Quick start: Build your first app and automation using Google Forms

To create your first automation using Google Forms, perform the following steps:

1. Create a form using Google Forms.
2. Create an app using the form.
3. Build an automation using the form.
4. Test the automation.

Create a form using Google Forms

Create a simple form using Google Forms. See How to use Google Forms. 

For example, in this quick start we use the following Travel Request form. But you don't have to match this exactly.

In the next step, you'll create an app using the form you just created.

Create an app using the form

To create an app using the Travel Request form:

1. Sign in to AppSheet.
   The My Apps page is displayed.
2. Select Create > App > Start with existing data.
   
   
   
   The Create a new app dialog is displayed.
3. For App name, enter Travel Approval and click Choose your data.
   
   
   
   The Select data source dialog is displayed.
4. Click Google Forms.
   
   
   
   The Select a file dialog is displayed.
5. Navigate to the Travel Request form and click Select.
   Your new Travel Approval app is created and opened in the AppSheet app editor. The Learning Center is displayed, by default.
    
   If the Try it out! dialog is displayed, click Customize with AppSheet to close it.
6. In the app editor, click Data  in the left navigation bar.
   
   
   
   When you create an app using a form from Google Forms, AppSheet adds a read-only table, in this case Travel Request, to store the responses collected by the form, as shown:
    
   Your table content might vary; the table columns are based on your form's fields.
7. 

In the next step, you'll build an automation using the Travel Request form from Google Forms.

Build an automation using the form

In this step, you'll build an automation using the form that triggers the travel request approval flow. Specifically, you'll learn how to create a bot that sends an email to the approver. 

To build an automation using the Travel Request form:

1.  In the app editor, go to Automation .
   
   
2. Click + in the top header of the Bots pane.
   
   
3. In the Add a new bot dialog, click Create a new bot.
   
   
   
   A new empty bot is created and displayed in the center pane of the app editor.
4. Edit the name of the bot.
   1. Position your cursor over the New Bot in the left navigation pane.
   2. Select More  > Rename.
      
      
       
   3. Rename the bot to Travel request approval and press Enter.
5. In the new bot flow in the center pane, click Configure event.
   
   
6. For Event name, enter Travel request form submitted and click Create a custom event.

   

   The Settings pane opens in the right side of the app editor.

   You could also select A new form resonse is submitted to Travel Request in the list of suggestions to automatically configure a portion of the event. But for the purposes of this tutorial you'll learn how to configure the event manually. For more information, see Suggestions in the app editor.
7. Configure the event as follows:
   • In the Event source drop-down, select Forms (Beta).
     New response is selected automatically.
   • For Form, select Travel Request in the drop-down (it should already be selected).
   The Settings appear as follows:
   
   
8. In the bot flow in the center pane, click + Add a step.
   
   
9. For Step name, enter Email approver and click Create a custom step.
   
   
   
   The Email approver task is added and the configuration settings are displayed in the right pane.
10. Edit the task configuration settings in the right pane, as follows:
    1. Leave the task type set to Send an email.
    2. For Email Type, click Custom template.
    3. Note, the Table is set to Travel Request.
    4. In the To field, click Add and enter your email address (for testing).
    5. In the Email Subject field, enter: Travel request to <<[Destination]>> by <<[Name]>>
       The <<[Destination]>> and <<[Name]>> are variables that refer to column data stored in the table from the requester's response.
    6. Leave the Email Body field set to the default content. 
       By default, the Email Body includes data values from the requester's response (the added row).
    The Settings appear as follows:
    
    
11. Click Save to save the app.
    
    

 The following warning message is displayed:

You can ignore this message for now. All test messages will be sent to you as the app owner, so you don't need to deploy the app in order to test the automation.

Next, you'll test your automation.

Test the automation

To test the automation:

1. Send the Travel Request form to yourself and submit a response. 
2. Check your email for a message titled Travel request to destination by name, where destination matches the destination and name matches the name specified in the submitted form.

Congratulations! You have built your first app and automation using Google Forms. 

What's next? You can access more quick starts to learn about other AppSheet features.