With Form Publisher, you can generate different documents depending on what option is selected in a multiple-choice question.

Here you can find step-by-step instructions to configure Form Publisher on an employee action form that an HR Department uses to generate formal letters for current and newly hired employees.

• When someone selects New hire in the form, Form Publisher generates a Letter of Intent to Hire.
• When someone selects Transfer in the form, Form Publisher generates an Employee Transfer Letter.

Configuring Form Publisher to generate different documents based on responses includes five main steps.

1. Copy the predefined templates
2. Configure Form Publisher on the main form
3. Create the connected form
4. Configure the condition for the first template
5. Configure Form Publisher on the connected form

Copy the predefined templates

Copy the templates needed to configure Form Publisher to generate different documents based on responses.

Procedure

• Copy the Google Docs templates to your Google Drive by opening each and clicking USE TEMPLATE.
  1. Google form template: Employee Action Form.
  2. Google document template: Letter of Intent to Hire.
  3. Google document template: Employee Transfer Letter.

Result

All templates are now copied to your Google Drive.

What's next

Configure Form Publisher on the main form.

Configure Form Publisher on the main form

You configure Form Publisher on the main Google form to generate letters of intent to hire. You also configure a list of recipients with the people who will receive the generated letters.

Procedure

1. Open the Google form you copied and start Form Publisher.
   1. Click the Add-ons icon in your Google form and select Form Publisher.
      
      
   2. In the pop-up menu, select Get started.
      
2. Configure Form Publisher to use the Letter of intent to hire template.
   1. Click Select template.
      
   2. In the Google Picker window, find the Letter of intent to hire template and click Select.
      
      Wait for Form Publisher to finish the configuration.
      A summary of the default settings appears. 
3. Review and configure the list of recipients so that Form Publisher sends the generated documents to the form owner.
   1. Click Change settings and select Sharing options and notifications.
      
   2. Under Sharing list, review the list of recipients.
      As the form owner, your email is automatically added as the only recipient of the generated documents.
      
   3. (Optional) Add more recipients by entering their email, selecting the document format, and clicking Add.
      
4. Click Save to save the changes.

Result

Form Publisher is now configured on the main form to generate documents with the Letter of intent to hire template. Also, Form Publisher will send the generated documents to the recipients in the Sharing list.

What's next

Create a connected form that allows you to add a second template.

After you create the connected form, you must define a condition specifying when Form Publisher will use the first template to generate documents.

Create the connected form

You create a connected form with Form Publisher anytime you need to use an additional template. For more information, see Generating multiple types of documents from the same form.

With Form Publisher still open on the main form, you can create the connected form from the Additional templates screen.

Procedure

1. Click the menu button and select Additional templates.
   
   
   You can now create the connected form.
2. Click Get Started.
   
   Form Publisher creates a copy of the Google form and gives it the title Connected to <main form title>. This is the connected form.
   
   
   
3. Click Save to save the changes.

Result

The title of the connected form and a link to open it are now available in the Additional templates screen.

Under Rules, the Additional template screen also includes options to configure the rules and conditions of when Form Publisher uses the first template to generate documents.

What's next

Configure the condition to define when Form Publisher will use the first template.

Configure the condition for the first template

On the main form, configure the condition to define that Form Publisher will use the Letter of intent to Hire template when someone selects New hire in the question New hire or transfer.

Procedure

1. Under Rules, select Create current template if.
2. Next to If, select the question New hire or transfer.
3. Next to Is answered with, select New hire.
4. Click Save to save the changes.
   

Result

On the main form, Form Publisher is now configured to generate documents with the Letter of Intent to Hire template when someone selects New hire in the question New hire or transfer.

This also means that you do not need to define a condition for the second template because Form Publisher will use it whenever the condition for the first template is not true.

What's next

Open the connected form and configure Form Publisher with the second template.

Configure Form Publisher on the connected form

Configure Form Publisher on the connected form with the second template document Employee Transfer Letter.

Procedure

1. Open the connected form from the Additional templates screen.
   
2. From the connected form, start Form Publisher.
   1. Click the Add-ons icon in your Google form and select Form Publisher.
      
      
   2. In the pop-up menu, select Get started.
      
3. Configure Form Publisher to use the Employee Transfer Letter Google Docs template.
   1. Click Select template.
      
      A Google Picker window opens.
   2. In the Google Picker window, find the Employee Transfer Letter template and click Select.
      
      Wait for Form Publisher to finish the configuration and update the template screen.
      
      A summary of the default settings appears.
      
4. Review and configure the list of people that receive the generated documents.
   1. Click Change settings and select Sharing options and notifications.
      
   2. Under Sharing list, review the list of recipients.
      As the form owner, your email is automatically added as the only recipient of the generated documents.
      
   3. (Optional) Add more recipients by entering their email, selecting the document format, and clicking Add.
      
   4. Click Save to save the changes.

Result

Form Publisher is now configured with the second template on the connected form.

With this, the configuration of Form Publisher to generate two different documents based on two different answers in a multiple-choice question is complete.

As a result, if someone selects New hire and submits the form, you (and any other recipients added in the Sharing list) will receive the Letter of intent to hire document. The document contains the answers submitted in the form questions.

If someone selects Transfer and submits the form, you (and any other recipients added in the Sharing list) will receive the Employee Transfer Letter document. The document contains the answers submitted in the form questions.

info  Note: Form Publisher stores the generated documents in a separate folder in Google Drive when configured with multiple templates. In this example, if New hire is selected in the form, the Letter of intent to hire document is saved under Form Publisher Output's Folder.
And, if Transfer is selected in the form, the Employee Transfer Letter document is saved under Connected to [TEMPLATE] Employee Action Form > Form Publisher Output's Folder.

(Optional) Configure three or more templates

You can add a third Google Docs template by creating a second connected form. To do so, use the steps in Create a connected form, Configure the condition for the first template, and Configure Form Publisher on the connected form.

Such configurations are helpful when you want to use three or more options in a multiple-choice question.

For example, if your question has the options New hire, Transfer, and Promote, you can configure Form Publisher to generate a different document for each option.

Configuring more than three templates can result in issues related to the incorrect logic of which documents are generated, and these can be challenging to troubleshoot. As a best practice, do not use more than two templates and, when necessary, use three at most.

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