The Google URL Shortener in Forms is now forms.gle

The old goo.gl shortener stopped making new links years ago.

Google closed Google's public goo.gl shortener to new links some time ago, and Forms moved to forms.gle. Old goo.gl links are a separate story. Google later switched off goo.gl links that had stopped being used, and kept the ones people were still clicking. So an old goo.gl form link might still work, or it might not. The quickest way to find out is to open it.

If an old goo.gl form link no longer opens, your form is still there.

Switching off a short link doesn't touch the form behind it. Open the form in Google Forms, copy the responder link again with the steps below, and share that, or a new short link, in place of the old one. Update the places you can still edit, such as a course page, a pinned post or an email footer. Anything already printed will keep showing the old link, so replace those copies when you next print.

A link people can read, and a count of every open, are what zip1 adds.

A forms.gle link is fine when it only has to open the form. Its ending is a mix of letters and numbers, so it's hard to read off a poster or remember. With zip1 you type the ending you want, such as the name of your event. zip1 also counts every open of the link, so you can compare opens with the responses you get.

You can still shorten a form inside Google Forms.

Google Forms makes a forms.gle link for you once the form is published:

1. Click Publish, or Publish and notify. To change who can respond, use Manage.
2. Copy the form's responder link.
3. Tick Shorten URL and copy the forms.gle link.

The short link starts with forms.gle/, and Google sets the rest. It opens the same form as the long one.

zip1 gives your form link a name you choose and counts every open.

Paste your form's responder link into zip1 and you get a short link that ends in a word you pick, such as zip1.io/spring-poll. There's no account to make and nothing to pay.

1. Copy the responder link from Google Forms, using the steps above but without ticking Shorten URL.
2. On the zip1.io homepage, paste it into the box and click Advanced Options.
3. In Custom alias, type the name you want. That's the part after zip1.io/. zip1 tells you straight away if the name is free.
4. Click Shorten.

The short link opens the same form, and responses still go to your Google Form, just as before. zip1 counts each time the short link is opened. Put that next to the number of responses in Google Forms and you can see how many people opened the form without filling it in. That gap is your drop-off. Clicks from link-preview bots are labelled as bots. They still count in the total.

To see the numbers, click View Analytics after you shorten the link, or go to zip1.io/stats and paste your short link. You'll see opens by day, total and unique clicks, countries, browsers and operating systems, and the sites that sent people to the form. Anyone with the short link can see its stats page. Password-protected links also need the password. Visitor IP addresses are stored to count unique visitors. They are never shown on the stats page or included in the export.

A short link also makes a cleaner QR code for posters and handouts.

If your form is going on a poster, a classroom wall or a handout, you can turn the zip1 link into a QR code in three steps:

1. Copy your form's responder link from Google Forms.
2. Shorten it on zip1.io, with an ending people can read, such as zip1.io/spring-poll.
3. On the page that shows your new short link, click the QR code to download it as a PNG picture you can print.

Each scan opens the short link, so it counts as an open on the stats page, just like a tap on the link. Scans and taps are counted together. If you want a logo or brand colours on the code, a design tool such as Canva can add them.

Why not make a QR code from the raw docs.google.com address?

A Google Forms address is long, and a long address makes a busier QR code that is harder to scan when it's printed small. It also gives you no way to count scans. A QR code made from the zip1 link stays simpler, and every scan shows up on the stats page.

A few things to get right before you print.

• Make one short link for each venue, such as each school, room or event, and print each one's own QR code. Then you can see which place brought the most people.
• Finish the form before you print, because once the short link is made it can't be pointed at a different address.
• Print zip1.io/ and your ending under the code, so anyone whose camera won't scan it can type it in.

The same works for any form tool, not just Google.

zip1 doesn't change your form or touch the answers people send. It simply opens the address you gave it, so the same steps work for Microsoft Forms, Typeform, Jotform or any other form with a link.

FAQ

• What happened to goo.gl in Google Forms?

  Google Forms no longer makes goo.gl links. Its Shorten URL tick-box now makes forms.gle links instead. Google has also switched off goo.gl links that had stopped being used, so an old goo.gl form link may or may not still open. The form itself is not affected.

• Can I choose the wording of a forms.gle link?

  In Google Forms you tick Shorten URL and copy the forms.gle link it gives you. With zip1 you type the ending you want: shorten the form's responder link on zip1.io and type the name in Custom alias.

• How can I see how many people opened my form?

  Share a zip1 link to the form, then open that link's stats page. zip1 counts every open of the link, so you can compare opens with the responses you get. Anyone with the short link can see its stats page. Password-protected links also need the password. Visitor IP addresses are stored to count unique visitors. They are never shown on the stats page or included in the export.

• Does shortening the link change the form or where responses go?

  No. The short link opens the same form, and every response still goes to your Google Form, just as before.

• How do I make a QR code for my Google Form?

  Shorten the form's responder link on zip1.io. The page that shows your new short link also shows a QR code. Click the QR code to download it, then add it to your poster or handout.

• Can I count how many people scanned it?

  Yes. A scan opens the short link, so it shows up as an open on the link's stats page, by day, country, browser and operating system. Scans and taps on the link are counted together. Anyone with the short link can see its stats page. Password-protected links also need the password. Visitor IP addresses are stored to count unique visitors. They are never shown on the stats page or included in the export.

Related