How to turn Google Forms™ responses into PDFs

Which way to use

1. Print a response and save it as a PDF

Google Forms can print responses, and your browser can save the printout as a PDF.

One response

1. Open your form and click the Responses tab.
2. Click Individual and use the arrows to find the response you want.
3. Click the Print button (the printer icon).
4. In the print window, choose Save as PDF as the printer (on some computers it is called Microsoft Print to PDF), then press Save.

All responses at once

On the Responses tab, open the menu with three dots and choose Print all responses. Save it as a PDF in the same way. You get one long PDF with every response, one after the other.

What to know

• The PDF looks like the form, with every question, not like a letter or a receipt of your own.
• You have to do it by hand each time, and send it yourself.
• If people only need a copy of their answers, Google Forms can email them one. In the form's Settings, under Responses, turn on sending responders a copy of their response. That is an email, not a PDF.

2. Write an Apps Script

Google Apps Script is the coding tool built into Google's apps. A short script can run each time someone sends the form, copy a Google Doc, put the answers into it, save it as a PDF and email it.

In outline:

1. Make a Google Doc with markers where the answers go, such as {{Name}}.
2. In the form, open the three-dot menu and choose Apps Script.
3. Write a function that reads the response, copies the Doc, replaces each marker, saves the copy as a PDF in a folder, and emails it.
4. Add an "On form submit" trigger, so the function runs for every response, and allow the permissions Google asks for.

What to know

• It is free, and you can make it do exactly what you want.
• You look after it. If it stops, for example after a Google change or a renamed question, nobody tells you unless you add that yourself.
• Google's limits apply: about 100 emails a day on a personal account, 6 minutes for each run, and a few more listed on Google's Apps Script quotas page.
• The simplest way to write it uses Google's built-in Drive and Docs commands, which ask for access to all the files in your Drive.

3. Use an add-on

An add-on does the script's work for you, with settings instead of code. You install it once, pick a template, and it runs for every response.

Well-known ones include Autocrat, Form Publisher and Document Studio. They do more than PDFs: Slides and Sheets templates, Word files, and approvals, among other things. All three ask to see and change every file in your Drive. Autocrat is free; Form Publisher and Document Studio have yearly plans after a free allowance.

Form to PDF is our add-on. It does one job: each response becomes a PDF made from your Google Doc or Word template, with your logo and layout, saved in your Drive folder and emailed to the person who answered. It can only open the files it makes and the ones you pick. It is free for 20 PDFs a month, then $19 once.

We compared them on the home page, and in more detail for Form Publisher. If you use Autocrat and it has stopped, see Autocrat not working.

Step by step with Form to PDF

Form to PDF is in early access. To get it into your form, follow the early access steps. Then:

1. Check how you will reach people. If you want the PDF emailed, your form needs an email address for each person. In the form's Settings, under Responses, collect email addresses, or add a short-answer question such as "Parent email".
2. Open Form to PDF. In the form, open Extensions › Form to PDF › Open.
3. Choose a template. Press Make a starter template from my questions. A Google Doc appears with a placeholder for every question, such as {{Student name}}. Add your logo and your own wording around them. Or pick a Doc you already have.
4. Choose where PDFs go. Pick a Drive folder, or let it make one. Type a file name from the answers, such as {{Class}} – {{Student name}}. If you like, choose a question to sort the PDFs into subfolders, for example one folder per class.
5. Write the email. Choose who gets it, and write a subject and message. Both can use placeholders, such as "Your copy: {{Student name}}".
6. Check, then turn it on. Send one response to your own form. Then make a test PDF from the latest response, open it, and check every line. When it looks right, press Save and turn on.

From then on, each response becomes a PDF a few seconds after it is sent. The Log tab shows each one, with a link to the PDF, or the reason it was not made. If you already had responses before you started, you can make PDFs for them in one go from the Log.

The help page lists every placeholder and setting. Ready-made templates for permission slips, receipts, order confirmations and application summaries are there to copy.

Tips for the template

These help whichever way you choose:

• Keep question titles short and settled. Placeholders are matched to question titles, so decide on the titles before you write the template. If you change a title later, change the placeholder too.
• Use a table for answers. A two-column table, with labels on the left and placeholders on the right, stays neat when answers are long.
• Put the logo in the header. It then appears on every page.
• Add a number. {{Response number}} gives each PDF its own number, useful for receipts and slips.
• Test with a long answer. Send a response with the longest name and answer you expect, and check nothing spills onto a second page.