Start From a Spreadsheet

Dynamic Form Choices runs in Google Sheets as well as in Google Forms. If your options already live in a spreadsheet you maintain (a roster, a timetable, a stock list), you can start there: the add-on uses your column as the options, adds a Capacity and a Taken column beside it, and keeps the form you pick in sync.

Nothing moves. Your tab stays your tab; the add-on only ever writes into the two columns it added.

Connect the Spreadsheet

1. Open the spreadsheet in Google Sheets, then Extensions → Dynamic Form Choices → Start
2. Pick the tab that holds your options
3. Leave First row is a header on if row 1 is a heading. Turn it off if your first row is already an option
4. Pick the column with the options. The list shows every column with its heading and the first few values, so you can tell them apart
5. Under Capacity, keep Add a Capacity column for me, or choose Use a column I already have if your sheet already carries a "Max" or "Seats" column
6. Press Choose a form and pick the Google Form to feed. Google's file picker grants the add-on access to that one form and nothing else
7. Pick the question to fill, then press Connect spreadsheet. A spreadsheet feeds one question of one form for now

The first sync runs right away: your options land in the form, the Capacity column is added (if you asked for one), and the Taken column fills with the number of people who have picked each option so far.

Your Columns

Capacity and Taken are added after the last used column of the tab. You can insert or move columns afterwards: the add-on tracks its columns by identity, not by letter.

The sidebar shows which letters are in play under each connected question, for example Roster · options C · capacity D · taken E.

Instant Updates

A spreadsheet can sync your form on a schedule, but it cannot watch the form's responses as they arrive. Straight after connecting, the sidebar shows:

• Auto-sync: every hour. Options go to the form and Taken is refreshed once an hour, and whenever you press Sync now
• Instant updates: off. A full option is removed from the form on the next hourly run, not the moment it fills

To turn instant updates on, open the form once: click the form's name in the sidebar, then Add-ons → Dynamic Form Choices → Start in the form. That installs the form's own on-submit trigger, and from then on Taken refreshes and full options close on every submission. The Sheets sidebar shows Instant updates: on as soon as it has.

If the sidebar shows Auto-sync: while this sidebar is open instead, Google did not give the scheduled run access to your spreadsheet. Syncs still happen every time you open the sidebar or press Sync now, and opening the form once as above hands scheduling to the form.

Capacity

Capacity works exactly as it does in an options sheet: blank means unlimited, 0 keeps an option off the form, and an option whose Taken count reaches its Capacity is removed from the form. Raise the number and it comes back on the next sync.

With instant updates off, a full option is removed on the next hourly run; with them on, at the submission that fills it.

One Form per Spreadsheet

A spreadsheet feeds one form. Trying to connect a second form shows the one it is already connected to. If the form you pick is already fed from its own options sheet, or has already been set up from inside the form, the sidebar says so and links you there rather than creating a second source.

Disconnect

Disconnect spreadsheet puts every option back on the form (including any that were closed by capacity), stops syncing, and forgets the connection. The Capacity and Taken columns stay in your spreadsheet with their values. Delete them yourself if you no longer want them; the add-on never removes a column.

Working From Both Sides

Once the form has been opened once, the connection shows up in both places: the Sheets sidebar and the form's Questions tab. Disconnecting from either side disconnects both.

You can also set a connection up from the form's side and point it at a spreadsheet that was connected from Sheets: open the cog in the form's Questions tab and use Set this form up from a spreadsheet?

Which Way Should I Start?

Either way, the sheet is the source of truth: edit options and capacities there, not in the form editor.