How To Go to a Section Based on a Specific Answer in Google Forms

Google Forms lets creators and collaborators gather information from respondents and organize and analyze the results. Depending on your needs, you might want to create a more dynamic form that adapts to the respondents’ answers. Fortunately, there’s a way to make Google Forms more engaging and gather more accurate information.

This article will discuss how to tweak questions in Google Forms to redirect respondents to new sections based on their answers.

Keep reading to learn more.

Go to Section Based on Answer

Google Forms is a free web-based software that allows users to make surveys and quizzes. Creating a Google Form requires a Google account since the program uses the online space to store and organize responses. To customize your form, you can select different question types, header pictures, and color themes. It has become a multipurpose tool, letting you respond to invitations or upgrade teaching materials.

You can tweak the settings so that even users without a Google account can fill in the form and submit their responses.

The software offers many organizational features, including multiple-choice and checkbox questions. Typically, you create questions, and users go down the page to answer them. However, not all of the questions may be relevant to them. Or, you might want certain users to see different questions. In such cases, it’s best to set criteria that monitor user responses and redirect them to a specific section based on their choice.

The “go-to section based on answer” option breaks down the Google Form page into smaller sections and regulates which questions are shown to respondents. It’s a handy feature for anyone who wants to measure customer satisfaction. People are more likely to give truthful answers to questions they relate to and find relevant.

Although modifying a form can be challenging, redirecting respondents to different questions based on their answers is relatively straightforward. Here’s how to do it on a PC:

Sign in to your Google account and go to Google Forms.
Start a new form and tap the bottom button in the floating panel on the right to add a section.
Give your section an appropriate name. You can also add a subheader and upload pictures or videos.
Type a question in the section. Depending on your needs, you might want to type several questions. Make sure that all questions are multiple-choice.
Create as many sections as you need. Remember to add questions to each one.
Navigate to a multiple-choice question and click on the three horizontal dots in the lower-right end of the window.
Select “Go to section based on answer” from the list of options. A drop-down menu will appear next to the possible answers.
Determine which section each answer will lead to and choose the corresponding option from the drop-down menu.

Google Forms will record the changes and take participants to specific sections based on their answers. But there’s another way to control which parts of the form respondents see.

Sign in to your Google account and open Google Forms.
Create a new form and hit the button in the floating panel in the right part of the window to make a new section.
Customize the section by renaming it and adding a subheader, pictures, or videos.
Type a question into the section. If you’re making a complex quiz, you could add more questions. Remember to mark all questions as “multiple choice.”
After you’ve created several sections, navigate to a multiple-choice question. If it’s located in “Section 1,” find the “After Section 1” drop-down menu. It’s located beneath the question.
Press the drop-down menu and select which section the respondent will see next.

If you’ve picked “Section 3,” respondents who have completed Section 1 won’t see the questions in the second section. Instead, Google Forms will take them directly to the third section.

Those who prefer to use the Google Docs Editors suite on Macbooks can hone their quiz-making skills and take respondents to specific questions.

Sign in to your Google account and head to Google Forms.
Start a new form and click on the bottom button in the floating panel to generate a new section.
Rename the section or add a subheader and upload video files and pictures.
Type a question. The section may contain several questions if you’re making a pop quiz. Make sure that all questions are set to “multiple choice.”
Add more sections.
Hold the cursor over a question and tap the three horizontal dots in the lower-right corner.
Press “Go to section based on answer.” Google Forms will create a drop-down menu next to each answer.
Go through each answer, decide which section they’re tied to, and select the appropriate option from the drop-down menu.

When respondents complete a section, Google Forms automatically takes them to the next one. However, you may wish to guide them to questions contained in a different part of the form. In that case, you can tweak the form’s setting and control the section order. Here’s how to do it on a Mac:

Sign in to your Google account and visit Google Forms.
Create a new form and select the bottom button from the floating panel.
Customize the section by renaming it, uploading images and videos, or including a subheader.
Type your question. You can type several related questions if you’re teaching or reteaching a complex topic. All questions should be multiple choice.
Create more sections.
Navigate to a specific section and go to the bottom of the window. If you’re in Section 1, find the “After Section 1” menu.
Press the menu to view the list of options.
Determine which section users will go to after completing Section 1.

Can You Go To a Specific Section Based on Checkbox Responses?

Although Google Forms is pretty user-friendly, it still doesn’t allow you to use answer checkboxes to redirect users to other parts of the form. This feature is reserved for multiple-choice and drop-down options.

Go to Section Based on Answer Not Working Properly

If you’ve created a form using the “Go to section based on answer” feature, you probably expect it to smoothly transition into a new part of the form. But when it keeps taking respondents to the wrong section, it may ruin your research and put people off completing the questions.

When a section contains several multiple-choice or drop-down questions, Google Forms will detect the conditions set for the final question only. The program won’t register the request if you’ve tied the first question to a new section. Instead, it will only respond to the command established for the final question.

So how do you resolve this issue? If you only want to modify the answers to the last question, you can leave the section as is since there are no interfering criteria. But if you need all responses to redirect respondents to different sections, Google Forms will detect the request coming from the bottom of the section. It’s best to break up the questions into separate sections to avoid criteria conflict. Once you create new sections with a single question, the program will have no difficulty redirecting respondents to other parts of the form.

Before creating and sending your form, check the questions to see whether you’ve selected the “multiple choice” or “drop-down” option. Trying to send respondents to a new section with checkbox answers will be unsuccessful.

Not All Answers Lead to the Same Section

Although Google Forms has many exciting features, it still hasn’t introduced a way to use checkbox answers to redirect respondents to new sections. Until the program ushers in an upgrade, you can use the “Go to section based on answer” option with multiple choice and drop-down answers. Alternatively, opt for software like Paddy Form Builder for more customization options.

Do you often use Google Forms? Have you allowed respondents to skip sections before? Let us know in the comments section below.