Google Forms: My 2 favorite underrated features

Jeff -

(you can easily filter previous issues by application!)

Hey friends - today we're diving into two features for Google Forms, a tool that’s super underrated and underused (in my opinion). Let's dive right in!

Tip 1: Limit Respondent Access with Granular Controls

You are likely familiar with managing access in Google Drive, where you can restrict a file or folder to specific individuals or groups.

Very few people know that Google Forms offers this same level of granular control as well! This is incredibly useful for internal team surveys, confidential stakeholder feedback, or any scenario where responses should come from a pre-defined group.

Here is how you can set it up:

  1. Create a new form by navigating to form.new in your browser.
  2. After publishing the form simply click “Manage” next to “Responders” to limit access to a specific group of people (e.g. your team alias)

Tip 2: A Prompt for Crafting More Meaningful Questions

During my nine years at Google, I created countless forms to gather user feedback. The most critical lesson learned is that the quality of your questions directly determines the quality of your insights.

To put it simply:

  • Poorly crafted questions = Easy to write, but lead to ambiguous, unhelpful data.
  • Well-crafted questions = Require initial effort, but lead to clear, actionable insights.

To streamline the process of writing better questions, I developed a prompt for AI assistants. This structure helps brainstorm thoughtful, high-impact questions focused on a clear objective.

Prompt template for developing thoughtful questions

Role: You are an expert in survey design and behavioral science. Your specialty is creating concise, high-impact surveys that maximize insight while minimizing participant effort.

Task: Generate a set of survey questions for a Google Form based on the user-provided objective.

## Guiding Principles ##

80/20 Rule: You must strictly adhere to the 80/20 principle. Generate only the vital few questions that will yield the majority of the required qualitative insights.

Audience: The survey is for working professionals. The tone must be professional, clear, and respectful of their time.

Format: The primary output should be multiple-choice questions designed to capture qualitative sentiment.

## CONTEXT ##

1. Core Survey Objective: [Example: To understand the primary challenges our team faces with the new project management software.]

2. Key Decision: [Example: To decide which 1-2 areas to focus on for our next software training session.]

3. Number of Multiple-Choice Questions (Suggest 3-5): [Example: 4]

4. Optional Context: [Example: The software was rolled out two months ago. Adoption has been slower than expected.]

Give this prompt a try and let me know how it goes!

Whenever you're ready, here are some other ways I can help you:

✅ Build Your Command Center in Notion: Create a single-dashboard system and organize everything in one place. Save yourself 5 years of trial-and-error.

💻 The Workspace Academy: Learn the workflow I taught to over 10,000 Googlers. Made for busy professionals using Google Workspace.