....
E. Wilder said on February 20, 2008 10:32 AM PDT:
No chance. I wish that were it though. If you look at the video you can see that the questions are all different but the published version has repeated questions. It's more than a jumble, it's a mess.
I am now trying to make a new form using the creator tools at Zoho Creator. So far so good! And much more powerful than what Google currently offers.
susane said on February 20, 2008 12:21 PM PDT:
I did have the same problem with a form getting jumbled after editing it so I just made a new one. Does ZOHO have spreadsheets and forms too?
E. Wilder said on February 20, 2008 12:59 PM PDT:
Haha that makes me happy that I am not alone with this scramble bug. Yes, Zoho Creator is their program to do web forms. You can watch some videos about it and try it out... all free.
http://creator.zoho.com/
Pau said on February 21, 2008 3:58 AM PDT:
Susane: Did you find a way to have the email other than ask for it?
susane said on February 21, 2008 11:21 AM PDT:
nope - I added a column and asked the respondent to fill in his/her email
Hamilton said on February 26, 2008 4:04 PM PDT:
There's an example of embedding a form into a web page and attaching it to a chart on the same page at
this blog.
Ben said on March 10, 2008 12:15 PM PDT:
Is there any way to prevent the same individual from replying multiple times? I would like to use the forms feature for voting and evaluations, but the results could be skewed if the same person can post information to the spreadsheet multiple times. Thanks for your help.
@Ben:
No, this is another missing feature, but don't forget this was just the first release.
sourplum said on March 23, 2008 10:41 PM PDT:
i love this new feature.. but it doesn'e as interactive as formsite.com huhu
Editor said on April 14, 2008 1:33 PM PDT:
If I create a simple mileage log with a Google spreadsheet, is there a way to use JOTT.com to send date to that spreadsheet?
CJ said on May 10, 2008 11:44 AM PDT:
As with so many things from Google, this is a really cool new feature that doesn't work properly for Google Apps users. Publishing a form from Google Apps forces people to log in to that Apps domain -- before even seeing the form. Which makes it pretty useless for a general-purpose Website...
