Automate Google Forms: Create, Modify and Analyse Responses with Apps Script

Apps Script's FormApp lets you create and modify Google Forms entirely in code, and build powerful workflows around form responses — all without touching the Forms UI.

Create a form programmatically

function createForm() {
  const form = FormApp.create('Customer Feedback Survey');
  form.setDescription('Help us improve by sharing your feedback.');
  form.setConfirmationMessage('Thank you! Your response has been recorded.');
  form.setCollectEmail(true);

  // Short answer
  form.addTextItem()
      .setTitle('Your Name')
      .setRequired(true);

  // Multiple choice
  form.addMultipleChoiceItem()
      .setTitle('How satisfied are you?')
      .setChoiceValues(['Very satisfied', 'Satisfied', 'Neutral', 'Dissatisfied'])
      .setRequired(true);

  // Scale / Linear scale
  form.addScaleItem()
      .setTitle('Rate our service (1-10)')
      .setBounds(1, 10)
      .setRequired(true);

  // Paragraph
  form.addParagraphTextItem()
      .setTitle('Any additional comments?');

  Logger.log('Form created: ' + form.getPublishedUrl());
  return form;
}

Add a section with a page break

function addSectionToForm() {
  const form = FormApp.openById('YOUR_FORM_ID');

  form.addPageBreakItem()
      .setTitle('Section 2: Product Feedback')
      .setHelpText('Tell us about the specific product you purchased.');

  form.addCheckboxItem()
      .setTitle('Which features did you use?')
      .setChoiceValues(['Analytics', 'Reporting', 'Integrations', 'API Access']);
}

Read all form responses

function readFormResponses() {
  const form = FormApp.openById('YOUR_FORM_ID');
  const responses = form.getResponses();

  Logger.log(`Total responses: ${responses.length}`);

  responses.forEach((response, i) => {
    Logger.log(`\nResponse ${i + 1} — ${response.getTimestamp()}`);

    response.getItemResponses().forEach(itemResponse => {
      Logger.log(`  Q: ${itemResponse.getItem().getTitle()}`);
      Logger.log(`  A: ${itemResponse.getResponse()}`);
    });
  });
}

Export responses to a Google Sheet

function exportResponsesToSheet() {
  const form = FormApp.openById('YOUR_FORM_ID');
  const responses = form.getResponses();
  const sheet = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet().getActiveSheet();

  sheet.clearContents();

  if (responses.length === 0) {
    Logger.log('No responses found.');
    return;
  }

  // Build header from first response's items
  const headers = ['Timestamp', ...responses[0].getItemResponses().map(r => r.getItem().getTitle())];
  sheet.appendRow(headers);

  responses.forEach(response => {
    const row = [
      response.getTimestamp(),
      ...response.getItemResponses().map(r => r.getResponse()),
    ];
    sheet.appendRow(row);
  });

  Logger.log(`Exported ${responses.length} responses.`);
}

Trigger on form submit

Use an onFormSubmit trigger to run code every time someone submits the form:

function onFormSubmit(e) {
  const response = e.response;
  const itemResponses = response.getItemResponses();

  // Find the email answer
  const emailItem = itemResponses.find(r =>
    r.getItem().getTitle().toLowerCase().includes('email')
  );
  const email = emailItem ? emailItem.getResponse() : null;

  if (email) {
    GmailApp.sendEmail(
      email,
      'We received your feedback!',
      'Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts. We truly appreciate it.'
    );
    Logger.log('Confirmation email sent to: ' + email);
  }
}

function createFormTrigger() {
  const form = FormApp.openById('YOUR_FORM_ID');
  ScriptApp.newTrigger('onFormSubmit')
    .forForm(form)
    .onFormSubmit()
    .create();
}

Pre-fill a form URL with data

function getPrefilledUrl() {
  const form = FormApp.openById('YOUR_FORM_ID');
  const items = form.getItems();

  // Create a response with pre-filled values
  const formResponse = form.createResponse();

  items.forEach(item => {
    if (item.getTitle() === 'Your Name' && item.getType() === FormApp.ItemType.TEXT) {
      formResponse.withItemResponse(
        item.asTextItem().createResponse('Alice Smith')
      );
    }
  });

  Logger.log('Pre-filled URL: ' + formResponse.toPrefilledUrl());
}

Tips

FormApp.create() creates the form in the script owner's Drive root folder.
Form item types: TEXT, PARAGRAPH_TEXT, MULTIPLE_CHOICE, CHECKBOX, LIST, SCALE, DATE, TIME, GRID, FILE_UPLOAD.
form.setLimitOneResponsePerUser(true) requires respondents to sign in with a Google account.
getResponses() returns all responses — for large forms, use getResponses(timestamp) to fetch only responses after a certain date.