Send generated documents to different folders and subfolders based on answers

In Form Publisher, you can define rules to send generated documents to different Google Drive folders based on how respondents reply to questions.

You can also send documents to subfolders by naming the subfolders exactly like the answers that respondents provide. An answer is anything that respondents type or select in a form question.

Subfolders are folders contained inside the default destination folder or inside one of the additional destination folders. You can use subfolders to separate or group the generated documents based on how respondents answer a specific question.

Using rules to send documents to different folders

To send documents to different folders, you create rules. A rule can include one or more conditions. In a condition, you can define which questions and what the responses in the questions need to be in order for a document to be sent to a folder.

You define a rule by applying one or more of the conditions listed below.

When respondents select a specific option in a question
When respondents do not select a specific option
When respondents specify a number in a question that is equal to, greater, or lower than a number you specify
When the answer contains or does not contain text or numbers you specify
When respondents make a selection in a question or leave a question unanswered

In each rule, you can define if only one or if all conditions need to be met for a generated document to be sent to the specified folder.

For example, if you want purchase orders made by the Marketing department the amount of which is higher than $1000 to be sent to a specific folder, you can create the following conditions for the Department and Amount questions in your form. Also, you must specify that all conditions must be true.

Create rules to send documents to a different folder

To send documents generated from form submissions into different folders, you create routing rules. In each routing rule, you define the conditions and the folder into which generated documents will be sent.

Prerequisites

You have a Google form configured with Form Publisher.

Procedure

Start Form Publisher and open the Destination folder and naming convention page.
Create a rule to send generated documents into a different folder when certain conditions are met.
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You can have as many rules for additional destination folders as you need. You can also create multiple rules for a single folder.

If you create the same rules for different destination folders, Form Publisher sends the generated documents to the first rule in the list for which the generated document meets the conditions.

To avoid confusing results, do not create more than one rule with the same conditions but with different destination folders.

If a generated document does not meet the conditions of any of the routing rules, the document is sent to the default folder.
1. Click + Add routing rule.
  
  A new rule is added with the title Routing rules.
  
  In the rule, you define a different destination folder for the generated documents and the conditions based on which Form Publisher sends documents to that folder.
  
  In addition, you can distribute the documents into subfolders based on answers.
  For more information about dynamic subfolders, see Send documents to dynamic subfolders.
2. To change the default destination folder to another folder, click Change folder under Routing rules and select a new folder in the Google Picker window.
3. Click Edit rules to configure the conditions based on which generated documents are sent in the folder you selected.
4. Define the conditions.
  1. Click + Add condition to specify a new condition.
  2. From the Select question title drop-down, select the question the responses to which you want to act as a condition.
  3. From the Select comparison drop-down, select how the responses in the question should be evaluated.
  4. In the Value text box, specify the value which is compared to the responses.
  5. To define another condition, click + Add condition and repeat the steps 2d i) through 2d iv).
  6. Specify if all conditions need to be true or if any one of the conditions needs to be true for a document to be stored in this folder.
  7. Click Save and close to save the conditions and dynamic subfolders configuration that you made.
Click Save to save all custom destination rules configuration for the current Google form.

Result

Form Publisher is now configured to send generated documents to other destination folders based on the conditions you specified.

What's next

The next form submission is evaluated by Form Publisher, and if it matches the conditions specified in one of the rules, it sends the generated document to the additional folder configured for that rule.

If it does not match any of the rules, the generated document is sent to the default destination folder.

Sending documents to dynamic subfolders based on answers

You can further distribute generated documents into subfolders based on how respondents reply to a question in your form. You can set subfolders for the default destination folder as well as for any additional folder to which you send documents based on rules.

To use subfolders, you specify a question marker for one of the form questions. Based on how respondents answer this question (whether they answer with text, numbers, or make a selection in a multiple choice question or any other type of question), Form Publisher uses each distinct answer to name each subfolder.

In the following screenshot, the destination folder is the default one in Form Publisher - Form Publisher Output's Folder. In addition, the subfolders Revevol and Talarian are dynamic subfolders which are based on what answers people provide to the Company form question. For example, when a respondent selects Talarian, the generated document for their submitted form is sent to the Talarian subfolder.

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Form Publisher does not immediately create the subfolders after you define the question marker.

Instead, after a form submission is made, Form Publisher checks whether a subfolder with the selected option name exists. If such a folder exists, Form Publisher saves the document in it. If not, Form Publisher creates the folder and names it with the selected option, and then sends the document in the newly created subfolder.

For information about how subfolders are named from the options in checkbox, checkbox grid, and multiple choice grid questions, see the articles listed below.

Send documents to dynamic subfolders

Under the default or the additional destination folders, you can further distribute generated documents into subfolders. Subfolders are named based on the answers respondents provide.