How to Create and Customize Google Forms?

No doubt google forms tend to be one of the most versatile tools when it comes to the collection, analysis, and storing of information. Here is a complete step by step guide to the secret of making customized Google forms.

Step 1: Visit forms.google.com.
You can open Forms from your Google Drive or Excel sheets too.

Step 2: Choose a template
The page so opened, offers you the following options.
Either you can create your own customized form using the blank template or use any of the already available templates from the encircled Template Gallery.
For the sake of this tutorial, we will choose a blank form.

Step 3: Create a customized form
Introduction to the provided functionalities:

a) Add a question.

With a click on this icon, you can add a question to the existing form. After writing down the question, usually, the answer type is auto-selected. However, if you want, you can change the answer type by selecting the encircled dropdown menu in the above screenshot. It will present you with a list of possible response types.
Then provide for required options or so as need be.
For each question or the options of the MCQs and checkbox questions, you may add an image by clicking the image icon just next to them.

The overflow menu (three-dot icon) on the image, offers you the following functionalities:
- Aligning the image to left, right, or center.
- Changing the image.
- Removing the image.
- Adding a caption to it.
You can also double click the image in the question segment to re-size it.
However, for the images added corresponding to answers, only an option to remove it is available.
Other options available with regard to the question template include:
i) Duplicate the question: The same question template will be created next to the previous one.
ii) Delete the question.
iii) Mark it as required: It will become compulsory to answer this question.
iv) The overflow menu at the bottom right corner offers varying functionalities depending on the answer type of that particular question. Adding a description is a common feature available for all the answer types.

b) Import a Question.

You can import questions from the previously created forms as follows:

Select the form of your choice.
Tick the checkboxes of the questions you want to import.
Click ‘import questions’.

Using this feature you may import questions from multiple forms too. This may save a lot of effort.

c) Add a Title and Description.

You may add a separate information segment in the forms where you just put a Title and if required a description too.

d) Add an image segment.

You can add a separate image segment which also allows you to embed hover text.
(Hover text is the text that is displaced as the mouse moves over the image.)
You may resize the image by double-clicking onto it.
The overflow menu over the image offers the following functionalities:

align the image,
change the image,
remove the image.

d) Add a video.

You can add a youtube video to the form. Either search for a particular topic or add the URL of a specific video.

Note: Only youtube videos can be added to google forms.

e) Add a separate section to the forms.

It is always a good idea to organize questions related to different topics into different sections. Each section appears on a different page while the respondents fill the form.
The overflow menu offers you the option to duplicate, move, or delete the particular section.

Step 4: Customize the appearance. (Optional)
The color pallet icon at the top of the form unfolds the following :

add a header image: you can either choose an image from a variety of options that Forms offer or browse files from your own desktop. Images can be selected from the ‘Google Photos’ app too.
change the theme and the background color.
change the font style from the four options provided.

Tip: You can choose from the provided theme colors or select a color using its hexadecimal code.
The eye icon allows you to preview the form designed.

Note: You can re-order the templates by clicking and moving the six-dot icon at the top of each question/description template.

Step 5: Altering the Settings

In settings, you can set the rules for the respondent to use the forms.

General:

Decide whether or not

to collect respondent’s email addresses: enabling it would set Email as a required field. Then a copy of their responses can also be sent to them.
limit the number of their responses: enabling it limits the response from a particular signed in account to 1. This is a key feature when you set a quiz using google forms.
let them edit the form after submission.
show them the other responses received: this reveals the responses recorded by all the other respondents, it may be shown using some kind infographics or text itself as per the format of the form.

Presentation:

Here you can choose:

To show the progress bar: i.e how many sections have been answered so far.
To shuffle the order of the questions: especially useful when the form is circulated as a quiz.
Show the link to submit another response
Change the default confirmation message.

Quizzes:

You can choose to present the form as a quiz.

Step 6: Send and Share

By clicking on the send option at the top right, the following box pops up:

You can either mail the link to the desired participants directly, share using Facebook and Twitter, or copy-paste the link on other social networking sites. You can also share embedded HTML.
You have the added functionality to add collaborators, i.e. the people who other than you can edit and share the forms.
The collaborators can be restricted to the people you have added or you can change the settings to make anyone with the link an editor.

Step 7: Checking Responses.
Google Forms provides features to precisely and accurately visualize the information so gathered. This is also why they are preferred to create survey forms.

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