Tag Archives: Google Forms

Import questions from previously existing forms into a new Google form

What’s changing 

We’re adding the ability to import questions from your existing Google Forms and forms shared with you into a new form.

Who’s impacted 

End users

Why you’d use it 

You’ve told us that the ability to import relevant questions from other forms into a new form is important. For example, educators frequently reuse questions from existing forms or forms shared with them for collaboration by others, to create quizzes. Or you could use this feature to quickly create forms that are distributed on a monthly or quarterly basis, like surveying your employees about workplace amenities.

Previously, it was only possible to do this manually, a process that often took a great deal of time.

How to get started 


  • Admins: No action required. 
  • End users:
    • First, open a form and from the action toolbar on the right, select Import Questions.
    • Then, from the dialogue box, select the form with the questions you want to import.
    • From the right hand sidebar menu, you can: 
      • Import all questions by choosing Select All> Import Questions 
      • Or, you can select specific questions to import and then select Import Questions 


Helpful links 



Availability 

Rollout details



G Suite editions 

  • Available to all G Suite editions 


On/off by default? 

  • This feature will be available by default.



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Elevate your quizzing and grading experience with two G Suite for Education beta programs

We’re offering two new beta programs for G Suite for Education customers to improve their quizzing and grading experience.

Locked mode in Quizzes in Google Forms 
This summer, we announced locked mode in Quizzes in Google Forms as a new way to keep students focused during assessments. Available only on managed Chromebooks running operating system 68 or higher, locked mode prevents students from navigating away from the Quiz in their Chrome browser until they submit their answers. Once enabled, teachers can enable locked mode with a simple checkbox, giving them full control over assessments.




Better grading in Classroom 
Earlier this year, we introduced new grading tools and a comment bank for richer, better feedback. Today, we’re continuing to strengthen the grading process in Classroom with a beta for a new Gradebook to better enable teachers to keep their assignments and grades in one place, and keep this important task more organized.



Express interest in the betas 
Beta programs for locked mode and Gradebook are now available to G Suite for Education customers. All teachers and G Suite for Education admins can express interest by completing this form. Check out the full post on the Google for Education blog and the Help Center for more details. 

Launch Details

Editions:
Available to G Suite for Education editions only

Action:
Admins and teachers can express interest by completing this form

More Information
Help Center
Google for Education blog post



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Making embedded Google Forms better

We’re making Google Forms look and work better when they’re embedded in websites created with Google Sites. These improvements will also mean Forms will work better embedded in websites not managed in Google Sites as well.

Our users embed forms in sites for all sorts of reasons, from collecting customer feedback to capturing new project ideas to gathering and sharing survey data and much more. User feedback told us how important it was that these embedded forms look and work great, especially when embedded in Google Sites.

So we’re making a range of improvements to make embedded forms more useful, including:


  • Improved looks, including a background that blends into the rest of the website 
  • Better suggested height and width when embedding a form on Google Sites 
  • More intelligent use of space in embedded forms 
  • More adaptive viewing on different devices (e.g. mobile vs. desktop) 
  • Easier to view & enter information into the embedded form 



Launch Details 
Release track:
Launching to both Rapid Release and Scheduled Release

Editions: 
Available to all G Suite editions

Rollout pace: 
Full rollout (1–3 days for feature visibility)

Impact:
All end users

Action: 
Change management suggested/FYI

More Information 
Help Center: Send your form to people 

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Migration to the new Google Forms UI starting August 22nd

In September 2015, we launched a new interface for Google Forms designed to simplify the form creation experience, produce beautiful forms by default, and make analyzing form responses easier. In February 2016, we made that new version of Forms the default option for users. More than 90% of forms are now managed in the new interface, and we’re ready to completely replace the legacy interface.

As part of the replacement process, we will be upgrading forms that use the legacy interface to the new interface. These changes will update the look and feel of some forms, but the functionality of the forms and any data that has been collected from forms will not change.

Limited options to use legacy Forms interface from August 22nd

Starting from August 22nd, 2018:


  • New forms can only be created and managed in the new interface. All new forms will be created and managed in the new UI. There will be no option to move them to the legacy UI. 
  • Forms previously created in the new UI will only be available to manage in the new interface. All forms which were previously created in the new Forms interface will no longer have the option to revert back to the legacy UI. 
  • Forms created in the legacy interface will be upgraded. When an editor opens a form previously created in the legacy UI, the form will be automatically converted to the new Forms interface. Editors will see a notification and have the option to revert to manage the form in the legacy UI until November 2018. We’ll also automatically upgrade forms that haven’t been edited or received any responses in the last year. 


Interface upgrade complete by November 21st 

Starting from November 21st, 2018:


  • All forms in the legacy UI will gradually be auto-upgraded to new UI. Once they are upgraded, you will only be able to manage them through the new interface. 


Making sure new Forms meets your needs

Throughout this transition period, we’ve listened closely to your feedback and incorporated your top requests as new features in the new version of Forms. These features include:


The recently launched new theme options to customize your forms

Upgrade to the new Google Forms interface today

If you haven’t already, we encourage you and your users to start using the new Forms interface today:

  • To create a form in new Forms, go to forms.google.com and select “Start a new form.” 
  • To upgrade a form in legacy Forms, open the form and look for a banner that says “Try the new Google Forms.” 

The locations of some options have changed, but the Forms features you know and love still exist, and there are many new ones we think you’ll find useful.



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Use new theme options to customize and brand your Google Forms

To help Google Forms users create more personalized surveys, feedback forms, quizzes, and more, we’re introducing new theme customization options. Specifically, you can now choose colors and fonts to theme your form. This has been a top feature request from our users, who have asked for more options to create forms that match their organization or team branding. We hope these options help you build forms that look and feel just right.


Pick a theme and background color 

You can choose a color for your theme. When you choose a theme color, it will apply to your header background, titles, action buttons, and more. You can pick a predefined color, or a custom one. After you pick a theme color, you can select a complementary color for the background.

Use an image for the form header 

By default, the form header matches the theme color you select. If you want, you can change this and use an image to display in the header instead.

Customize the font style

You can pick from several font styles to apply to your form. When you pick a style, it will apply to your form title and question text.

New theme options for Google Forms 

See our Help Center for more details on how to change the theme of your Google Form.


Launch Details 

Release track:
Launching to Rapid Release, with Scheduled Release coming in two weeks

Editions: 
Available to all G Suite editions

Rollout pace: 
Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility)

Impact: 
All end users

Action: 
Change management suggested/FYI

More Information 
Help Center: Change the theme or font of your form


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Improving the menus in Google Docs editors

Based on usage data and your feedback, we’re making some changes to the menus in the web versions of the Google Docs editors. These are similar to the changes we made in December and in January and will make it easier to find certain items.

Changes that affect all Docs editors menus (including Google Docs, Slides, and Sheets):
  • In the Tools menu, “Spelling” will be renamed “Check Spelling.”
  • In the Edit menu, “Select none” will be removed. 
  • Items in the File, Edit, and Tools menus will be reordered. 


Changes that only affect Google Sheets menus:
  • In the Data menu, “Filter” will be renamed “Create a filter.”
  • In the Data menu, “Validation” will be renamed “Data validation.”
  • Items in the Data menu will be reordered. 
  • Items in the Format menu will be reordered. 


These changes will only affect the visual menu on the web version of these products. All options will still be available via keyboard shortcuts and the search box in the Help menu.


Launch Details
Release track:
Launching to Rapid Release, with Scheduled Release coming in two weeks

Editions:
Available to all G Suite editions

Rollout pace:
Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility)

Impact:
All end users

Action:
Change management suggested/FYI

More Information
Help Center: Keyboard shortcuts for Google Docs
Help Center: Keyboard shortcuts for Google Sheets
Help Center: Docs editors homepage


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New languages now supported in Google Docs and Slides files, as well as Docs editors templates

No matter where you or your customers or colleagues are located, we want to make sure Google Docs and Slides work for you at work. That’s why we’re expanding the font catalogue in Docs and Slides to support 62 languages, including non-Latin scripts like Cyrillic and Devanagari (with more coming soon!).

To find these new fonts and others, simply click More fonts at the bottom of the Fonts menu. There you’ll also find suggested fonts, based on your document’s language.


In addition, we’re making Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Forms templates available in four new languages: European Spanish, Latin American Spanish, French, and Brazilian Portuguese. Stay tuned for additional languages, including Hindi, coming soon.

Launch Details
Release track:
Launching to both Rapid Release and Scheduled Release

Editions:
Available to all G Suite editions

Rollout pace:
Full rollout (1–3 days for feature visibility)

Impact:
All end users

Action:
Change management suggested/FYI

More Information
Help Center: Change how paragraphs & fonts look


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Get on the same page: new Google Docs features help power team collaboration

(Cross-posted from The Keyword, with some additional details)

Getting people on the same page for a project can be tough. It requires managing a ton of opinions and suggestions. The last thing you should have to worry about is making sure your team is literally working on the same document. That’s why we built our powerful real-time editing tools to help with this—Google Docs, Sheets and Slides—so that teams can work together at the same time, using the most up-to-date version.

Today, we're introducing new updates to better help with "version control," to customize tools for your workflows, and to help teams locate information when they need it.

Track changes, make progress

It can take dozens of edits to make a document just right—especially a legal agreement, project proposal or research paper. These new updates in Docs let you more easily track your team’s changes. Now, your team can:

1. Name versions of a Doc, Sheet or Slide on the web.
Being able to assign custom names to versions of your document is a great way to keep a historical record of your team's progress. It's also helpful for communicating when a document is actually final. You can organize and track your team’s changes in one place under “Version history” (formerly known as “Revision history”) on the web. Select File > Version history > Name current version. For even quicker recall, there’s an option to select “Only show named versions” in Docs, Sheets or Slides.

2. Preview “clean versions” of Docs on the web to see what your Doc looks like without comments or suggested edits.
Select Tools > Review suggested edits > Preview accept all OR Preview reject all.

3. Accept or reject all edit suggestions at once in your Doc so your team doesn’t have to review every single punctuation mark or formatting update.
Select Tools > Review suggested edits > Accept all OR Reject all.

4. Suggest changes in a Doc from an Android, iPhone or iPad device.
Click the three dots menu in the bottom right of your Doc screen to suggest edits on the go. Turn on the “Suggest changes” toggle and start typing in “suggestion mode.”

5. Compare documents and review redlines instantly with Litera Change-Pro or Workshare Add-ons in Docs. 


Here’s a quick way to preview and accept all changes (or reject them) and name versions of your document.


Use new templates, add-on time-saving functionality

Teams use templates in Docs and Sheets to save time on formatting. At the same time, developers are building add-ons to customize functionality. We thought, why not bring these two together? That’s why today, we’re introducing new templates with built-in add-ons and the ability to create your own, so your templates not only look good—but they make sure the work gets done.

These templates allow you to customize and deploy tools specific to your organization’s workflows. We’ve launched five examples of this in the general template gallery, like the new Mutual Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) template from LegalZoom and DocuSign. With this template, businesses can quickly create an NDA and collect signatures using the DocuSign Add-on for Docs. Bonus: it also automatically detects the required signature fields on the template, which saves even more time when you request signatures. This is just one of a few new templates—we’ve also worked with Lucidchart to create a business process manual, PandaDoc for a consulting agreement, Supermetrics for a website paid traffic report, and EasyBib for an MLA report. Each should help you save time and maximize efficiency throughout your team’s workflows.

In addition, you can create your very own template with built-in add-on customized to your company’s workflows. For example, create a Sheets template paired with an add-on to gather internal approvals or an invoice template in Docs (paired with an add-on) that pulls information from your CRM system.

Admins, if you don’t currently allow your users to install add-ons, you can still use these new templates by deploying specific add-ons only. Or, if you’d prefer to allow your users to install only certain add-ons, you can block specific third-party OAuth scopes and whitelist only those add-ons you trust.

Note that templates paired with add-ons abide by the same Admin console settings as all other templates and are available in English only.


The new Mutual NDA template from LegalZoom and DocuSign lets you collect NDA approvals stat.


Find the information you need, when you need it

Sometimes the hardest part of creating a proposal or client presentation is tracking down the information you need to include in it. Starting today for G Suite Business and Enterprise customers, Google Cloud Search will integrate with Docs and Slides via the Explore feature. Using Machine Intelligence, Cloud Search surfaces relevant information to help you work more efficiently throughout your day.

To get started, open the Explore tab in Docs or Slides and type what you’re looking for. Cloud Search will show you important details from your information across your G Suite apps including Gmail, Drive, Calendar, Sites and more, to help you create top-notch Docs and presentations.


Now you can use Google Cloud Search through the Explore feature in Docs and Slides.


Teams are using Docs to collaborate in creative ways. Check out this post for inspiration, or visit the Docs site to get started.

Launch Details
Release track:
  • Versions and Cloud Search in Explore
    • Launching to Rapid Release, with Scheduled Release coming in two weeks
  • Suggestions
    • Mobile features launching to both Rapid Release and Scheduled Release
    • Web features launching to Rapid Release, with Scheduled Release coming in two weeks
  • Templates
    • Launching to Rapid Release, with Scheduled Release coming in two weeks*
*Templates created by our partners will appear immediately in all template galleries, but the add-on functionality associated with them will launch only to domains on the Rapid Release track. Domains on the Scheduled Release track will see add-on functionality in two weeks.

Editions:
  • Versions, Suggestions, and Templates
    • Available to all G Suite editions
  • Cloud Search in Explore
    • Available to G Suite Business and Enterprise editions with Cloud Search enabled only

Rollout pace:
  • Versions, Suggestions, and Templates
    • Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility)
  • Cloud Search in Explore
    • Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility)

Impact:
  • Versions and Suggestions
    • All end users
  • Templates and Cloud Search in Explore
    • Admins and end users

Action:
  • Versions and Suggestions
    • Change management suggested/FYI
  • Templates and Cloud Search in Explore
    • Admin action suggested/FYI

More Information


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Smarter Google Forms to save you time

Google Forms makes it easy to collect information, plan events, solicit feedback, and more. Today, we’re adding new features and using machine learning to make Forms work better for your business. Read on for more details.

Intelligent response validation
When you know the specific type of answer you’re looking for, it’s often helpful to validate responses in Forms. For example, if you’re asking for a website, Forms can double-check that the answer provided is a URL. Following this launch, when we can, we’ll suggest response validation based on the question you ask. If you ask respondents for their age, for instance, we may recommend validating that the answer they provide is a whole number. (Note that this feature is rolling out gradually and may take several weeks to appear in your domain.)


Cross-domain file uploads
Oftentimes, when you use Forms, you’re not collecting data from your colleagues—you’re gathering information from third parties, customers, and more. To guarantee you get the information you need, we’ll now allow users outside of your domain to upload files as responses to your questions—provided both of your organizations allow cross-domain sharing in Google Drive. Based on usage patterns, total uploads to new forms will be capped at 1GB, with an option to increase that limit to 1TB. Uploads to existing forms will be capped at 1TB.

Preferences
If you use similar settings across all of your forms, you can now save time by assigning default settings to apply to any new forms you create. For instance, you can choose to always collect email addresses, make questions required every time, and assign default quiz point values.



“Checkbox grid” questions
Sometimes a question is more complex than multiple choice or checkbox answers alone can satisfy—you need to be able to select multiple options from multiple categories. Going forward, you can use the “Checkbox grid” question type to get the answers you need, like dates and times that work for an upcoming meeting.



Section reordering
We heard you loud and clear—you need an easy way to organize (and reorganize) your questions in Forms. In response to your feedback, we’re now making it possible to reorder whole sections quickly and easily.



Create better forms, more quickly, with these new and intelligent features in Forms.

Launch Details
Release track:
Launching to Rapid Release, with Scheduled Release coming in two weeks

Editions:
Available to all G Suite editions

Rollout pace:
Full rollout (1–3 days for feature visibility)

Impact:
All end users

Action:
Change management suggested/FYI

More Information
Help Center: Edit your form
Help Center: Choose a question for your form

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Create quizzes in Google Forms with Apps Script

Posted by Tynia Yang, Software Engineer, Google Forms

Last year, we launched Quizzes in Google Forms to help teachers and students take assessment to scale. Using Quizzes, teachers are able to automate testing and give feedback to students faster by having Forms check responses against correct answers automatically. Today, we are making that functionality available to developers by extending the Google Apps Script Forms Service. With this feature, you can create and customize quizzes programmatically with Apps Script.

More specifically:
  • Create quizzes 
  • Assign point values and correct answers for questions 
  • Implement custom grading schemes 
Let’s take a look at an example use case and relevant code snippet.

Creating an auto-graded question 

Multiple choice, checkbox and dropdown questions can be auto-graded, which means students can see their grades immediately upon submission. This is done by designating which options are the correct answer. Teachers can also set automatic feedback to show correct or incorrect responses, as well as assign point values to the question.

Here is the Apps Script code that lets you create the quiz above:
function createGradedCheckboxQuestionWithAutofeedback() {
  // Make sure the form is a quiz.
  var form = FormApp.getActiveForm();
  form.setIsQuiz(true);

  // Make a 10 point question and set feedback on it
  var item = FormApp.getActiveForm().addCheckboxItem();
  item.setTitle("What flavors are in neapolitan ice cream?");
  item.setPoints(10);
  // chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry are the correct answers
  item.setChoices([
    item.createChoice("chocolate", true),
    item.createChoice("vanilla", true),
    item.createChoice("rum raisin", false),
    item.createChoice("strawberry", true),
    item.createChoice("mint", false)
  ]);
  // If the respondent answers correctly, they'll see this feedback when they view 
  //scores.
  var correctFeedback = FormApp.createFeedback()
      .setText("You're an ice cream expert!")
      .build();
  item.setFeedbackForCorrect(correctFeedback);
  
  // If they respond incorrectly, they'll see this feedback with helpful links to 
  //read more about ice cream.
  var incorrectFeedback = FormApp.createFeedback()
      .setText("Sorry, wrong answer")
      .addLink(
        "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neapolitan_ice_cream",
        "Read more")
      .build();
  item.setFeedbackForIncorrect(incorrectFeedback);
}
For more details on what you can build with the Apps Script Forms Service, review the documentation, ask questions on Stack Overflow or in the G+ community, and let us know what else you’d like to see using the new public issue tracker for Apps Script.