Since 2009
Form Options SyncGoogle Forms · Google Workspace add-onSeat limits and live options for Google Forms.
Form Options Sync fills a Google Forms question from a Google Sheet, or keeps the options it already has, and limits how many people can pick each option. When an option is full, it leaves the form on its own, or stays on it marked "(FULL)". You get an email when it happens.
What it does
Two jobs: keep a question's options up to date, and stop options from overfilling.
Options from a Google Sheet
Keep the list in a sheet: time slots, class names, sessions. The question's options follow the sheet. Add a row and the option appears on the form. Filter a row out and the option goes.
Seat limits
Give each option a number of seats. The add-on counts the responses. When an option is full, it is removed from the form or marked "(FULL)". Options can also show how many seats are left, for example "Monday 9am (2 left)".
Three question types
Dropdown, multiple choice and checkboxes. On a checkbox question, each ticked option takes one seat. Grid questions are not supported yet.
Who it is for
Anyone running a sign-up sheet in Google Forms.
Respondents do not install anything. Only the person who manages the form uses the add-on.
Teachers
Parent-teacher meeting slots, club and elective sign-ups, class lists kept in a sheet. Each slot closes when it is taken.
Event organisers
Workshop sessions, time slots and tours with a fixed number of places. Full sessions drop off the form.
Clinics
Appointment slots and health camp time slots, with a set number of people per slot.
Volunteers
Shifts and rotas, with a fixed number of people per shift. The coordinator gets an email when a shift fills.
How it works
Four steps, all inside your form.
Install and open
Install Form Options Sync from the Google Workspace Marketplace. Open your form, click the puzzle-piece icon, choose Form Options Sync, then Open sidebar.
Pick a question
Choose a dropdown, multiple choice or checkbox question. Choose where its options come from: a Google Sheet, or the options already in the question.
Set the seats
Tick Limit how many people can pick each option. Set one number for every option, or a number per option. Choose to remove full options or mark them "(FULL)".
Save
Click Add & sync. The question is updated straight away, and again after every response.
Features
Everything is in the free plan.
The plans differ only in how many questions and forms you can sync.
Use only the rows where a column says, for example, Active or TRUE. A sheet tick-box column works.
A seats column sets the seats for each option. Blank cells use the default number.
Options can show "(N left)" so people see what is still open.
Blank rows are skipped and duplicates merged. Keep the sheet's order, or sort A to Z or Z to A.
"Go to section based on answer" and quiz answer keys are kept for options whose name did not change, even when a full option is hidden and later comes back.
When an option fills or has space again, when an option is overbooked, and when a background sync fails.
If the sheet gives no options, the question is left as it is and the sidebar tells you why.
If Google Sheets cannot be read, the add-on uses the last copy it read, so seat limits keep working, and says so.
Each synced question shows when it last synced, how many options it has and which are full. Recent activity lists the latest syncs.
One menu item tests everything the add-on depends on and shows the result in one box.
The one limit you should know about
Two people who submit at the same moment can both get the last seat.
Google Forms has no way to hold a seat while someone fills in the form. The add-on counts a response after Google has saved it, then updates the form. In our tests that took about 20 seconds. Anyone who submits in that gap, or in the same moment as someone else, can take a seat that has just gone.
It notices when an option has more responses than seats. The sidebar marks the option Overbooked, and you get an email that names the option and gives the count, for example 11 of 10.
Look at the latest responses for that option and contact the extra people. The add-on does not know who they are; your form's responses do.
Dropdown, multiple choice and checkbox questions only. Up to 1,000 options per question. Seats are counted per option name, so if you rename an option, responses under the old name no longer count towards it. " (N left)" and " (FULL)" at the end of an option name are reserved for the add-on.
Pricing
Free for one question. $4 a month for everything else.
Every plan has every feature. Prices are also shown in the sidebar before you set anything up.
Free
$0
1 synced question in 1 form. All features: sheet sync, seat limits and emails.
The free plan belongs to the first form you set up. Use my free plan here in the sidebar moves it to another form.
Pro
$4 per month
$36 per year
Unlimited synced questions and forms.
Per Google account: Pro is matched to the email address of the Google account you use the add-on with.
Domain licence
$199 per year
Pro for the people in one Google Workspace domain, for example a school.
Contact us to set it up.
Pro checkout is opening soon. Until then, email [email protected] to upgrade, and tell us the Google account you use with the add-on. After you are upgraded, click Already upgraded? in the sidebar to check again straight away.
Setting it up
From an empty sidebar to a working sign-up form.
Before you start, the form needs at least one dropdown, multiple choice or checkbox question. If the options will come from a sheet, you must be able to open that sheet with the same Google account.
- Open the form in Google Forms, in edit mode.
- Click the puzzle-piece icon (Add-ons) at the top, then Form Options Sync, then Open sidebar.
- The first time, Google asks you to allow the add-on's permissions. The add-on needs all of them. If you untick one, the sidebar shows a Grant permissions button instead. The privacy policy explains what each permission is used for.
- Click + Add a question and fill in the fields below.
- Click Preview to see the options the question would get. Nothing on the form changes yet.
- Click Add & sync. The add-on saves your settings, switches on automatic syncing and updates the question. This can take up to a minute.
The fields in the sidebar
What the add-on does with the sheet's rows
- Blank rows are skipped.
- Duplicate names are merged into one option, because Google Forms does not allow the same option twice.
- Up to 1,000 options are used. Names longer than 500 characters are shortened.
- If the sheet gives no options at all, the question is left as it is and the sidebar shows an error. The add-on never empties a question.
- The sidebar lists what it did, for example "2 blank rows skipped."
Section jumps ("Go to section based on answer") and quiz answer keys stay with each option as long as its name does not change. When a full option is removed and later comes back, it gets them back too.
When to sync
After every response, and on a timer if you want.
These settings are at the bottom of the sidebar. They apply to the whole form and are saved as soon as you change them.
- After every response (on by default). The add-on counts each new response and updates the form. Seat limits need this to update quickly.
- Refresh from the sheet: Only after responses or when I click Sync (the default), Every hour, or Once a day. Choose hourly or daily if you edit the sheet and want the form to follow without waiting for the next response.
Automatic syncing runs from the Google account that switched it on. A sync that reads a sheet only runs from the account that set it up, because that is the account with access to the sheet.
Email me when
Three emails, all on by default.
An option becomes full or has space again
For example when a response is deleted and a seat frees up.
An option is overbooked
Two people submitted in the same moment and the option now has more responses than seats. The email names the option and gives the count.
A sync fails
For automatic syncs only, and once when the failures start, not every hour. If a sync you started yourself fails, the sidebar shows the error instead.
Emails are sent from your Google account to your own address: the account that runs the sync. They contain the form and question names, the options concerned and a link to edit the form.
Sync now, Sync all, Recount responses
Run it by hand whenever you like.
Sync now
On each synced question's card. Reads the source again and updates that question.
Sync all
At the bottom of the sidebar. Syncs every question in the form.
Recount responses
Counts every response again from the start. Use it after you delete or edit responses. The add-on also recounts on its own: on the first sync, when you switch seat limits on, and on the first sync after 24 hours without a recount. With the hourly or daily refresh on, that means about once a day.
Each synced question has a card showing where its options come from, its seat limit, when it last synced, how many options it has, which options are Full or Overbooked, and any warning or error. Edit changes everything except the question. Recent activity lists the latest syncs, what started them and what changed.
Remove a sync
Stop syncing, and put the plain options back.
Click Remove on the question's card. The sidebar asks Stop syncing this question? and shows one tick box, ticked by default:
- Put the plain options back: the add-on removes "(N left)" and "(FULL)" from every option and brings back the options that were removed because they were full.
- Untick it to leave the question with the options it shows right now.
Click Yes, stop syncing. The add-on deletes that question's response counts and the copy of the sheet rows it kept. Your responses and your sheet are not touched. When you remove the last sync in a form, the add-on also removes its automatic syncing for that form, and your free plan becomes free to use in another form.
Check setup
One box that says what works and what does not.
In the form, click the puzzle-piece icon, then Form Options Sync, then Check setup. A box opens with one line per item, each starting with OK or FAIL. Check setup works even when the sidebar does not. If you write to support, send a screenshot of this box.
Troubleshooting
The messages you might see, and what to do.
The sidebar shows PERMISSION_DENIED
For example "a server error occurred while reading from storage. Error code PERMISSION_DENIED". This happens when several Google accounts are signed in to the browser: Google runs the sidebar as the browser's default account, not the form owner's. Open the form in a window where only the form owner's account is signed in, such as a private window or a separate Chrome profile. The menu items, including Check setup, still work.
"Google Sheets refused access"
The account that set up the sync cannot open the spreadsheet. Open the sheet with that account and check that it is shared with it. Also check that you allowed the add-on's Sheets permission. A new sheet sync that cannot be read is not saved.
"Spreadsheet not found" or "That sheet tab was not found"
Check the link. If the tab was renamed, click Edit, then Load, choose the tab again and save.
"Google allows 20 triggers per account"
Google lets each account have 20 automatic triggers. Each form with automatic syncing uses one or two of yours: one for "after every response" and one for the hourly or daily refresh. Remove the syncs from forms you no longer use (removing a form's last sync removes its triggers). Then change a setting under When to sync in this form so it tries again.
An option name lost its ending
" (N left)" and " (FULL)" at the end of an option are added and removed by the add-on. It strips them from names in the sheet too, so "Room 4 (FULL)" is treated as "Room 4". Do not end your own option names with these.
"This sync was set up by … so it only runs from their account"
Another editor set up this sheet sync. Automatic syncs from your account skip it, so your account never reads a sheet on their behalf. Ask them to open the add-on, or set the sync up again yourself.
"The source produced no options, so the question was left unchanged"
The column is empty, or the filter matched no rows. Check the column letter, the header setting and the filter value. Use Preview to test.
A full option is still on the form
Check that After every response is ticked and seat limits are switched on for that question. If you deleted responses, click Recount responses. Look at the card and Recent activity for an error.
"Another sync is still running for this form"
The add-on runs one sync at a time per form so no response is counted twice. Wait a moment and try again.
"The free plan covers 1 form"
Your free plan is used in another form. Click Use my free plan here to move it. The other form stops syncing until you move it back or upgrade.
Frequently asked
The questions people ask first.
Does it change or delete responses?
No. It reads the answers to the synced questions to count them. It never edits or deletes a response.
Can it read my other files?
No. It can see and change only the form it is opened in, and read only the spreadsheets you link. It has no access to Google Drive, Gmail or your contacts.
How quickly does a full option disappear?
A few seconds after the response is saved. In our tests it took about 20 seconds. See the one limit for what can happen in that time.
What happens when I delete a response?
The seat is freed at the next full recount (about once a day if the hourly or daily refresh is on), or straight away if you click Recount responses. A removed option then comes back, and you get a "has space again" email if that email is on.
Can I edit the sheet while the form is live?
Yes. Changes reach the form after the next response, at the hourly or daily refresh, or when you click Sync now.
Do respondents see how many seats are left?
Only if you tick Show seats left. Otherwise they only see the option names.
Can other editors of the form use it?
Yes. Every editor who opens the add-on sees the same synced questions. Each person's plan is checked against their own Google account.
Do respondents need a Google account?
No. The add-on changes nothing about who can fill in the form.
What about the "Other" option?
The add-on counts only the options it manages. Free-text "Other" answers are not counted.
Where is my data?
Settings and counts are stored with your form, inside Google. Only a licence check leaves Google. The privacy policy lists everything.
Support
Ask the people who built it.
Send a screenshot of Check setup, the name of the question, and the exact text of any message in the sidebar. We never need your Google password.
Get help
A reply within two business days.
- [email protected]
- Support page
- Quick answers, cancelling, deleting data
- Privacy
- What the add-on stores, and what leaves Google
- Terms
- Plans, billing, refunds
Form Options Sync pages