FAQ

Common questions about Form Notifications. For fixes to specific problems, see Troubleshooting.

Getting Started

What is Form Notifications?

Form Notifications is a Google Forms add-on that sends an email, a chat post or a webhook request when your form receives a response. You set it up with rules: each rule says when to send, only if which answers match, via which channel, to where, and what message. A rule can also add an approval step, so it only sends once a person or channel approves or rejects the response.

What is a rule?

One complete instruction: Send when (the event), Only if (conditions), a channel (Email, Slack, Discord, Microsoft Teams or Webhook), To (recipients or a URL) and Message. A form can have as many rules as you need. Learn more.

Is Form Notifications free?

It offers a 7-day free trial with full access to every feature, no credit card required. After the trial, email rules that send on every response keep working for free. Chat channels, webhooks, and rules with an approval step need an active license. View pricing.

What happens when my trial ends?

Your email rules that send on every response keep sending, and you can still create and edit them; nothing breaks for respondents. The paid features pause, and rules that use them cannot be edited until you upgrade: Slack, Discord, Teams and webhook rules, and any rule with an approval step (skipped submissions stay visible in the history). See what still works.

Can my school or organization pay by invoice?

Yes. For schools and organizations we can issue an invoice payable by bank transfer, provide a quote for a purchase order, and supply a VAT-compliant invoice. Contact us with your details.

Do you offer a domain-wide license or school discounts?

Yes. A domain license covers everyone in your Google Workspace domain under one annual subscription with central billing, no per-user seats, usually the best fit for schools and organizations. Reduced pricing is available for schools, universities, and non-profits. See the Domain plan on the pricing page, or contact us.

How do I install and open it?

Install from the Google Workspace Marketplace, no separate download. Then open your form, click the Add-ons (puzzle piece) icon, then Form Notifications, then Start. See Getting Started.

Rules

Where did my notifications go?

They are rules now. Earlier versions grouped recipients under a "notification"; each of those groups became one rule, with the same message, recipients and conditions. Nothing changed in what gets sent. A notification that required approval became a rule set to only after approval, by the approver it already had. Learn more.

Can one rule email people and post to Slack?

No. A rule sends via one channel. Create two rules: Duplicate the first and use Change channel… on the copy. They can share the same conditions.

How do I pause a rule without deleting it?

Flip the switch on its row, or choose Turn off in its menu. Turn it back on any time.

Why did a rule turn itself off?

It has an error it cannot send with: a merge tag, condition or form-field recipient that points at a deleted question. The row says Has errors. Open the rule, fix it, and turn it on again.

Recipients

Who can receive an email?

Each email rule can send to any combination of:

• A typed email address (plus separate CC and BCC)
• The respondent, whoever submitted the form
• A form field, an email address collected in one of your questions

Add recipients under To with Add recipient, then pick the type. Learn more.

How do I email the person who submitted the form?

Under To, choose Add recipient, then Respondent. Your form must collect respondent emails (Settings, Responses, Collect email addresses in the form).

Can CC and BCC use the respondent or a form field?

No. CC and BCC accept typed email addresses only. The respondent and form-field recipients go in the To line.

Who do replies go to?

By default, your account's email address. You can override this per rule under Message, Sender and reply-to.

Message & Merge Tags

Can I customize the email?

Yes. Each email rule has its own subject and body, edited with a rich-text editor. You can also set a sender name and a reply-to address.

What merge tags can I use?

Any individual question's answer, plus All Answers, Form Name, Response Date, Respondent Email, and Response Edit URL. They work in email subjects and bodies and in chat posts. Learn more.

What if a merge tag points at a deleted question?

It renders as empty text, and the editor flags it as an error and turns the rule off until you fix it, so a broken message cannot send.

Conditions

Can I email different people based on the answers?

Yes. Give each rule its own Only if conditions (for example "Priority equals High") and its own recipients. Only rules whose conditions match a submission send. Learn more.

What condition operators are there?

equals, contains, is any of, and is empty. For multiple-choice, checkbox, and dropdown questions, conditions match the selected option(s).

Approval

What is approval?

An optional step on a rule: set its Send when to only after approval or when rejected, and pick an approver. The approver gets the answers with Approve and Reject buttons, and the rule fires on their decision. Learn more.

Can I require approval on just one rule?

Yes. Approval is a step on the rule itself. Set that one rule's Send when to only after approval; other rules can keep sending on every response, so you can mix: an instant copy to yourself, and an email to the respondent only once approved.

I have two rules approved by the same person. Will they get two requests?

No. A response that matches both still creates exactly one approval request for that approver. Approve once and both rules send. A rule waiting on a different approver gets its own separate request. Learn more.

How long does an approval request stay valid?

7 days. If the approver does not decide, the request expires and nothing is sent, not even by when rejected rules.

Can the approver be a Slack or Teams channel instead of a person?

Yes. Under Send when, pick A channel and paste a Slack, Discord or Teams webhook URL. The Approve and Reject buttons are posted there, and the outcome is posted back once decided. Anyone in the channel can decide. Learn more.

Why does the Approve button open a page instead of approving right away?

So that a link preview or an email security scanner cannot approve on your behalf. The decision is only recorded when you click Approve or Reject on that page. You can add your name there; it is shown to the form owner.

Can I send something when a response is approved or rejected?

Yes. Set the rule's Send when to Only after approval or When rejected. Learn more.

Slack, Discord, Teams & Webhooks

Can I post responses to Slack, Discord or Microsoft Teams?

Yes. Click + New rule, pick the channel, paste the channel's incoming webhook URL, and write the text with merge tags. Learn more.

Does it work with Zapier, Make or n8n?

Yes. Click + New rule, pick Webhook and paste the platform's catch-hook URL. Each response arrives as JSON with the form, the answers and the event. Learn more.

How do I verify a webhook request really came from Form Notifications?

Every request carries an X-Skyfield-Signature header: an HMAC-SHA256 of the raw body with the rule's signing secret. Verification examples in Node and Python.

I lost the signing secret. Can I see it again?

No, it is shown once. Open the rule, click New signing secret, and save: a new one is shown and the old one stops working.

Why is my webhook or chat rule paused?

The endpoint answered 404 or 410, which means it no longer exists (a deleted Slack webhook, a removed Zap). You got one email about it. Edit the rule, paste a new URL, and it resumes.

Sending & Delivery

Where are emails sent from?

From your own Google account, the one that set up the add-on on the form. Recipients see the email as coming from you, with the sender name you choose. One exception: email rules with an approval step (only after approval, when rejected) are sent from Skyfield's mail servers, because no submission is happening at that moment. Chat posts and webhooks are sent from Skyfield's servers too. Learn more.

Is there a sending limit?

Two apply. Because email rules send from your Google account, they count against your account's daily limit (about 100/day on personal Gmail, 1,500/day on Workspace). Form Notifications also caps sends at 500 per form per day as a safety limit. Learn more.

Why didn't a submission send anything?

Usually because the rule's conditions did not match, the rule is off, or the only recipient was a respondent or form field that did not supply a valid address (those are skipped by design). See Troubleshooting.

Permissions & Privacy

What does Form Notifications need access to?

• The current form only: to read its responses and questions
• Sending email / external requests: to build and deliver your emails, posts and webhooks
• Triggers: to run when a new response is submitted
• Your email address: to identify your account

What happens to my form data?

Response data is sent to our service to build and deliver each rule's message (and to handle approval). See our Privacy Policy for how data is handled and retained.

Still have questions?

Check Troubleshooting, our Common Questions, or contact us.