How to Use Form Publisher with Google Forms
Form Publisher is a Google Forms add-on that turns each response into a PDF, Doc or Word file from your own template. To set it up:
- Make a template in Google Docs with markers such as <<Full name>>.
- Install it from and open it from the puzzle-piece icon.
- Pick the template, the file type and the folder, then submit a test response.
It's free for 20 submissions a month, then $99 a year for one user.
What Form Publisher does
Form Publisher is a Google Forms add-on from Talarian that turns each form response into a document. You design a template once in Google Docs, Sheets or Slides.
Every time someone submits, Form Publisher copies the template, fills in their answers and saves the new file.
- File types: PDF, Google Docs, Sheets and Slides, or Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
- Where files go: a folder in your Google Drive, and by email to the people you choose.
- Extras: a one-step approval and an e-signature request on the generated file.
Teams use it for quotes, purchase requests, contracts, incident reports and certificates. Saving a response as a PDF by hand, with no add-on, is covered in our guide to saving Google Form responses as a PDF.
How to use Form Publisher in Google Forms
- Make a template in Google Docs, Sheets or Slides. Where an answer goes, type the question title between double angle brackets, such as <<Full name>>.
- Open your form, click the three dots at the top right, then Get add-ons. Search for Form Publisher, click Install and allow access.
- Click the puzzle-piece icon at the top of the form and choose Form Publisher.
- Pick your template, the file type, such as PDF, and the Drive folder for the new files.
- Choose who gets each file: the respondent, fixed addresses, or both. Add an approver if the file needs sign-off.
- Submit a test response and check the file in Drive and in the email.
These steps follow Form Publisher's own three-step setup: template, recipients, then generation. From then on, every new response becomes its own file.
How Form Publisher template markers work
A marker is a question title wrapped in double angle brackets. When a response comes in, Form Publisher swaps each marker for that person's answer.
| Form question | Marker in the template | In the finished PDF |
|---|---|---|
| Full name | <<Full name>> | Ana Lopez |
| Course | <<Course>> | First Aid Level 1 |
| Start date | <<Start date>> | 12/11/2026 |
The marker has to match the question title exactly. Rename a question later and the old marker stops filling in. Update the template whenever you edit the form.
Is Form Publisher free?
Yes, for 20 form submissions a month, for one user. Notifications on the free plan carry Form Publisher's branding. Past 20, you need a paid plan.
| Plan | Price | Submissions a month | Users |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 20 | 1 |
| Individual | $99 a year ($8.25 a month) | Unlimited | 1 |
| Business | $690 a year ($57.50 a month) | Unlimited | Unlimited, in one Google Workspace domain |
Paid plans are billed yearly. Prices come from Form Publisher's own pricing page. It also says there are no education or non-profit discounts and no prorated refunds.
What that costs on a real form
- A club with 15 sign-ups a month: the free plan covers it.
- A training team issuing 60 certificates a month: past the free 20, so $99 a year for one user.
- Five colleagues who each build their own forms: each needs their own Individual plan, or the team moves to Business at $690 a year.
Is Form Publisher safe?
Form Publisher has 24m+ installs and an average rating of 4.6 out of 5 from 4,264 ratings on the Marketplace. Its pricing page says it doesn't store your forms or recipients' email addresses in its own database.
It does need wide access, because it creates and shares files for you. The listing asks for 15 permissions, including:
- See, edit, create and delete all of your Google Drive files, not only the template and its folder.
- The same for all your Docs, Sheets and Slides.
- Send email on your behalf and as you, for the notifications.
- Run when you are not present, so files are made while you're offline.
On a work or school account, check with your admin first. The settings also belong to the account that set them up. If that person is leaving, move the settings to a new owner first, as Form Publisher's help explains.
Form Publisher vs Document Studio
Document Studio, from Digital Inspiration, is the other big document add-on for Google Forms. Both fill a template with each response. They differ on price and on how the limit works.
| Form Publisher | Document Studio | |
|---|---|---|
| Installs | 24m+ | 6M+ |
| Marker style | <<Question>> | The question title in double curly braces |
| Free use | 20 submissions a month | Free with paid features |
| Paid from | $99 a year | $79.95 a year, for 500 documents a day |
For certificates in your own design at no cost, Autocrat is a free option. It's set up step by step in our guide to Google Forms certificates. Other kinds of add-on are compared in our guide to Google Forms add-ons.
Form Publisher not working? Fix common problems
| What happened | How to fix it |
|---|---|
| A marker shows up as text in the file | The marker doesn't match the question title. Copy the title exactly, including capitals and spaces. |
| New responses make no file | Check whether you've used the free 20 submissions this month, and that Form Publisher is still turned on for the form. |
| Nobody gets the email | Check the recipients in the sharing settings. To email the respondent, the form needs a question or setting that collects their email address. |
| The colleague who set it up is leaving | The settings belong to their account. Move them to a new owner before they go. |
| You need two approvers in a row | Form Publisher has one approval step. Multi-level approval isn't available. |
Tips before you rely on it
- Lock the question titles. Finish the form before you build the template, because every rename breaks a marker.
- Name the files. Put the person's name and the date in the file name so a folder of 200 PDFs stays readable.
- Test with a long answer. A long address can push a one-page PDF onto two pages.
- Count your month. At 20 free submissions, a busy week can use up the quota early.
Where Form Publisher stops
Form Publisher works around a form that can't make documents. You build the template in a separate app and type every question title into it as a marker. Then you give the add-on access to your whole Drive.
| What you want | Google Forms + Form Publisher | FormNX |
|---|---|---|
| A PDF made from each submission | Add-on needed | Yes, on paid plans |
| Design the document | In a separate Docs, Sheets or Slides file | Yes, in the PDF builder |
| Put answers into the document | Type each question title as a marker | Pick the fields |
| Email the PDF after someone submits | Add-on needed | Yes, on paid plans |
| Access to all your Google Drive files | Required | Not needed |
| A signature on the document | Signature request after submitting | Yes, a signature field in the form |
In FormNX the PDF builder is part of the form. Start from a PDF template, a blank page or an AI draft, then place the answers where they belong. Each submission becomes a finished PDF, and it can be emailed to the respondent, to you, or both.
You can open the PDF builder on the free plan, and the signature field is free too. PDF on submission, PDF by email and PDF export are on paid plans.
PDFs from every submission, no add-on
Design the PDF once in the form builder. Each response becomes a finished document, emailed where you want it.
Try FormNX freeFree plan available. PDF on submission is on paid plans.
To compare the two builders in full, see the Google Forms alternative page.
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