As you can see from the many tutorials already in our library, spreadsheet tools can handle everything from simple calculations to advanced data analysis. However, sometimes the feature you need isn’t available by default, or it requires extra coding through a script editor.
When that happens, there’s a third option: using add-ons. Many spreadsheet platforms offer add-ons you can install to expand the tool’s functionality. Some things add-ons can help with include:
While some platforms have their own built-in form builders that link to spreadsheets, these built-in tools have limitations. For example, you might be able to collect responses into a spreadsheet but not easily generate a form from a list of questions stored in the sheet.
Why is this important? Setting up forms manually can be time-consuming, and most built-in tools don’t have an automated way to create forms from a question list. Luckily, there are add-ons available that solve this problem.
In this article, we’ll highlight three add-ons that let you generate forms directly from your spreadsheet.
To access add-ons, go to the main toolbar, click on Extensions, then select Add-ons, followed by Get add-ons or a similar option depending on your spreadsheet tool.
The add-ons marketplace will open.
This marketplace is where you can browse and install third-party tools that add extra features to your spreadsheet platform. These tools extend the functionality of your spreadsheet. Here are the steps, using an example add-on like “SyncWith | Any API.”
Step 1: Click on an add-on, then the page containing the description of the add-on will appear. To install it, click the Install button.
Step 2: A small box with the label Get ready to install will appear. Click Continue.
Step 3: A new window will appear, asking you to select the account where you want to use the add-on.
After selecting the account, the list of permissions will appear. Click Allow.
The add-on will now be listed under Extensions. To select the add-on to use, simply go to Extensions option in the main toolbar and click the add-on.
With more than 10 million users, FormCreator is the most popular add-on for generating forms from a list of questions in your spreadsheet. When you first enable FormCreator from the Extensions option in the main menu, you will choose to either create a form quiz with feedback or none. A form quiz with feedback is simply a quiz that contains the correct answer. This is best when you are creating the form as a quiz. If you are creating the form to collect responses, you should choose the plain form quiz.
A sheet named FormCreator Questions Template will appear that contains several columns for options for each question, depending on the type of question you use. It also contains sample questions for each type. You can add questions, add their choices, and then configure them.
Once you are done, go to Extensions, click FormCreator, then click Create Form. You will be prompted to add the name of the Form, and then click on the button beside the Quiz label if the form is a quiz (thus having numerical value for each correct answer). Click Create Form.
Here is the screenshot of the resulting form:
FormCreator is not exactly free: you can only add a limited number of questions to your forms per week, and you will need to pay for a subscription if you want to add more than 30 questions to your forms per week.
With almost 1.4 million users, Form Builder takes a slightly different approach by relying on the formatting of your existing list of questions, and then offering a set of options so you can set which column contains the question and which columns contain the choices (for the case of multiple choices).
After setting the options, click Get. It will scan the rows and then identify each question and its options. You can check the list before loading it to the form. If everything works well, click Create, then click Import Selected.
Sample sheet generated by Form Builder for Sheets:
Trailing Form Builder closely with more than 1.3 million users, Form Maker is another robust alternative. Like FormCreator, you also use a preformatted sheet to list the questions and specify the relevant options for each one. To create the preformatted sheet, click Create sheet. Afterwards, add the questions to the sheet to
After you finish adding information about the form, click Form, then click Update/Add.
You can receive a 10 day free trial for the add-on, but afterwards you must pay a subscription fee, ranging from $30.00 to $300.00 per year.
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