Oct 21, 2024 
Alright, so you’ve made a kickass Google Form that perfectly fits your needs, but now you need to use the same form again – let’s say it’s for a new campaign, a quiz with some tweaks, or maybe just to gather fresh responses from a different target audience, without disturbing the data from your original form. Instead of going through the hassle of building a new form from scratch, there’s an easy way! Simply duplicate a Google Form!
In this guide, we’ll cover the steps to duplicate forms directly from Google Forms, so you can repurpose your one glorious Google form into several forms!
Why Duplicate Google Forms?
Creating new Google Forms from scratch can take time, especially if you want everything to be perfect! [Type A anyone :)? ] and it can be so much more tedious if you’re recreating a form all over again.
Imagine readjusting your custom settings, themes, re-adding different question types like multiple choice or short answer fields, and getting your form publish-ready a second time? Instead, duplicating an existing form can save time and ensure you maintain the same structure without losing the original form. Plus, it prevents mixing up any responses from the original form with your new form data.
How to Duplicate a Google Form From the Form Itself
For users familiar with Google’s other apps like Docs and Sheets, the process to copy documents is similar when working with Google Forms. The same principles apply: you can easily duplicate the form, rename it, and save it as a completely independent file. This is a straightforward process that takes just a few steps:
- Open the Google Form you want to copy.
- In the top right corner, click the three dots (also referred to as three vertical dots or the dropdown menu).
- Select “Make a copy” from the dropdown menu.
- A pop up menu will appear, prompting you to enter a new form title and choose a Google Drive folder to save the copy. You can also opt to share the same form with the same people if required. Once you’ve entered a suitable title and selected a folder, click Make a copy.
- Now, you have your duplicated form in a new version, ready for further editing and sharing.
How to Duplicate Google Forms From Google Drive
Google Drive itself doesn’t have a direct “Make a copy” option for Google Forms like it does for other file types like Google Docs or Sheets. Instead, the duplication process is a bit long-winded, because you need to open the form in Google Forms first to access the duplication option. Here’s the correct method:
- If you’re signed into Google Drive, click on the nine dots on the top-right corner
- In the Google Suite pop up menu, scroll down and open Google Forms
- Once Google Forms is open, go to the search bar and find your form in the list
- Now follow the same instructions as we shared above on how to duplicate a Google Form From the Form Itself
This method is only for those who want to start the duplication from their Google Drive folder, ensuring that you’re duplicating the form correctly while keeping your workflow within Google Forms.
How to Duplicate Someone Else’s Google Form
If you want to duplicate a form made by someone else, first you’ll need edit access to that form. Without access, you won’t be able to duplicate it. Here’s a step by step on how you can make it happen:
- Request edit access from the form’s creator by clicking on the “Request Edit Access” button.
- Once you have access, follow the same steps as above to duplicate the form.
In some cases, the form’s creator can share the form with you as a template, saving you even more time.
Using Google Form Templates to Duplicate Forms
Another quick way to create multiple copies of forms is by using the Google Form template gallery. Google’s readymade templates are really helpful for standard form formats like ‘Event Feedback’ ‘Order Form’, ‘Job Application’,’RSVP’, and more. It saves you time and effort, as they come preformatted with standard questions and layouts, which you can easily customize to fit your needs.
Once you select a template, you can instantly start editing it, rename it, and use it as your own new form. The templates are automatically added to your Google Forms, allowing you to make adjustments and create multiple copies without starting from scratch each time.
Here’s how to use it:
- Go to Google Forms
- Click the template gallery in Google Forms and select a template that fits your needs.
- Click on Use Template, and the template will open as a new form in your Google Forms, the UI is very similar to Google Drive. You can then modify the form’s title and contents as needed.
If you want to share your own form as a template, an easy way to do this is by modifying the form’s URL. Simply remove the “/edit” part at the end of the URL and replace it with “/template/preview.” This will allow others to view and use your form as a template, without being able to edit your original version. They can then make their own copy to customize as needed.
Sharing a Copied Google Form
Once you’ve created and edited your duplicated form, sharing it is just as easy as sharing any other Google Form. Here’s how to share it:
- Make sure you’ve completed any necessary edits, including renaming the form to avoid confusion with the original form.
- Click the Send button in the top right corner.
- You can share the form via email, a form link, or by embedding it on a website. You can even share the link through social media platforms like Facebook or X (formerly Twitter).
Some other important details you must know before duplicating Google Forms:
- The copied file is completely separate from the existing one, allowing you to fully edit it without affecting the original. When you duplicate Google Forms, the new version will start collecting fresh responses, while the existing one remains intact. You can easily manage several forms through this duplication process.
- Since duplicating Google forms doesn’t transfer any existing responses, if you want to preserve responses from the original form, it’s a good idea to export the responses before creating the copied form.
- When you duplicate Google Forms, make sure to give the copied file a clear name through the pop up menu to avoid confusion with your original. The same applies even if you’re working on Google Forms templates, this will help find all your copied files easily.
- To find your new copied files, type the file name into the search bar in Google Forms.
Save Yourself from Extra Work by Duplicating Google Forms
Duplicating Google Forms is an efficient way to save time and effort, especially when managing several forms for different purposes. The duplication process ensures you don’t have to rebuild a Google Form from scratch, allowing you to simply create a new version while keeping the existing one intact.
There’s many ways to go about it, you could use Google Forms templates or work with a custom form. By following this step-by-step guide, we hope you can easily manage multiple copied files through your Google Forms interface.
FAQs
To duplicate a Google Form, open the form, click on the three dots in the top right corner, select “Make a copy,” and then choose a new title and destination folder.
Yes, but you need edit access to the form. If you don’t have access, request it from the form’s creator. Once granted, you can follow the same steps to duplicate the form.
Yes, once duplicated, the new form is completely independent of the original. You can make changes to the duplicate without impacting the original form.
