If you have added a file upload question in your Google Form, Form Publisher will be able to insert the links or URLs of the files in your generated document. This tutorial will show you how.
Goal
Exactly like the other question titles of your Form, if you have included a marker for this File Upload question in your template (from Docs, Sheets or Slides), Form Publisher will be able to replace your marker with the answer from this File Uploaded button.
Specifically, in the generated document, Form Publisher will fill your File Upload marker from your template with the URL of the file that has been uploaded from your form.
What you'll learn
The following tutorial will show you how to automatically generate with Form Publisher a document that contains the URL of the uploaded file from your Google Form.
Time to complete
Prerequisites
Running a simple example
1. Create a Google Form which includes a File Upload item
Add in your form all the basic information that you want to collect from the company and the lead (name, function, department, email address etc.).
Include a File Upload item to let your Sales colleagues upload the leads' business cards. You can indicate the Maximum number of files (up to 1, 5 or 10), the Maximum file size (from 1 MB to 10 GB) and select which file types are allowed.
2. Create your template in Google Docs, Sheets or Slides
Design it in the way you want (or get inspired by the pre-designed templates from Google Docs) and add the markers in your template. They have to match exactly your question titles, as Form Publisher is case & space sensitive.
Our template (from Google Docs) looks like the following.
Notice the marker <<Please upload your business card>> at the bottom which refers to the question title for the File Upload item from your Google Form.
3. Configure Form Publisher
Select your template in Form Publisher, and set up the add-on on your Google Form as you usually do. If you need help in configuring Form Publisher, please consult our documentation or watch our video tutorial.
4. Share your Google Forms
Once your form is ready, share it to your colleagues, and ask them to fill it and upload the business cards. They can either upload it from Drive or from their computer.
5. Collect the leads information and business cards
Once your Sales colleagues submitted their form, Form Publisher will automatically generate the document with their answers, as well as the PDF (if you enabled this option):
Note: All the uploaded files will automatically appear on a new folder in your Drive so that you can retrieve them easily.
On your responses spreadsheet, a link to the file will be added as the answer to the File Upload item. As usual, you will also get the generated files URL (Docs + PDF) from Form Publisher.
Side notes: What if my template is a Google Sheet or Slide?
In your spreadsheet
In the following example, we are dealing with internal orders for diverse IT facilities within the same company. We would like to be able to download internal order summaries directly from the invoice.
To do the above, add on a specific cell in your template the marker that matches your file upload question in your Google Form.
Once done, configure Form Publisher. Employees can then upload their order summary (in PDF format, for example) on your Google Form.
In the generated file, the marker is replaced by a hyperlink of the file uploaded to your Drive, and you'll be able click and download it.
In your Slides presentation
In the following example, we send forms for job applications. In this form we ask for information coming from the resume and also to upload a resume and a photo in order to have a summary of the resume of the candidate with a link to download the resume.
To do the above, add in a text box in your template the marker that matches your file upload question from your Google Form.
After configuring your template, configure Form Publisher and send your form. Applicants can answer the form and upload their resume in your form.
In the generated file, the marker is replaced by a hyperlink of the file uploaded to your Drive. You can then click it to download the resume.
Comments
17 comments
We wanted to use Google Form's Upload a File option to allow external users to send us pictures that we need for building their mobile apps (like their Logo for example).
We spent time in creating the form, and then at the end, we realized that the form is restricted to be used to only people within our organization (the "sign in required" option can't be unticked).
If you think about it, this makes this new Upload File option quite useless... because if I need files from my colleagues, I can always tell them to put them inside a shared folder of our organization (as we currently do).
You had even promoted this new feature on your blog stating that a recruiter could get the resume (CVs) of his applicants uploaded into the form...
"Whether you are a teacher who wants to collect students’ homework assignments, a recruiter who needs to get all applicants’ resumes, or a real estate agent who requires important information on a client such as the ID card, you are all looking for the option to include a file upload button in your Google Form, so that your respondents can easily add documents to their form submission."
...which doesn't make sense when they need to sign in and be part of my organization already...
FYI, this issue has been raised already:
https://productforums.google.com/d/msg/docs/16DiPEpNT34/PgglHmo5AwAJ
Hi,
unfortunately the uploaded files get the form respondent's name appended to it.. :-(
Is there any way we can show the linked file URL in the generated document instead of the linked File Name?
Hi,
@Carlos: Please note that the file upload button in Google Forms is a feature implemented by Google, so the restriction to G Suite users with a form shared within the same domain is also a limit set by Google. With Form Publisher, we can retrieve the links from files uploaded in your form and insert it in your generated files, but we are not able to modify this restriction. Sorry for the inconvenience!
@Luciano: We will modify this soon so that your documents only show the linked file URL, without the name. Thanks for letting us know!
Form Publisher Team
Hi,
Any news on the update that will let us show the linked file URL, without the name?
Hi Team
We are trying to add the score from the quiz or test in our pdf template. is this possible?
Hi,
@Luciano: We are not currently working on any modifications of the inserted link, we'll keep you updated when we will develop this feature.
@Carel: This is not currently possible as the score is only inserted in the response spreadsheet ... We will try to find a workaround this issue as several users ask for that feature.
Form Publisher Team
Hi Team
I too am currently trying to add the score from the quiz or test in our Slide template. plz make this possible, for each section too. many thanks for this amazing bit of software?
WorthyBalance.com
Hi team,
I', having a problem with upload files feature on a form. When one of the users upload a document or picture it is saved twice in her GDrive. So far it only happens to her. Any idea why?
Dear Form Publisher users,
Good news! Since 7/10/2017, all users with a Google account can now upload files to a form. No need to be within the same organization anymore. However, a Google sign-in is still required (@Carlos)
For all technical questions, please contact our support team so that our support team can help you as best as possible.
How to set the maximum image width and height to be published in google docs. cuz i wanna set one template where all the published ones are to be in one page. Some uploaded landscape photo with too much description and it causes the publish template to be in 3 pages instead of one.
Hi,
For the moment it's only possible to set the width of the image using a table in your Google Doc and inserting the marker inside that table. You can the change the cell table with to change the width of the image.
The links are not populating the file. It remains blank. The marker matches the question exactly. I can use the "insert as an image" option but the user will need and it would be more beneficial for them to have the link for access. Has this issue been reported?
Hi,
Could you contact our support team so that we can help you solve your issue ?
@FormPublisherTeam I sent an email the same day to support at that email address. Awaiting reply. Thanks!
How do I create a single file for all the responses?
Good evening!
How do I change the URL in the response sheet to show as the actual image?
Many Thanks!
Hi Deanna Lynn Williams,
If you want the files to be displayed as images in the response file you receive when a response is submitted you have to tick the ‘insert as image’ box in the template sidebar like shown below :
If it doesn’t solve the problem, we recommend contacting the support at https://support.form-publisher.com/hc/en-us/requests/new
Thanks
Richard
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