PDFs are an ideal way to store data that is accessible, secure, and can be shared easily with others. Also, PDFs offer a more professional-looking format than a simple spreadsheet, which can be more appealing to potential clients or employers.
Do you need to create a PDF file from your Google Form responses? It’s a lot easier than you might think. This blog will show you how to convert Google Form responses to PDF in no time!
How to save your Google Form responses as a PDF
Google Forms is an incredibly useful and intuitive platform. However, the feature for saving form responses in PDF is not the most apparent. It is still very simple once you know how it's done. Here are the steps:
Step 1: Open a Google Form
Open the Google Form that has responses you want to save as PDF. To do this, go to Google Forms.
If you’re using Chrome, you can also go to Google Forms by clicking the Google Apps button and scrolling down to the Google Forms icon.
Step 2: Click over to the Responses tab
Once your Google form is open, click on the “Responses” tab. Then click the more options button (three dots) in the top right corner.
Step 3: Click ‘Print all responses’
A drop-down menu will open up when you click the more options button. Find and click “Print all responses.”
Step 4: Save the responses as a PDF
When you click “Print all responses,” it opens up another window. Here, the destination should be set to “Save as PDF.” You can scroll down and select the appropriate option in the drop-down menu. Click “Save.”
You will be prompted to select a destination for the PDF you want to save. Once you’ve done that, all you have to do is press “Save.” You can now find a copy of all the responses in PDF format at your chosen destination.
Even though this method is easy, this will combine all the responses into one single PDF file. If that’s what you want, great! However, if you’re looking to save responses as individual PDF files, there’s just one more step that you have to follow.
Step 5: (optional) Save individual responses as a PDF
When you open the Responses tab, move from the “Summary” to the “Individual” tab. This will open up another option field like this:
Now you can go to the individual responses you want to save as PDFs and repeat the same process you followed for saving all responses. The only difference is that you can click the printer icon in the top right under the “Individual” tab. This will pull up only the selected respondent’s answers. And that’s it!
Form Publisher: the better way to convert Google Forms to PDF
While the process above is by no means a difficult process, it leaves a lot to be desired. First, it’s not an efficient system if you need to convert many responses to PDF. Also, the documents you get are only functional at best; there’s no way to customize them. And you can forget it if you want to choose another file type!
Wishing you could have PDFs created automatically? Turning individual responses into PDFs this way requires working with Google Apps Script. A better, and easier way, is to download Form Publisher!
What is Form Publisher?
Form Publisher is a Google Workplace add-on that allows you to automatically generate documents from your form responses. Instead of going through the hassle of setting up a program with Google Apps Script, you can have fresh, tidy PDFs the minute responses are submitted.
How does it work? First, you’ll choose a template in your chosen file type and add your custom fields—information will automatically generate in those fields. Then, you’ll decide who will receive these documents and what permissions they’ll have. From there, Form Publisher converts them for you, sends them out to your designated recipients, and stores them in your Google Drive.
Simple, right?
Benefits of Form Publisher for converting form responses to PDFs
The most obvious benefit of using Form Publisher is efficiency. Instead of going one by one to each individual response and printing them to PDF, you could have Form Publisher create the documents and send them out for you in just a few clicks. This saves a ton of time, especially if you have many to go through.
Another benefit is the use of templates. The PDF you get from Google Forms printing is, unfortunately, very barebones. When you use Form Publisher, you get to pick out a sharp template of your very own. You can even insert images uploaded in the response to the document!
With Form Publisher, you could even set up an approval workflow or signature request. If you’re using Google Forms for admin purposes, this is invaluable!
Try converting Google Forms responses to PDF with Form Publisher
PDFs are a very convenient file format to save your Google Form responses in. However, this method turns inefficient if you want to generate individual PDF documents for each response separately. That’s why you need Form Publisher.
Form Publisher is a powerful add-on for Google Forms that can automatically convert form submissions into PDFs. Once installed, Form Publisher makes it easy to set up a template, recipients, and turn responses into documents.Interested? Check us out for free today!