Google Form email notifications not working? Why no email arrives, and the fix for each cause

First, check whether responses are arriving at all

Open the form and click 'Responses' at the top. If the new submission is listed there, the form is fine and only the email is missing, so carry on with this guide. If the response is not there either, the problem is with the form receiving answers, not with notifications, and none of the fixes below will help.

• Response is in the 'Responses' tab, but you got no email: see causes one to three.
• You got the alert, but the respondent got no copy of their answers: see cause four.
• Some notifications arrive and some don't: see cause three, filters and Spam.

Cause 1: 'Get email notifications for new responses' is not turned on

Google Forms does not email you about new responses by default. It is an option inside each form, and it is easy to assume it is on because the form is shared and working. If you made a copy of an older form, or someone else built the form and shared it with you, check it again rather than assuming. Google's steps are:

• Open the form in Google Forms.
• At the top of the form, click 'Responses'.
• Click the 'More' icon (the three dots).
• Click 'Get email notifications for new responses'.
• Submit a test response from a private or incognito window and wait a few minutes for the email.

Cause 2: It was turned on from a different Google account

The notification setting is something a person turns on from inside the form, so it matters which Google account was signed in when they did it. If you have a personal Gmail and a work account in the same browser, it is very easy to have switched it on in one while you watch the inbox of the other.

This also explains the common complaint from teams: one person gets the alerts and their colleagues don't. Google's help page describes the option as something you turn on for yourself and does not describe a way to add more recipients to it. Each editor who wants the emails should open the form while signed in to their own account and turn the option on there.

• Click your profile picture in the top right of Google Forms and confirm which account you are using.
• If it is the wrong one, switch accounts, open the form again and turn on 'Get email notifications for new responses' from the account whose inbox you actually read.
• If you are not an editor on the form, ask the owner to share it with you with the 'Editor' role first. Without edit access you can't change its settings.
• If you need more control over who gets told, Google's own tip is the Form notifications add-on, which it says gives more notification options and can send customized follow-up emails to respondents.

Cause 3: The email arrived, but Gmail filed it away

If the setting is on and the right account is signed in, the email may be sitting somewhere other than your inbox. Gmail's help on missing messages lists the usual places: Spam, Trash, a filter that archives or deletes mail, and forwarding to another address. It also notes that emails in Spam or Trash are permanently deleted after 30 days, so old notifications may simply be gone.

Search for the form's title rather than scrolling. Then work through these checks:

• Search all folders: next to 'Search', click the 'All Mail' dropdown and choose 'Mail & Spam & Trash', then search for the form's name.
• If it is in Spam, open it and report it as 'Not spam'. Gmail says this helps stop it happening again.
• To keep future alerts out of Spam, open one notification and note the sender's address. Then click 'Show search options' in the search bar, enter that address next to 'From', click 'Create filter', tick 'Never send it to Spam' and click 'Create filter'. Gmail's help says filters have to be created from a computer, not the phone app.
• Check your filters: open Settings, click the 'Filters and Blocked Addresses' tab and look for any filter with the words 'Delete it' or 'Skip Inbox'. A broad filter you made for other mail can catch these alerts too.
• Check forwarding: in Settings, open the 'Forwarding and POP/IMAP' tab. If your mail is forwarded or downloaded to another app, the notification may be there, or deleted there.
• Check your storage. Gmail shares storage with Google Drive and Google Photos, and its help says that when storage is full you may not be able to send or receive emails.

Cause 4: The respondent didn't get a copy of their answers

This is a different email with a different switch. Google calls it a response receipt, and it only works if the form collects respondents' email addresses. If it doesn't, Google has no address to send a copy to. The steps from Google's help are:

• Open the form and click 'Settings' at the top.
• Turn on 'Collect email addresses' by choosing 'Verified' for verified email collection or 'Responder entry' for manual email collection.
• Next to 'Responses', click the Down arrow.
• Next to 'Send responders a copy of their response', choose 'When requested' or 'Always'.
• Know the difference: 'When requested' leaves it up to the respondent to ask for a copy, so many will not get one. Choose 'Always' if everyone should receive it.
• With manual entry, the copy goes to whatever address the person typed. A typo sends it nowhere, and there is nothing to fix on your side except asking them to submit again with the correct address.
• With 'Verified', Google says respondents must confirm that their Google Account email is collected with the response, so the copy goes to the account they were signed in with, which may not be the inbox they check most.

When the respondent's copy goes to Spam

Google's help includes a plain warning here: in certain circumstances, responders may not receive expected response receipts because of spam filters or other counter-abuse measures. In other words, even with everything set correctly, some copies will not land in an inbox.

So don't make the receipt the only place a respondent can find important details. If the form is a booking, an order or a registration, put the key information, such as the date, the price or what happens next, in the form's confirmation message as well, and ask respondents to check their Spam folder if a copy doesn't show up within a few minutes.

Prevent it next time

• Turn on 'Get email notifications for new responses' as soon as you build the form, signed in to the account whose inbox you read.
• Ask every collaborator who needs alerts to turn the option on from their own account.
• Submit one test response from a private window before sharing the form, and confirm both emails arrive: your alert and, if you use it, the respondent's copy.
• Set up a 'Never send it to Spam' filter for the notification sender once the first alert arrives.
• Check the 'Responses' tab every so often anyway. Email is a reminder, not the record; the responses themselves stay in the form.

If you'd rather not depend on email alone

If you want submissions in one place you already check, OneSol forms are free to start, respondents fill them in without an account, and responses land in your OneSol dashboard and inbox, with CSV export and file uploads up to 5 MB per file.