Teacher Tech blog with Alice Keeler

Paperless Is Not a Pedagogy

Alice Keeler

Add Google Forms Sections

Seeing a lot of questions at once can be overwhelming. Divide up your Google Form into sections (think pages) to help break up the length of the Google Form.
Add Google Forms Sections
YouTube video

Seeing a lot of questions at once can be overwhelming. Divide up your Google Form into sections to help break up the length of the Google Form. Think pages! Each section is a page of your Google Form.

Section Icon Forms

In the floating toolbar a section is the last icon. It looks like 2 rectangles stacked.

click on the icon with two stacked rectangles to add Google Forms sections
Untitled section in Google Forms

When adding a section rename it from “Untitled Section.”

Control I B

To add a section by keyboard shortcut hold down the Control key. Press I and while still holding down the Control key press B. Note that you will press the I key and release before pressing the B key.

keyboard shortcut to add a section in the form is ctrl i b

Add Questions to the Section

Make sure the section is selected, you can tell by the blue indicator on the side of the section.

the blue bar at the side indicates that the section is selected in google forms
Control + Shift + Enter to add a question to the section you have just added to your form

After selecting the section in the Google Form try using Control Shift Enter to add a question to that section. Otherwise, use the plus icon in the floating toolbar.

Progress Bar

Click on the Settings Cog in the upper right of your Form. Choose the “Presentation” tab to select “Show progress bar.” The progress bar does NOT show progress on how many questions remain but rather on how many SECTIONS (or pages)remain in the Google Form. The progress bar is not helpful unless you have many sections.

Show progress bar option in Settings > Presentation is useful to show how many sections are left in your form

Moving Questions

I find moving questions in a Google Form to be tricky. You can drag the question order and you can drag questions in and out of the sections. However, it is easier with a keyboard shortcut. Use Control Shift J to move questions DOWN in the Form. Use Control Shift K to move the questions UP.

Control + shift + j moves sections down in google forms

Move Sections

Use the 3 dots menu on the section to move the entire section of your Google form.

three dots menu on the upper left side of the section allows you to move the section in your google form

Drag Grippy Dots

After selecting “Move section” a pop up will appear showing you your sections. Use the grippy dots on the left to drag the sections around. The questions in the section will move with section. You can alternatively use the arrows on the right side to move the section order up and down the Google form.

use the grippy dots "6 dots on the left" to drag sections on your google form

Randomize Questions

In the Settings Cog, on the Presentation tab, you may want to choose “Shuffle question order.”

Check the "shuffle question order" on the settings > presentation menu of your google form

The questions shuffle within the sections.

Shuffled Questions

The challenge with selecting “Shuffle question order” is that the questions are shuffled including “what is your name” which you probably want always at the top of your Form. The way to get around this is to create sections. Questions WITHIN a section are shuffled but not between sections. So if you have an initial section for demographic questions and a separate section for your actual questions then “What is your name?” Will not end up at the bottom of your Google Form. However, If you have “What is your first name” and “What is your last name” in the same section those will appear in a random order.

© 2024 All Rights Reserved.

💥 FREE OTIS WORKSHOP

Join Alice Keeler, Thursday Mar 28th or register to gain access to the recording.
Create a free OTIS account.

Join Alice Keeler for this session for a way to create dynamic and interactive digital lessons. The Desmos platform is completely free and allows for any topic to be created or customized.

Exit this pop up by pressing escape or clicking anywhere off the pop up.