Send form data to a Google Sheet

A form can write its submissions to a Google Sheet as they come in. It gives you the responses people gave in a spreadsheet you can sort, filter, and share, without opening EZ File Drop. This is available on the Business and Premium plans.

It does not matter where the form's files are delivered. A form that delivers files to Dropbox can still write its form data to a Google Sheet. What you need is a Google account connected under Cloud Connections. Until one is, the setting is dimmed and shows "Connect a Google account in your Cloud Connections to use this feature." To connect one, see Connect Google Drive.

This is set up per form. Connecting a Google account does not start any syncing on its own.

Turn on the Google Sheet

1. On the Upload Forms page, open your form.
2. In the Build tab, open Form Setup.
3. Scroll to the bottom and find Save form data to a Google Sheet. Turn it on.

Two buttons appear: Create a new Google Sheet and Select an existing Google Sheet. Nothing is written until you have used one of them.

Create a new Google Sheet

This is the shorter path, and it makes a Sheet that is guaranteed to be in the right state.

1. Click Create a new Google Sheet.
2. The Sheet name field is prefilled with your form's name followed by the word Submissions. Change it or keep it.
3. Click Choose folder in Google Drive and pick where the Sheet should live. Google's own folder picker opens, with tabs for Folders and Shared drives. If you skip this step the Sheet is created at the top level of your Drive.
4. Click Create Sheet.

The Sheet is created in your Drive and linked to the form in one step.

Use a Google Sheet you already have

You can point the form at a Sheet that already exists in your Drive, with one requirement: the Sheet has to be completely blank. EZ File Drop writes the header row itself, and it replaces the first row of the Sheet to do it. Anything already in that row is overwritten.

1. Click Select an existing Google Sheet.
2. Click Choose a Google Sheet. Google's spreadsheet picker opens, with tabs for Spreadsheets and Shared drives.
3. Pick a blank Sheet.
4. Click Link Sheet.

If EZ File Drop cannot open the Sheet you picked, it says so and asks you to check that the connected Google account has access to it.

Rows are written to the Sheet's first tab, the one Google names Sheet1 when it creates a spreadsheet. Leave that tab name alone.

If you want the Sheet formatted a certain way, wait until a few submissions have arrived before you do it. You can see the real headers and real data, and format around what is actually there rather than guessing.

What gets written to the Sheet

The header row is created for you. It starts with Upload Timestamp, then one column for each of the form's fields in the order they appear on the form, then three columns for the file: Download Link, View Link, and File Size. A Name field set to collect a first and last name separately gets two columns rather than one. File Upload fields do not get a column of their own, because the file columns at the end cover them.

The Sheet holds one row per file, not one per submission. A submission with three files writes three rows. The timestamp and every response are repeated identically on all three, and only the two link columns and the file size differ. A submission with no files still writes one row, with those three cells left blank. This is worth knowing before you build a formula or a pivot over the Sheet, because counting rows counts files rather than submissions.

The link columns hold clickable links whose text is the file's name. For files delivered to Google Drive you get a download link and a view link. For other destinations both columns hold the same link.

A row is written once a submission finishes delivering to your upload destination, not at the moment someone clicks submit. Submissions that fail, or that arrive without their files, are never written to the Sheet.

If you add or rename a field later, the header row is corrected the next time a row is written.

Open, change, or disconnect the Sheet

Once a Sheet is linked, the setting shows the Sheet's name with an Open in Google Sheets link beside it, which opens it in a new tab.

Turning the setting off disconnects the Sheet. It is not a pause. The form stops writing rows, and the link between the form and that Sheet is removed. The Sheet itself and every row already written to it stay in your Google Drive untouched.

To swap in a different Sheet, turn the setting off and back on, then create or select the Sheet you want.

Behavior notes

• Save form data to a Google Sheet is available on the Business and Premium plans.
• The setting needs a connected Google account, not a Google Drive upload destination. The form's files can be delivered anywhere.
• Nothing is written until a Sheet has been created or linked. Turning the setting on is not enough on its own.
• A Sheet you link has to be blank. EZ File Drop replaces the Sheet's first row with the submission headers.
• Rows are written one per file. A submission with several files produces several rows carrying the same responses.
• Only submissions that finish delivering are written. There is no retry, so a row that was never written is not added later.
• Deleting the linked Sheet in Google Drive, or disconnecting that Google account, stops rows from being written. The form keeps working and files keep being delivered, so it is worth opening the Sheet occasionally to confirm rows are still arriving.
• The Sheet carries form data. Uploaded files are still delivered to the form's upload destination, not to the Sheet.
• Changes are saved automatically, but a Live form keeps using its last published setup until you click Publish changes.