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Alice Keeler

5 Steps to Sharing a Copy of a Google Form

You have created a quiz or survey in Google Forms. You want to share the Form with another teacher or someone who would like their own copy. Sharing a Copy of a Google Form is tricky.
Sharing a Copy of a Google Form
5 Steps to Sharing a Copy of a Google Form

Google Workspace is a collaboration tool. However, there are times where collaborating means sharing a copy of a resource instead of working together on the same one. Google Forms can contain sensitive data that you do not want to share with others. You also probably do not want someone else’s data mixed with your data. Sharing a copy of a Google Form is often a necessity. 

Copying Forms is Tricky

Weirdly there is not “Share a copy of this Form” option. You need to hack Google Drive to share a copy of a Google Form. 

Be Careful Collaborating on Google Forms

There is no version history built into Google Forms. Sharing a Form with someone as a collaborator not only allows them to see your data but allows them to accidentally delete or change your Form. 

Learn More about Google Forms from Teacher Tech

5 Steps to Sharing a Copy of a Google Form

Follow these 5 steps to sharing a copy of a Google Form.

1. Create a Folder

Anything in a folder takes on the sharing permissions of the folder. To set your Form as anyone with the link can view you need to do this at the folder level. Create a new folder in Google Drive or utilize an existing folder in Google Drive.

2. Sharing Permissions Should Allow View Access

By default, the folder permissions are set to private. Change the folder permissions to anyone with the link can view.

3. Create a Form in the Folder

Files in a folder inherit the sharing permissions of the folder. Since you set the folder to be “Anyone with the link can view” then Forms in the folder are viewable. Viewers can not edit the Google Form, obviously. If someone opens the edit link to your Google Form and they only have viewing permissions, they will not see the edit view of the Form. Instead, they will see the submission view. 

Note: when you create a spreadsheet it will also be created in that same folder and thus have “anyone with the link can view” permissions. Without the link to the folder or the direct link to the spreadsheet others would not be able to find the spreadsheet, but be aware that the spreadsheet is no longer private. You can manually click on the blue share button of the spreadsheet and change back to private or move the location of the linked Google Sheets..

4. Copy the Edit URL

While you are on the edit screen, meaning you have the ability to edit questions and view responses, copy the link at the top of the screen. I like to use Control L to highlight the URL and Control C to copy.
edit screen icons
The link on the edit screen ends in /edit. The link on the live view of the Form ends in /viewform.

Edit Link:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1KMHW4lRgtHSoaUBMce0djPmD_y-CWXn2NCPoclstGVI/edit

View Link:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdGnz5xezn9z9i3Ubbd-BzoNjCAtzWVbh8MpgdmAUiAHegvVQ/viewform

Notice the ID is different for each of the links. The edit link has a unique ID from the view link. This prevents unauthorized copying of Google Forms. However, it is important that you copy the correct link.

5. Change /edit to /copy

At the end of the edit URL is /edit. You want to modify this to say /copy at the end.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1KMHW4lRgtHSoaUBMce0djPmD_y-CWXn2NCPoclstGVI/edit


to


https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1KMHW4lRgtHSoaUBMce0djPmD_y-CWXn2NCPoclstGVI/copy

The link with /copy at the end will prompt a copy of the Google Form.

Example

Click on this link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1u_S7sdKtGk_jj2drA-zHVJSrGHhusZ1plmOxyCPgRIY/copy 

You should be prompted to make a copy of the Google Form

9 thoughts on “5 Steps to Sharing a Copy of a Google Form

  1. Could I accomplish the same thing by selecting “Make a Copy” in Drive, then changing permissions to make someone else the owner of the copy of the form?

  2. Thank you so much! I’m wondering…does the person with whom the /copy link is shared have to have a Google email address in order to make the copy?

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