How to Let Users Upload Files and Photos in Google Forms

When you create a form for applicants, contestants, or team members, you can allow respondents to upload files or photos to Google Forms. All you have to do is create a “question” about the file upload. We’ll show you how.

Add the file upload question in Google Forms

Visit Google Forms, sign in and open the form you want to use or create a new one. Use the floating toolbar on the right to add a question with the plus sign.

Select “File Upload” in the Question Type drop-down box at the top right of the question block.

You will see a message informing you that the files will be uploaded to your Google Drive and respondents will need to sign in with their Google account. Click Next to add the question.

Add the question in the Question field and optionally attach an image to your question if you want.

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Set limits for uploaded files

You probably don’t want respondents to upload anything. To that end, you have three options to set up your file upload question to only accept the files you want.

file type

Turn on the switch if you want respondents to only upload certain types of files. Then select one or more check boxes for the type, including Document, PDF, Video, Image, or another option.

Maximum number of files

In some cases, you may want to allow respondents to upload more than one file. For example, if you have a photo contest that allows participants to submit more than one image, you can post that here.

Maximum file size

Since the uploaded files will be sent to your Google Drive, you may want to limit the file size. You can choose between 1MB and 10GB. You can see the form file size limit under the setting. Select “Change” if you want to increase this limit.

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You can then ask the required question by activating the switch at the bottom right of the question box if you wish.

Your question is then ready to go!

How to view the attached files

Once you’ve published or shared your form and received replies, you can check out the files uploaded to Google Drive in one of the following ways.

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Go to the Answers tab for your form to view individual files for the question.

Go to the question on your form or the Answers tab and select View Folder. You will be taken directly to the folder in your Google Drive to view all files.

Visit Google Drive and look for the folder. Its name contains the form title with a subfolder for the question title.

When you get to the subfolder that contains the uploaded files, each file name corresponds to the respondent’s Google account name. As mentioned above, respondents must sign in with their Google account to upload the file.

Whether you want to receive resumes, photos or videos, team updates, or timesheets, the Google Forms file upload question is a convenient way to do it.

For more information, see Limiting responses in Google Forms or Closing a form when you’ve stopped accepting responses.