Re-using Google Forms – 3 Easy Steps
Teachers often have Google Forms that they would like to you over again, perhaps as a pre- and post-test or annually to collect information. Rather than making a copy of an existing Google Form, there is a cleaner way to “recycle” your Google Forms! With a few simple steps you can force new data into a clean spreadsheet instead of mixing together multiple classes or years of data into one large spreadsheet. Read on to learn how!
Step 1 – Unlink the Form
To recycle your Google Form, you first need to break the connection between the Form and associated Google Sheet where data is being stored. From inside the Form, navigate to “Responses” and click the 3 dots, then choose “Unlink Form”. This will NOT prevent your Form from accepting responses, but any new responses will be stored in the Form itself, not the spreadsheet.
Step 2 – Delete All Responses
I know this sounds scary, but trust me, your responses will still be in the spreadsheet that you just “unlinked” from your Form, if you need to view the information. The reason you want to delete all responses is that you want new responses to be separate from any old data. If you were to simply choose a new destination spreadsheet without deleting responses, then your old data would be dumped in.
Step 3 – Select Response Destination Spreadsheet
Now it’s time to choose a place for your new responses to land. You can do this by creating a brand new response destination spreadsheet, or simply choosing a new tab in the spreadsheet that you unlinked in step 1. For tips on how to make your responses spreadsheet easier to read, check out this post on Formatting Google Sheets for Readability.
