Use the short link
Google Forms offers a long link and a short forms.gle/… link. Always tick Shorten URL: a shorter link makes a simpler QR code with bigger squares, which scans faster and more reliably, especially when printed small or shown on a projector.
Check your form settings first
- Under Settings → Responses, turn off “Restrict to users in your organization” if people outside your school or company will scan it.
- Decide whether you need to collect email addresses. Requiring sign-in stops many people from finishing on their phone.
- Preview the form on your phone. Most people will fill it in on a small screen.
Ideas
- Classrooms: exit tickets, quizzes and parent sign-ups on a slide or worksheet.
- Events: RSVPs on invitations and feedback forms at the exit.
- Businesses: customer feedback on receipts and tables, job applications on a window poster.
How it works
Your form’s link is stored directly in the QR code. When someone scans it, the form opens in their phone’s browser, where they fill it in and submit. The code itself has no connection to Google, so it keeps working as long as the form exists and accepts responses. Responses arrive in your form as usual, in the Responses tab or a linked Google Sheet.
Make it easy on a phone
- Keep the form short. Every extra page and required question loses people.
- Use multiple-choice and short-answer questions where you can. Long typing on a phone is slow.
- Put the most important question first.
- Check that any images in the form are readable on a small screen.
When the form closes
When you turn off Accepting responses in the Responses tab, you can write a message for anyone who still opens the form. Use it to say what to do instead. If you duplicate a form for a new survey, the copy gets a new link, so a printed code still opens the old form. To reuse a printed code, edit the questions in the original form.