Start with a blank document and add a title
Open Google Docs and create a new blank document. At the top, type a title for your survey — something like "Customer Feedback Survey" or "Event Attendance Form". Make it clear enough that someone opening the link knows what they are answering.
Press Enter a couple of times and add a subtitle or brief instruction if you want one. For example: "Please take two minutes to answer these questions. Your responses are anonymous." This sets expectations and tells people what to do.
You do not need to format this yet. Plain text works fine, and you can adjust fonts and spacing after you have written the questions.
Key Takeaways
- Google Docs surveys work best for five to fifteen questions because longer surveys become hard to read and people stop answering partway through.
- You can create multiple-choice questions by typing the options as a bulleted list, or open-ended questions that leave space for written answers.
- Share the document with "Viewer" permission so people can see it but cannot edit your original, then ask them to request edit access or make a copy.
- Responses stay in the same document, so you can read all answers in one place without logging into a separate tool.
- Google Docs surveys work well for small groups — coworkers, classmates, event attendees — but not for surveys that need to reach hundreds of people at once.
Write your questions in a clear order
Press Enter below your title and start typing your first question. Number each one: "1. What is your age range?" or "1. How satisfied are you with our service?" Numbering makes it straightforward for people to reference a specific question if they have a comment.
Start with the easiest or most general questions. Ask for basic information first — age, location, how long someone has used your product — before moving to opinion questions. This keeps people engaged because they can answer without thinking hard at the start.
Leave space between questions. Press Enter twice after each question so the document does not feel crowded. White space makes the survey less intimidating and easier to read on a phone or tablet.
Create multiple-choice questions with bullet points
For a question with set answers, type the question, press Enter, then create a bulleted list with each option. For example:
3. How often do you use this product?
• Daily • Several times a week • Once a week • Less often • Never
People can click the bullet point and type an X or checkmark next to their answer, or they can straightforward type their choice. Either method works. The bullet list format makes the options obvious without requiring any special tools.
Keep the number of options between three and five. More than five options becomes hard to choose from, and fewer than three does not give people enough range.
Add open-ended questions for written responses
For questions where you want people to write their own answer, type the question and then add blank lines underneath. For example:
5. What feature would you like to see added?
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
Type an underscore or dash multiple times to create a line, or straightforward press Enter several times to leave space. People will type their answer directly into those blank lines. This works well for feedback, suggestions, or any question where you cannot predict the answers in advance.
Open-ended questions take longer to answer, so use them sparingly. Two or three per survey is usually enough.
Share the document and collect responses
When your survey is finished, click the Share button in the top right corner. Choose "Restricted" so only people you invite can see it. Then decide how you want people to respond.
The easiest method is to give people "Editor" permission, which lets them type directly into your document. Click "Editor" in the dropdown, paste the link in an email or message, and tell people to open it and fill in their answers. Their responses appear in the same document you created.
If you want to keep your original survey clean and collect responses separately, give people "Viewer" permission instead. They will see the survey but cannot edit it. In that case, ask them to click "Request access" or tell them to make their own copy by going to File > Make a copy. They fill in their copy, and you can read each person's responses individually.
Read and organize your responses
As people submit their answers, scroll through the document to see what they wrote. For multiple-choice questions, count how many people chose each option. For open-ended questions, read through the written answers and look for patterns — common complaints, repeated suggestions, or themes that appear in several responses.
If you gave people Editor permission and many responses came in, the document can become long and hard to navigate. You can copy all the responses into a separate document organized by question, or create a straightforward summary: "Question 1: 8 people chose Option A, 5 chose Option B, 2 chose Option C."
Google Docs does not automatically count votes or create charts the way a dedicated survey tool does, so you will do this counting yourself. For small surveys — under fifty responses — this takes only a few minutes.
When Google Docs surveys work best
Google Docs surveys are practical for small groups: a team of ten people, a class of thirty students, attendees at an event you organized. They work well when you know everyone who will answer and can send them the link directly.
They are less practical for large surveys or surveys you need to share publicly. If you need to reach hundreds of people or post a survey on social media, a dedicated tool like Google Forms (which is built into Google's suite and designed specifically for surveys) will handle the volume better and count responses automatically.
Google Docs surveys also work well when you want responses to stay private and visible only to you. Because you control who can see the document, you do not have to worry about responses being public or searchable online.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can people see other people's answers?
Yes, if you give them Editor permission. Everyone who opens the document sees all the responses that have been submitted so far. If you want answers to stay private, give people Viewer permission and ask them to request access or make a copy instead. Then only you see all the responses together.
What if someone makes a mistake in their answer?
You can edit their response directly in the document. Click on their answer and change it, or ask them to resubmit. Google Docs keeps a version history, so you can see what was changed and when if you need to check.
Can I add images or videos to my survey?
Yes. Click Insert at the top, then choose Image or Video. You can embed a photo or video directly into the survey so people see it before answering a related question. This works well for product feedback surveys or design feedback.
How do I prevent people from editing the questions themselves?
Give them Viewer permission instead of Editor permission. They will see the questions but cannot change them. They can only request access or make their own copy to fill in.
Is there a limit to how many people can respond?
No hard limit exists, but the document becomes harder to manage as responses pile up. Beyond a few hundred responses, a dedicated survey tool becomes more practical because it can organize and count answers automatically.