When a Google Form stops working, the person filling it in and the person who owns it see very different things. So the fastest way to fix it is to start from what the respondent actually sees, then go to the setting that causes it.
Quick diagnosis: if they see “This form is no longer accepting responses”, responses are switched off or a limit was hit (section 1). If they hit a Google sign-in page, a setting is forcing sign-in (section 2). If they see “You need permission” or “You need access”, they have the wrong link or the form is restricted (section 3). If they press Submit and nothing happens, it’s usually a required question, a file upload or the browser (section 4). If they submitted fine but you can’t see their answers, it’s almost always the linked Sheet (section 5).
Menu names below are from Google’s own Forms help as of October 2026. Google has moved some controls into a new Publish flow, so where older forms still show the old layout, both are noted.
1. “This form is no longer accepting responses”
This message means the form is closed for responses. Nothing is broken; a switch is off. There are three ways it gets flipped.
Someone turned it off. Open the form in Google Forms, click Published at the top right, and turn on Accepting responses. On older forms that haven’t moved to the new layout, the same Accepting responses toggle sits at the top of the Responses tab. Collaborators with edit access can flip it too, so if the form was shared with editors, one of them may have closed it.
A close date or response limit kicked in. Google Forms now has a built-in “Set close date or response limit” option under Accepting responses, with “On a date” and “After a number of responses”. When the date passes or the count is reached, the form closes itself. To undo it, click Published, then Manage under Accepting responses, and either change the setting or choose Remove Expiration, then Save. Note that a new response limit has to be higher than the number of responses you already have.
The form hit Google’s per-form limits. Google’s help states that, starting in September 2026, each form can receive up to 500k responses and hold up to 1 GB of total storage (form plus response data, not counting uploaded files). New responses stop once a form reaches those limits. Google’s fix is to download and then delete existing responses so the form can accept more. Download them first via Link to Sheets or Download responses (.csv) on the Responses tab.
Check for add-ons too. Some third-party add-ons from the Google Workspace Marketplace can close a form automatically at a set time or count. If the form keeps closing itself and you didn’t set a limit, open the Extensions (puzzle piece) menu in the form editor and check what’s installed.
While you’re there: under “Responders will see this message when the form is closed for responses”, you can click Edit and write a friendlier message, such as where to go instead or when the form reopens.
2. The form asks people to sign in to Google
Google Forms are open to anyone with the link by default, but four things make Google demand a sign-in. If your respondents don’t have, or don’t want to use, a Google account, this is what blocks them.
“Limit to 1 response”. Google identifies each person by their Google account to enforce one submission each, so this setting requires sign-in. Turn it off under Settings > Responses (click the down arrow next to Responses) > Limit to 1 response.
“Collect email addresses” set to Verified. In Settings > Responses > Collect email addresses, Verified collects the email from the respondent’s Google account, which means they must be signed in. Switch it to Responder input to let people type their email instead, or Do not collect if you don’t need it.
A File upload question. Google’s help is explicit: “To answer this question, responders need to sign in to a Google Account.” There is no setting to allow anonymous uploads. Either remove the question or accept the sign-in. Uploaded files are stored in a folder in the form owner’s Google Drive.
A work or school restriction. On Google Workspace accounts, forms are often restricted to people in your organisation, and Google’s help says that in that case people must sign in with their email address to access the form. See section 3 for how to open it up.
3. “You need permission” or “You need access”
This screen means the person’s Google account isn’t allowed to open the form at that address. The usual causes, in order of how often they bite:
They have the editor link. The URL in your browser while you build the form ends in /edit. That link is for collaborators, so anyone else who opens it gets a permission screen. Respondents need the responder link, which ends in /viewform (or a shortened forms.gle link). Get it from Published > Copy responder link, Share > Copy responder link, or Preview > Copy responder link. Replace every place you pasted the old link: your bio, emails, website buttons.
The form isn’t published. Newer forms must be published before anyone can respond. Google’s help says: “If the form is unpublished, responders with the link can’t access it.” If the top-right button says Publish rather than Published, click it, choose who can respond under Manage, then Publish.
It’s restricted to your organisation. On a work or school account, check who can respond. Click Published > Manage and look at General access. If it’s limited to your domain, change it to anyone with the link. On forms still using the older settings, go to Settings > Responses and turn off “Restrict to users in [your domain] and its trusted organizations”.
Your Workspace admin blocks outside responses. If that option is greyed out or doesn’t stick, it’s an admin policy. Google’s admin settings live under Admin console > Drive and Docs settings > Form responses. One setting controls whether forms owned by your organisation can accept responses from anyone with the link outside it, and another controls whether your users can answer forms from outside organisations. Both are on by default, so if they’re off, ask your admin.
They’re signed in to the wrong account. If the form is meant for a company or school, Google’s help suggests switching to the matching work or school account in the profile picture menu, or clicking Request access.
4. The Submit button does nothing
Scroll up first. Google Forms won’t submit while a required question is blank or an answer fails a response validation rule, such as a number range or email format. The problem question is flagged in red, and on a long form it can be far above the button.
On a multi-section form, a Next button that loops back or skips ahead usually means section logic (Go to section based on answer) is sending people in a circle. Preview the form and click through every branch.
If there’s a file upload question, the person must be signed in, and the upload has to finish and match the file types and size limit you set on that question.
If the form itself is fine, it’s the browser. Google’s general troubleshooting advice for its editors applies here: try a private or incognito window, turn off browser extensions one by one (ad and script blockers are common culprits), and clear cached files and cookies. Trying a different browser or switching from mobile data to Wi-Fi (or the reverse) quickly tells you whether it’s the device or the form.
5. People submitted, but you can’t see the responses
Go to the Responses tab in the form first. Responses are stored in the form itself; a Google Sheet is only a linked copy. If the count on the Responses tab is going up, nothing is lost. The problem is the Sheet.
The Sheet was unlinked. Google’s help notes that after unlinking, “New responses won’t be sent to the spreadsheet, but your current data remains intact.” Someone may have chosen More > Unlink form, or the link broke when the spreadsheet was deleted or moved to trash.
To relink: on the Responses tab, click Link to Sheets, or open Responses > Summary > More > Select destination for responses. Choose Create a new spreadsheet or Select existing spreadsheet. A new spreadsheet gets every response the form holds, including the ones that never reached the old Sheet.
You’re looking at the wrong tab or file. When you link a form to an existing spreadsheet, answers go to a new tab in that file, often named Form Responses 2 or similar. Check the sheet tabs along the bottom.
The form is very large. Google’s help says that if responses aren’t syncing with Sheets, it can be because the form has more than 100,000 responses. In that case, download the responses as a .csv from the Responses tab.
6. Storage and shared-drive problems
File uploads land in the form owner’s Google Drive, not the respondent’s, so a busy upload form can fill your storage quickly. Google’s storage help says that when an account is over quota you can’t create new files in Docs, Sheets, Slides or Forms, and nobody can edit or copy your affected files until you free up space. Google doesn’t spell out exactly how a full Drive affects a live form, so if you’re over quota and the form misbehaves, freeing space or moving the form to an owner with room is the first thing to try.
Shared drives have their own rule. Google’s help says File upload questions aren’t available when the form is stored in a shared drive, or when your administrator has turned on Data Loss Prevention. If you moved an upload form into a shared drive and it stopped working, move it back to My Drive or remove the upload question.
A 60-second checklist before you send any form
Open the responder link (not the /edit link) in an incognito window where you’re signed out, and submit a test response. If it goes through, real people can submit too. If it asks you to sign in, revisit section 2.
Then confirm: the top-right button says Published; Accepting responses is on; any close date or response limit is what you intend; the test response shows on the Responses tab and in the linked Sheet. Delete the test response afterwards.
When Google Forms isn’t the right tool
Google Forms is excellent for free surveys and sign-ups. It doesn’t take payments when someone submits, it can’t accept file uploads without a Google sign-in, and the link is always a Google address. If you need any of those, for example a booking or registration form that collects a fee on submit, under your own name, with no account required, a form builder like OneSol’s forms (onesol.io) handles that and keeps responses next to your link-in-bio and storefront. For everything else, the fixes above should get your Google Form taking responses again.