Guide

Send a personalized confirmation email from Google Forms

If people only need a copy of their answers, Google Forms can send that for you. Use Answerfinch when you want your own message, with their answers in it, or only for certain answers.

First, see if Google's receipts are enough

In your form, open Settings, then Responses.

1. Under Collect email addresses, choose how you collect them. Verified uses the respondent's Google account. Responder input lets them type an address.
2. Under Send responders a copy of their response, choose When requested or Always.

Where these settings are in Google Forms. The form in the picture has both options turned off.

If a copy of the answers is all you need, you can stop here. Google's help page explains the setting. If you turn on Google's receipts and an Answerfinch confirmation, people may get two emails, so decide which one you want.

Example: a registration confirmation

This example sends each person a short note saying you received their registration. It doesn't approve a place, take a payment or make a booking.

Use a small test form or a copy of your real form, with these questions and settings:

• Nameshort answer, required
• Sessionmultiple choice or dropdown
• Email collectionVerified, if it suits your form

Submit one sample response yourself, for example Name: Sam and Session: Friday workshop. You'll use it to preview the email.

1. Choose when it runs

Open Answerfinch from the form's add-on menu. The first time, you may see Connect this form; choose Start in this form. Then choose Create a rule and name it Registration confirmation. If this form already has one of your rules, choose Edit on it instead.

Under When, choose Name, then is not empty. Name is required, so every completed response matches. If only one kind of registration should get the email, use that question with is and pick the value instead. A rule has one condition.

2. Choose who gets it

Under Send to, choose The person who filled in the form, then Email collected by Google Forms. If your form asks for an email in its own question, choose that question instead. If email collection is off, or Answerfinch can't check it, you'll need to choose a question before you can save.

The confirmation rule in the editor.

Answerfinch sends to one address from the response. Anyone can type someone else's address into a text question, so don't treat it as proof of who they are, and test with your own address first.

3. Write the message

Use a clear subject, such as "We received your registration". In Message, write a short note. To add an answer, put the cursor where it should go, open Insert answer and choose the question. The final email could read:

Hi Sam,

We received your registration for Friday workshop.

Please keep this email for your records. We'll contact you separately if we need anything else.

Only say what the form can back up. Don't promise approval, a payment or a seat unless something outside the form has confirmed it.

The message and its preview.

The preview on the right shows the email built from a recent matching response. If no recent response matches, the picker says Latest response (no recent match). If it asks you to Select a response, pick one from the list. Choose Refresh after you change anything. The preview never sends anything. When it looks right, choose Save, check the summary, and choose Save rule.

4. Turn on alerts and send yourself a test

If you see Preview and test on the rule, choose it to check the test email. Confirm with Turn on alerts and send test.

If you don't see it, use the switch next to Alerts off. If you're on Free and Answerfinch offers Keep this rule on Free, choose it. That makes this the one rule that runs, and pauses a rule you picked on another form.

If you turned alerts on with the switch, choose Send me a test on the rule. Answerfinch shows the email built from the latest matching response, and you can pick another response from the list. If it asks you to Select a response, pick one first. The test goes only to you, even though the real rule emails the respondent. Choose Send test to myself, or Cancel.

The test preview with a different response picked.

In the send log, Sent means Google accepted the email for sending. It doesn't tell you whether it reached the inbox. For a full check, submit a new response with your own email and see that the confirmation arrives the way you expect.

Free and Pro

One confirmation rule fits in the free plan, which runs one rule at a time across your Google account. If you also want an email to a teammate, that's a second rule. Pro is $4 a month or $29 a year, taxes included, and runs more rules across your account's forms. There's no separate trial.

If a confirmation is missing

Check that the rule is active, alerts are on, the condition matches, the response has one valid address, and Google's daily sending limit hasn't run out. Tests and resends count toward that limit.

If Review and resend is offered for a Failed or Unknown entry, choose it, check the preview, then choose Resend with current rule. Unknown can mean the first email did go out, so resending could send it twice. A resend uses the current rule and response, not a saved copy of the original.

Each form keeps its latest 200 log entries, and you can view or resend entries from the last 30 days, whichever limit comes first. Answerfinch doesn't send responses automatically if it sees them more than 48 hours after they were submitted.

For help, email runredteam@gmail.com with the step, the app version, any error code and the time in UTC. Please don't send responses, addresses, message text or license keys.