Google Docs – Create a Form

Technology guru Amy Vander Vorste, from Etsy’s Avlor’s Imprints, is back with a time-saving and easy-to-learn tip for online handmade sellers.

In the past, Amy has shown HandmadeMarketing.org readers how to create a Tweetable link, steps to creating a Facebook username, how to manage your time marketing your Etsy shop, and other valuable tips.  In this article, Amy explains in her recent Google Docs blog post how using Google Docs can save handmade sellers time and money.

Google Docs allows users to create basic documents from scratch or start from a template.  Users find that doing all the basics for document prep is as easy on Google Docs as it is when you use your computer’s word processor, spreadsheet software, etc.  The Google Docs overview on the website says “making bulleted lists, sorting by columns, adding tables, images, comments, formulas, changing fonts and more” are just as easy as using computer software… and it’s free!

To get started, a user simply creates a Google account (if they do not have one already) and uses the Google Docs feature to upload existing files.  “Google Docs accepts most popular file formats, including DOC, XLS, ODT, ODS, RTF, CSV, PPT, etc.  So go ahead and upload your existing files,” the site reads.

A user’s existing documents can now be “web-based”, meaning no more emailing documents to yourself because you are not going to be able to be at your computer.  You can also create new documents using Google Docs.

So… how can this feature be used for handmade sellers?

“If you have a product or set of products for which you are consistently asking your customers the same questions, need a place to track all the information for an order, or need a poll – here’s a solution: Google Docs – Forms!” Amy explains in her article.

Amy writes that for her Etsy business, Google Docs has become a time saver.  She creates upcycled labels and generally has to ask the same questions over and over to my customers.

“Putting them in a form means I can ask the questions all at once and have all the information in one spot,” Amy explains.  “Easy on the customer and easy on me when I’m working on orders.”

“Here’s where either the customer or I enter the information,” Amy explains (form shown above.)

At the end of the form, Amy has implemented a “submit” button.  “After the submit button is pushed, the information is entered into a Google Spreadsheet where I can access the information or keep it for reference,” Amy tells us.  “Slick and simple!”

Are you as excited as we were about using Amy’s tips for your business?  Here are steps to making your own form:

1. Once you have a Google account, simply visit http://docs.google.com and log-in.
2. Under the “New” tab at the top of the screen, you will see a number of options for a new project including “document” and “spreadsheet”.  Click on “form” to create a new form.
3. “Then you’ll be taken to a screen where you set up your form,” Amy explains.  “The “Add Item” menu will give you a variety of choices for your questions.”
4. “You can move form items around on the form so they are in the order you want. Just keep in mind, the spreadsheet that all of the data goes into will have form items in the order you add them, not the order you have them arranged on the form,” Amy says.
5. Next, Amy says you can pick a theme for your form with the “Theme” button.  From there, Amy suggests previewing and testing your form.  “To access your data and spreadsheet from the form editor, click on the “See Responses” menu,” Amy says.  “To get back to the form or the edit form menu from the spreadsheet, click on “Go to live form” or “Edit form”.”

To share the submissions form, Amy tells crafters to go to the submissions form and copy the URL at the top of the window.  “From the spreadsheet click on the Form menu “Go to live form”,” she explains.  “Send this URL/web address to anyone that you need to fill out the form.“

Now that you have a great form set-up, how to you go about using your collected data?  What if you want to view the records individually in a readable format?

“If you’re like me,” Amy writes in her part two Google Docs tutorial, “you know generally what you want on the form – but didn’t plan it out in detail and nade a few changes and additions along the way. Google forms can handle this no problem. But the corresponding columns in your spreadsheet will be in the order that the matching form items were created. You can technically move the columns around – but then they won’t match with the form anymore. I tried. My submissions columns were out of order. No good.”

Amy says she would love to see a human readable page with the vital info to print out and look at while she’s working on an order from her Etsy shop.  “I don’t want to be scrolling through columns and rows in a spreadsheet or even be running back and forth to the computer. (Too much of a temptation for me to be distracted!)” she writes.  “So far, Google hasn’t provided a tidy little way to view individual records/submissions in the submissions form. (Though Google, if you would do this – we’d love you forever!) This leaves rolling up our sleeves and using formulas – not so glamorous. Never fear though – I’ll walk you through it. We’ll actually just be using 1 little formula to pull the data for this tutorial. We can handle 1 measly formula.”

Amy has a great solution to this problem.  Here is her step-by-step guide to making Google Docs work for your craft business.

Do you use Google Docs for your business?  Have you utilized for “Forms” feature before?  Any tips for those new to Google Docs for using this tool to save time on craft business tasks?

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