Share a Google Form as “View Only”

Google has changed the way Forms can be shared as “View Only.” Please see this post for current information.

At a recent training, I was asked how to share a Google Form as “View Only” so collaborators could make a copy of the form and adapt it for their own needs without the original form being changed in any way.

Forms are a different kind of Google app. Where other apps have a big blue Share button in the corner, Forms have a Send Form button.

If you want to share your form with others, you can go to the File menu and choose “Add collaborators.” The problem for some is that your only option is to give people editing access to the form. If you don’t want those with whom you have shared your form to be able to edit it, you need to find another way to give them access.

Of course, you could send them the link to the live form, but that doesn’t give them the ability to copy the form so they can edit the questions on it. The key is in the warning note Google has added. 

For Google, Forms are merely a way to get data into a spreadsheet. If you want to give people view only access to a form so they can make and edit their own copies of it, all you need to do is give them access to the spreadsheet that contains the responses, even if there are no responses yet.

At the top of your form, click the View responses button.

When the spreadsheet opens, click the blue Share button and add your collaborators, giving them view only access. Instruct them to make their own copy of the spreadsheet.

Once they have opened their copy of your spreadsheet, all they have to do is go to the Form menu and select Edit form. This will give them access to their copy of your original form, which they can edit and change to meet their own needs.

Important: If your form responses contain sensitive data, you should not share the response spreadsheet. In this case, I would recommend that you make your own copy of your form. The questions will be the same, but the spreadsheet with the responses will be empty, so you can share it without worrying about revealing information that should be kept private.