Migrate a Google Form: import questions and keep your history

Keep the old response sheet. Thunder Forms imports supported questions and structure from a Google Form, but it does not move the answers you have already collected. New responses will be separate.

Choose a quiet point in the collection window for the changeover. If applications must remain open, agree who will check both response lists while you update links.

Make a record of the current setup

Note the required questions and page order, then record any validation, branching, and quiz settings. Keep a copy of the response destination and any formulas that depend on its columns. Export historical responses as a backup if you need one.

Conditional logic is not currently supported in Thunder Forms. If respondents need to follow different paths through the questions, decide how to handle those paths before importing the form and inviting people to use the new link.

Import and compare the questions

Open the builder, connect the Google account that can access the source form, and run the import. Import, Drive uploads, and Sheets sync use the same Google connection, so verify the account shown in the setup panel before choosing the source form or configuring destinations.

Review every imported page beside the original. Supported text and choice questions carry their labels and required settings, and text controls receive a "Your answer" hint. Grid questions, images, videos, and standalone text items appear in the skipped-item list. A simple supported form may have no skips.

Check choices manually. Free-text "Other" options are omitted. Google Forms validation rules, branching, and quiz settings do not transfer, even when the underlying question imports successfully. Rebuild the rules you need using supported controls. For an imported upload field, check its limits against the current 12 MiB per-file maximum.

Reconnect destinations

Choose a Drive folder for every upload field before saving, then connect Google Sheets and check the dedicated response tab using a test submission that includes an attachment. Existing formulas and charts remain tied to their old data until you rebuild the references. Keep new analysis in a separate tab so it does not interfere with sync.

The Sheets setup guide explains column behavior. If you use uploads, the Drive guide covers access checks for the people who review files.

Test before changing the public link

Leave required answers blank. Try values outside the constraints you configured, then check that the displayed errors let you correct each answer and complete a full submission without losing other answers. Navigate back to an earlier page as part of the test. Confirm that the final response reaches the dashboard and sheet, and that uploaded files open for reviewers.

Submit a complete response from the same kind of device your audience uses, testing answer keys and the grade-release policy separately if you have configured the imported form as a quiz. The validation guide can help you review a rule that blocks a valid answer.

Switch links and check both histories

Update the links you control, including website buttons and email templates. Decide how to handle printed QR codes or links in messages you cannot edit. Close the Google Form to new responses at the agreed point, keeping its response sheet available as history.

Check both response lists at changeover. Give colleagues the location of the old answers and the new response tab so they can find either set without assuming the import combined them.

Use a cutover checklist

Before the switch, confirm each item with the person who owns that part of the process:

• Keep a dated export of historical responses and a copy of the old form.
• Compare every imported question, option, required flag, and page order.
• Rebuild rules or branches that did not import, or record the workaround.
• Reconnect Drive and Sheets, then test access using a reviewer account.
• Submit one valid and one invalid response through the public link.
• Update links and tell the team where old and new responses are stored.

Keep the original form available until the new workflow has received a real submission and the response appears in the expected place. If an issue appears, pause link changes and direct new respondents back to the known working form while you investigate. This gives the team a clear rollback point without mixing old answers into the new response history.

Open the builder to begin the import. If the source needs a larger redesign, inspect a template before rebuilding its questions.