How to Close a Google Form (Stop Accepting Responses)

Close a Google Form by hand (turn off responses)

Use this when you have enough responses and want the form to stop taking more right now.

1. Go to forms.google.com and open the form in edit mode.
2. Click Published at the top right of the editor.
3. Turn off Accepting responses.

The link keeps working, but anyone who opens it now sees a closed message instead of your questions. Your responses stay in the Responses tab and in any Google Sheet linked to the form.

Close a Google Form automatically on a date or after a set number of responses

Since January 2026 you no longer need an add-on to close a form on a deadline. Google Forms can close itself at a date and time, once it reaches a number of responses, or at whichever of the two comes first.

1. Open the form and click Published .
2. Under Accepting responses, click Set close date or response limit.
3. To close on a deadline, choose On a date, click Choose date and time, pick the moment and click OK.
4. To close at a headcount, choose After a number of responses and type the maximum.
5. Save. The form now closes on its own, even if you are offline when the time comes.

The setting only appears once the form is published, and it is off by default. If the form already has responses, the limit you enter has to be higher than the number you have, so a form with 40 entries can't be capped at 30.

Use a date for anything with a deadline: an RSVP, a job application window, homework due on Friday. Use a response limit when space is the constraint: 25 seats in a workshop, the first 100 people for a giveaway. To stop one person taking several places, see how to limit responses in Google Forms.

Change the message people see when the form is closed

By default a closed form shows one line saying it is no longer accepting responses. That is a dead end for someone who arrived late and wants to know what to do next. You can replace it:

1. Click Published .
2. Under Responders will see this message when the form is closed for responses, click Edit.
3. Type your message and click Save.

A good closed message tells a late visitor what to do next. For example:

• "Registration for the spring workshop is full. Email [email protected] to join the waitlist."
• "Applications closed on 30 September. The next round opens in January."
• "This quiz closed at the end of class. See your teacher if you were absent."

Write the message before the form closes. If you set a close date, it is the first thing late visitors see.

Reopen a closed Google Form

Reopening is the same switch in reverse: click Published and turn Accepting responses back on. The link stays the same, so anyone who already has it can submit again straight away.

If the form closed itself, check why before you reopen it. A close date that has passed or a response limit that has been hit will shut the form again, so move the date later or raise the limit first.

Responses that come in after a reopen are stored with the rest and carry their own timestamps. Sort the linked sheet by the Timestamp column and anything after your original deadline stands out, which is useful when you accept late entries but need to mark them.

Why a Google Form says it is no longer accepting responses

If your own form shows the closed message and you did not mean it to, one of these is the reason. All four are visible in the Published panel.

If the switch is on and people still can't respond, check who the form is shared with. A form limited to your organisation asks outsiders to sign in with an account they don't have, which looks like a broken form from their side.

Three checks before you close a form

1. Put the deadline in the form itself. A line in the description such as "Closes Friday 5 PM" tells people the deadline while they can still meet it.
2. Link a sheet if you haven't. Closing does not delete anything, but a linked Google Sheet makes it easier to sort, filter and share what came in once the form is shut.
3. Tell your collaborators. Anyone with edit access can flip the switch back on. If a form keeps reopening, a co-editor is the usual reason.

Where Google Forms' close settings stop

Google's January 2026 update covers the common case well: stop on a date, stop at a number. It does not control when a form opens. A Google Form is live from the moment you publish it, so if you build a registration form on Monday for sign-ups that should start on Thursday, you either keep it unpublished and remember to publish it on Thursday, or install an add-on to do it for you.

In FormNX form scheduling you set a start date, an end date, or both, and write one closed message that visitors see outside that window. Before the start they get the message instead of an early form; after the end they get it instead of a dead link. Times run on your account timezone, so a form set to close at 5 PM closes at 5 PM where you are. Add a response limit as well and the form closes on whichever comes first, the date or the cap.

Scheduling is included on the free plan, along with unlimited forms and responses. It suits anything with a window that starts as well as ends: event registration that opens on announcement day, an application period, a limited-time offer, a weekly sign-up that should not go live before Monday.

Moving an existing Google Form across? The Google Forms alternative page compares the two in full, and if you only need to share the form you already have, the free QR code generator for Google Forms works without an account.