Google Forms conditional questions: Ultimate guide

Google Forms is a platform known for allowing users to create free surveys, forms, and quizzes. One of its native features, basic conditional logic, helps you make your forms more effective and user-friendly.

Imagine a survey about the product preferences of your target audience. After the question "Which type of vacation do you prefer?": If the respondent answers "Winter vacation," the next question could be "Which city would you choose for winter vacation?". Or for those who prefer "summer vacation," you can ask questions such as "Do you prefer hotels or camping/bungalows for accommodation?". As this example shows, conditional questions improve your user experience by adapting to answers.

In this article, we will explain conditional questions and give you steps to add conditional questions to Google Forms. You will also get the answer to the question of whether you can create conditional questions natively in Google Forms. Now let's move on to conditional questions!

Can you make conditional questions in Google Forms?

Yes, it is possible to create basic conditional questions within Google Forms using “sections.” Sections in Google Forms are basically pages to organize form fields, which is helpful, especially for long forms. Having separate sections for dependent questions allows you to use conditional logic in Google Forms.

How to make conditional questions in Google Forms

Now that you know you can add conditional questions to your Google Forms, it's time to see the steps and actually make your questions conditional. Understanding how to use this feature is crucial to making your forms more dynamic and effective.

By displaying only relevant questions based on previous answers, your users can easily fill out the form. You will also increase the accuracy of the information you collect from your form or survey results. Follow the steps below to incorporate this powerful feature into your forms now!

Step 1: Create a Google Form or open an existing one

If you want to create a form from scratch, you can select a blank form. However, if you haven't used the platform before or don't know how to create a form, it's better to start with ready-made Google Forms templates. For example, let's consider a Job Application form.

You can change questions or fields by clicking on the form fields. You can also add sections to your form by clicking the "Add section" button in the rectangular area next to the form. You can also add your questions by clicking on the "plus" button in the same area. After completing all these steps, you can customize your form by clicking the "Customize Theme" button.

Creating a Google Form

Step 2: Create form questions

To add a question, click the plus button on the side and select the question format. You can add a question like "Do you have previous work experience in this field?". With the multiple-choice question format, you can provide answers like "yes" or "no."

Adding form questions to Google Forms

Step 3: Add sections to your Google Form

You need multiple form sections to show or hide questions based on the responses. For example, if the answer is "yes" to the previous work experience question, you can show the next section where you ask, “How long did you work in this field?”. On the other hand, if the answer is no, they can move to another section with default questions. To do this, you need sections in Google Forms.

Simply choose the “Add Section” option from the floating menu on the right to add sections.

Adding a section to Google Forms

Step 4: Make conditional questions

Let's continue with the job application scenario. The question you want to apply conditional logic to is, "Do you have previous work experience?". You will see three dots below when you click on this question field. When you click on it, click on the "Go to section by answer" option in the open menu. There will be another drop-down menu next to your “Yes” and “No” options.

For those who select the "Yes" option, you should select to go to section 2, which is the question “How long did you work in this field?". Those who answer "No" can proceed to section 3, where you have other questions.

Select "Submit form" from the drop-down menu to end the form when respondents select certain answers.

Make conditional questions in Google forms

Step 5: Preview and test the form

Before making your Google Form public, you can preview it by clicking on the eye icon at the top of the page. Go to the questions where you apply conditional logic and answer them. In this way, you also test whether you apply the conditional logic correctly.

Clicking on the “eye” icon to preview and test the form

Limitations of Conditional Logic in Google Forms

Google Forms is free and has its uses. However, its form branching capabilities may not meet your needs. Here are some limitations of Google Forms logic:

It is clear that for sophisticated logic paths and conditions, you need a better form builder than Google Forms, such as forms.app.

Creating more advanced conditional forms with forms.app

Although Google Forms allows you to create forms with conditional logic, it is quite basic and a cumbersome process. On the other hand, forms.app offers a user-friendly conditional logic feature even for those who don't know how to create forms. Besides conditional logic, you can access many other free features to make your forms and surveys more dynamic. Follow the steps below to create conditional logic forms using forms.app!

Create a form on forms.app

Add or customize questions

Conditions page on forms.app

On forms.app, you can use “and/or logic” in your conditions.

Set conditions for form questions

Previewing form to see if the conditions work

Questions you might ask about conditional questions in Google Forms