Free RSVP to Excel Spreadsheet with Google Docs

I recently was tasked with locating a free RSVP service for my office to use for an upcoming event. After googling it and investigating a few of the top results, I decided to attempt to use Google Docs to accomplish this task. With very little work I created a clean, minimalistic, ad free way of collecting RSVP information in a spreadsheet. Here I will provide a step-by-step guide for creating your own custom RSVP system using Google Docs. (For more information on how Google Docs works view this video)

Step 1. Get a Gmail account here.

Step 2. Google Docs.

• Goto docs.google.com/
• Sign in using your Gmail Account Username and Password
• Click New and select Spreadsheet from the drop down menu
  

• Click Form
• Click Create A Form

• After you click Create A Form the follow window will Open.

• In the field at the very top enter the name of the event for which people will be RSVPing
• In the field below that enter an explanation of what the user needs to do to RSVP, you can come back to this later. (NOTE: This is not set in stone, at anytime you can come back and make changes.)
  
• To edit a question click the pencil on the right hand side of the window. Click the pencil to the right of Name.
• You can now change this to First Name, and add help text if you would like. Help text allows you to explain to the user what you want them to enter for this question.
• Click the check box next to "Make this a required question", I highly recommend doing this to prevent people from submitting incomplete information. (NOTE: In some case it maybe wise to leave this uncheck if you feel the specific question is not relevant to everyone using the form, for the most part though you will want to use this option.)
• Click Done.
• Click Add Question
  

• When you click Add question the follow menu will appear.

• I will now quickly explain what each of these types of question is.
  
  • Text
    The user can type any thing they want in a single line.
    
  • Paragraph text
    Same as text except this has multiple line that can be enter.
    
  • Multiple choice
    This allows the user to select from several choices with radio buttons (circles with a dot in the selected one, user can choose only one).
    
  • Check boxes
    Similar to multiple choice but the user can select more than one response.
    
  • Choose from a list
    Similar to multiple choice except it is a drop down list instead of radio buttons.
    
  • Scale (1-n)
    This question allows users to answer with a rate such as on a scale of 1 to 10
• For the purposes of this example select multiple choice.
• Fill out the information for this question in a way that suits your RSVP needs.
  

• Click Done.
• Now edit the message people recieve when the complete the form
• Click More actions and then click Edit conformation.
  

• In the windows that pops up you will be able to enter a personalize message that will appear when the user has filled out the form and clicked submit.
• Click the Save button at the top right of the screen.
• Close the window
• Open the window or tab in your browser that contains the Google docs spreadsheet

• The columns in the spreadsheet labels will be the same as the questions you enter in the form.

• To Preview the form click Form at the top of the spreadsheet.
• Then click Go to live form.
• This will show what your form will look like when you send it to others.
• To send your form to others click Embed form. . .
• Copy the link and past it in a e-mail to the people you wish to invite to your event.

Once you have collected some responses you may want to download the spreadsheet. This is a simple process.

1. Login to Google Docs.
2. Click on the check box beside the name of your spreadsheet.
   
   
3. Then click more More Actions.
   
4. Then click Save as Excel.
5. Your spreadsheet should start downloading.

In conclusion this is a simple process when you actually go to do it. These instructions are just very long winded. Also Google Docs is pretty straight forward. Explore and play with it, you may find it can great improve the way you do some of your daily tasks.