Publishing & sharing

A form collects responses only once it's published. To publish from the builder:

1. Choose Publish at the top right of the builder.
2. Read the list of things to check, if there is one. Fix next to a problem takes you to the field.
3. Choose Publish, or Publish anyway when there are still problems to check.

The button then reads Live, and the dialog shows the form's public link, ready to copy. You can also publish with Publish in the form's row menu in All Forms, or under Sharing → Publish in its settings, where the Draft, Published and Archived tabs change the status straight away, without Save changes.

Publishing needs a role that can publish forms: Owner, Admin or Manager. For other roles the switch is disabled.

To stop collecting responses, choose Live in the builder and turn off the switch, choose Unpublish in the form's row menu, or pick Draft or Archived under Sharing → Publish. The form keeps its responses and its public link. While it isn't published, anyone who opens the link sees Form not available, and embedded copies show the same notice.

Publishing again reopens the same link. To close a form on a date or after a number of responses instead, use its submission rules: see Form settings.

Every form has one public link. It ends with the form's slug, which Forms makes from the form's name when you create it, and renaming the form doesn't change it. Sharing → Publish in the form's settings shows the slug, when the form was first published and Open public form.

Copy the link from the copy icon in the builder's top bar, from the publish dialog or from the form's Overview or Share & Send settings. Who can open it depends on the form's access setting, such as a password or sign-in: see Form settings.

You can add to the link to track or prefill responses: UTM tags like ?utm_source=newsletter are covered in Analytics, and prefill keys in Form builder.

Sharing → Share & Send in a form's settings starts with its Public link:

• The copy button copies the link.
• X, LinkedIn and Facebook open a post with the link in a new tab, and Email starts an email in your mail app with the form's name and link.
• The QR code opens the link when scanned. Download PNG saves it as an image for print or slides.

The same QR code is on the form's Overview. Until the form is published, the page warns that the link shows a closed notice.

To put a form on your own website, open its settings, go to Sharing → Embed, pick an Embed type, then copy the Embed code and paste it into your page.

• Inline: sits in the page and grows with the form.
• Popup: a centered dialog over the page.
• Slider: a panel that slides in from the edge of the screen.
• Side tab: a tab pinned to the screen edge that opens a slider.
• Popover: a corner bubble that opens a compact panel.
• Full screen: covers the whole screen, for longer forms.
• Plain iframe: a fixed-height frame that works without Forms' script. Set its Height (px), 640 to start with.

Popup, slider, side tab and popover embeds have a launcher you can style: its Button text (or Tab text or Bubble label), its color and its Position, left or right. Width (px) sets the panel's width, at least 280. On phones panels fill the width. The embed code shows the same Form not available notice until the form is published.

Popup, slider, side tab, popover and full screen embeds have Display rules in Sharing → Embed:

• Opens: On click, After a delay (5 seconds to start with), At a scroll depth (50% to start with), or On exit intent, which works on desktop only, when the pointer leaves through the top of the window. A side tab or popover always shows its launcher too.
• Your own button (optional): a CSS selector, like #open-form, for elements on your page that open the form instead of the generated button.
• Show: for forms that open on their own, Every page view, Once per session or Once every few days (7 to start with). It's remembered in each visitor's browser.
• Close after submit (seconds): closes the form after the thank-you screen. Leave it empty to keep it open.
• Stop after a response: visitors who have responded aren't shown the form on their own again.

Under Embed code, Page URL parameters passes UTM tags only or All parameters from your page's address on to the form, for tracking and prefilled fields. If the form has hidden fields, fill in their values in the code's data-param- attributes.

A signed link is a personal link to a form that stops working after a set time. A form set to Signed links only accepts no other link. To make one, open the form's settings and go to Sharing → Share & Send:

1. Under Signed link, type a Recipient email to tie the response to that person. It's optional.
2. Set Expires in (hours): 72 to start with, and up to 2,160 (90 days).
3. Choose Generate, then copy the link. Forms shows when it expires.

Someone who opens an expired or altered link sees This link isn't valid. Making signed links needs a role that can edit forms, and link signing set up for your deployment.

To email a form to people, open its settings and go to Sharing → Share & Send → Send to people.

1. Under Recipients, type email addresses and press Enter. One send reaches up to 200 people.
2. Optional: write a Message. Without one, the email says you invited them to fill out the form.
3. Leave Personal signed links on to give each recipient their own link tied to their email, valid for 30 days. Use it when you're collecting signatures. Turn it off to send the public link.
4. Choose Send.

With signed links, the email asks recipients to review and sign, with a Review & sign button. Otherwise it invites them, with an Open form button. Replies come back to you. The form has to be published first, and sending needs email set up for your deployment. Forms tells you how many emails went out.

When a form can't take a response, respondents see one of these instead:

• Form not available: the form isn't published, was deleted or the link is wrong.
• Not open yet: the form's open date hasn't come, with the date it opens.
• This form is closed: the close date has passed.
• Response limit reached: the form is full.
• Password required: the form needs its password.
• Sign in to respond: the form needs a signed-in Geiger account.
• Restricted to your organization: the form only takes accounts on one email domain.
• This link isn't valid: a signed link has expired or is wrong.

A form set to one response per person tells a returning respondent "You've already responded to this form."