Wednesday, March 16, 2016

9 Awesome Add-ons for Google Forms

Google Forms is already a very powerful, full-featured program that allows you to create forms, surveys, polls, quizzes, and more. However even with all its options, there may still be some features missing from the Forms that you would like.

Thankfully Google allows third-party people to create Add-Ons that can be easily installed, which add new features and tools to Google Forms.

In this post we will take a look at some of my favorite Add-ons for Google Forms, as well as how to install them.

See below for all of my resources on the topic including a detailed 1-hour video training where I demonstrate all nine of the Add-ons, as well as a slideshow, directions, and overview of the Add-ons.


Video Training (1 hour)




Session Slideshow



Resources



Directions

How to install an Add-on

When you are using Google Forms you can find and install new Add-ons as follows:

  • Click the “More” button (three vertical dots) in the top right corner
  • Choose “Add-ons” from the drop-down menu
  • This will open the Add-ons window.
  • You can scroll through the available Add-ons, or narrow down the choices with the filter menu, or type in a search term.
  • If you find an Add-on that looks interesting, you can click on it to get more details.
  • In the pop-up window you can read more about the Add-on, see images and/or videos, and see reviews and ratings.
  • If you decide to install an Add-on, click the blue +FREE button.
  • You will then get a pop-up window explaining what privileges the Add-on needs, and asking for your permission to install it.
  • Click the blue Accept button to allow the Add-on to install.



How to use installed Add-ons

Once you have installed an Add-on, it will show up in the drop-down menu when you click the puzzle piece icon in the top menu bar. To use an Add-on:

  • Click the Add-ons icon (puzzle piece) menu
  • Click on the Add-on you want to use in the drop-down menu
  • A side menu will pop-up and will typically include a menu item to launch the Add-on.


How to remove installed Add-ons

If you decide you no longer need a particular Add-on, you can remove it easily.

  • Click the “More” button (three vertical dots) in the top right corner
  • Choose “Add-ons” from the drop-down menu
  • This will open the Add-ons window.
  • Locate the Add-on you want to remove.
  • Click the Manage button below the Add-on.
  • Click Remove from the drop down menu.
  • The Add-on will now be uninstalled.
  • If desired, you can always reinstall the Add-on again.


Recommended Add-ons for Google Forms

There are many excellent Add-ons for Google Forms, with more being added all the time. Below are some of my favorite Add-ons for Forms (with their descriptions from the Add-ons store).


Form Values

Forms Add-on link
Form Values allows you to store and use lists that you use regularly in forms. This could be a list of staff, students, timings, rooms, resources or anything you want.


formLimiter

Forms Add-on link
formLimiter automatically sets Google Forms to stop accepting responses after a maximum number of responses, at a specific date and time, or when a spreadsheet cell contains a specified value. Great for time-bound assignments, event registrations with limited seats, or other first-come, first-served signup scenarios.


docAppender

 Forms Add-on link
Appends Google Form question responses to the bottom of selected Google Docs. Use a Google Form to select which Doc(s) to append from a list, multiple-choice, or checkbox Form question, pre-populated with Doc titles from a folder in Drive.


Data Director

Forms Add-on link
The Data Director for Forms Add-on has multiple features.  It can send the form response to an alternate spreadsheet.  It can send an email or multiple emails when the Form is submitted.  It can add a guest to your calendar event. Data Director will also create an Edit URL and/or a PreFilled URL, and save those links to the spreadsheet.


Advanced Summary

Forms Add-on link
Advance Summary of responses generates charts and filters based on a Google Form responses. Advanced Summary of Responses takes advantage of Awesome Table to quickly build a summary of your form responses. You can select the items to display, and the summary will automatically update.


formRanger

Forms Add-on link
formRanger allows you to auto-populate the choices in list, multiple choice, checkbox or grid question options from columns of data in any Google Sheet.


AutoMastery

Forms Add-on link
AutoMastery sends students assignments based on their score on a Google Form, with customized links for Mastery, Progressing, and Beginner levels.


Certify'em

Forms Add-on link
Certify'em lets you create online certifications and email custom certificates to exam-takers when they pass your Google Form assessment.



If you liked this information, you may also like these other webinars I have done on the topic of Add-ons for Google products and how they can be used in schools:



Do you have favorite Add-ons for Google Forms that are not listed above? Please share your favorites, or how you have used Forms Add-ons, in the comments below.


Post by Eric Curts. Bring me to your school, organization, or conference with over 50 PD sessions to choose from. Connect with me on Twitter at twitter.com/ericcurts and on Google+ at plus.google.com/+EricCurts1
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9 comments:

  1. UnknownMarch 17, 2016 at 5:41 AM

    This is awesome! I am going to tie this into a presentation I am giving at the Indiana Google Summit called "InFORMing Your Practice." Thank you for the hard work putting all of this together!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. EricMarch 17, 2016 at 7:54 AM

      You are welcome! Best wishes with the presentation!

      Delete
  2. Beth SwantzMarch 17, 2016 at 8:27 AM

    THanks for this great presentation! Very helpful!

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousMarch 17, 2016 at 10:57 AM

    Wanted to let you know that Choice Eliminator 2 has not worked properly since it's release. His most recent 2.0.12 has made the Add-On pretty useless at this point. The user group page is reporting lots of issues to the programmer who does not seem to have any decent answers to resolve.

    https://plus.google.com/communities/109383908101699779995/stream/60ff2131-e26e-462a-8802-28ee9f6c3c8c

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. EricMarch 17, 2016 at 11:04 AM

      I saw those error reports as well in the Community. However, for what I demonstrated in the webinar it worked great. I did not go into any advanced features, but the basic features seemed to work well.

      Delete
  4. UnknownNovember 26, 2016 at 4:09 PM

    I've published a sheets Add-on which I think you would find useful. It allows you to create the list of questions (and options), section headings, image and video links etc in a spreadsheet and then press a button to create the form. It's called Form Maker it makes creating forms much much quicker.

    ReplyDelete
  5. RocketMarch 23, 2017 at 12:29 AM

    Unlike regular forms, this extension will store your form data on google spreadsheet instead of Mysql database.Store form submissions on google spreadsheet

    ReplyDelete
  6. RiyaadMay 15, 2017 at 2:12 AM

    Dear Eric

    thank you so much for this useful Webinar. I am looking for an add on that will allow me to collect numbers but in a tabular format. Similar to a multiple choice grid but rather that an option in each cell i would like to enter a numerical value?

    ReplyDelete
  7. CharlesJune 18, 2017 at 7:28 AM

    Thanks Eric! Question: What's the best add on to allow an upload of a resume within a Google form?

    ReplyDelete

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