Accidents happen, even the most meticulous person can mistakenly click the “delete” button. Normally, this should not be a huge problem because in most cases, most platforms allow you to recover deleted responses with a recover or undo option. But if you are using Google Forms, your recovery options are slim and you may lose your form data permanently.

Google Forms is one of the most popular ways to collect data, survey, and collect valuable insights, but it does not offer the best data recovery features. In this guide, we will explore possible recovery options for Google Forms response deletion and alternative data collection tools with better data security features.

How Does Form Response Deletion Happen?

The following are the most common reasons why people unintentionally delete responses:

A. Accidental Deletion

Deleting Questions: When you delete any Google form questions, you are removing the responses associated with them. So, even though you didn’t delete the response, you would still lose the data.

Using Delete Shortcuts: You can also delete Google Form responses when you use delete keyboard shortcuts (Ctrl+D or shift +Del). Even if you intended to delete something entirely different, these prompts work with your Google Forms and will get your response deleted.

Selecting the wrong Icon: You can also mistakenly delete your Google Form responses if you click delete while trying to copy responses. The icons are beside each other, if you are distracted and click delete instead of copy, your responses are gone.

Distraction: Not paying attention to prompts can also have you deleting responses. For example, if you get a prompt to confirm deletion and you go ahead to click yes without properly checking the popup notification.

B. What Happens to Your Data When Responses Go Missing

There are so many reasons why your responses should never go missing, here are some of them:

• Missing data points: when responses go missing, it leads to incomplete and inaccurate data sets. For example, if you are collecting data about how many people like a potential new product but you delete the question about their location, you would lose important data that can significantly impact your go-to-market strategy.
• Inaccurate insights: Another reason why your responses should never be deleted is that it can reduce sample size,  which leads to skewed results, and eventually false interpretations. For example, if the goal of your survey is to determine the NPS score of your brand, and you delete a section of the response, you could end up with a high NPS score. This incomplete data can mislead to you think you have a “loyal and satisfied” customer base when in reality, you don’t.
• Wasted resources: Also, when responses are deleted and not recovered, it throws all the time and effort used for the data collection process down the drain. You might have to launch a new data collection, which increases your data collection cost, and if you have projects relying on the data, you would be delaying those projects.

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Why You Should Recover Your Google Form Responses Fast

Here’s why you should go above and beyond to ensure you recover deleted responses in your Google Form:

• Preserves data integrity: Recovering deleted responses ensures that your data is accurate and reliable. This ensures the data presents the real facts and enables you to draw the right conclusions.
• Maintains project timeline: If you are working on collaborative projects with other teams, failing to recover deleted responses quickly disrupts the workflow, causes frustration for the other team members, and ultimately delays the entire project.
• Builds trust with stakeholders: Also, recovering lost data fast means you care about the accuracy and reliability of your collected data, this demonstrates a level of proactive data management to stakeholders which could increase their trust in you.

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Steps to Recover Deleted Responses

Unfortunately, Google Forms does not allow you to retrieve deleted responses after they’ve been deleted from the platform.  However, here are some workaround options you can explore, depending on how the response deletion happened:

• Check Linked Google Sheet

If you connected your form to a Google Sheet to store the responses, those responses might still be there, even if deleted in Forms. Here’s how to recover using Google Sheets:

Option 1: Using Undo

If you haven’t closed the form yet, use Ctrl+Z (Windows) or Command+Z (Mac) to undo the deletion.

Option 2: Using Linked Sheet Version History

• Open the Form, and select responses

• Next, click View in sheets

• Select the timer icon, this will take you to the sheet’s version history. This feature allows you to revert to a previous version where the responses were present.

Another way to do this is by clicking file and scrolling down to select version history.

• If there is no version history, download the sheet and search for the deleted entries manually. However, keep in mind that responses might be missing the associated question headers, so pay close attention to spot them.

Option 3:  Google Support

If you’re dealing with a very complex data loss, you may want to reach out to Google Support. Keep in mind that there is no guarantee that they will be able to help you with recovery, but they may have access to other tools or resources that would help.

Advanced Tips and Tricks

While you may not always be able to recover deleted responses in Google Forms, these tips will help you prevent future data loss.

A. Using Google Workspace Features for Enhanced Response Management

Here are some ways to leverage other Google Workspace tools to manage your Google Forms response:

1. Integrate Google Forms With Sheets

• When setting up your form, Link it to Google Sheets to automatically capture responses, creating a real-time backup.
• Access the Responses tab in your form, and click “Link Sheets”

2. Setting up Automated Response Backups

You can also use Google Apps Script to back up your form responses automatically. This script will automatically export your responses to a specific folder in Google Drive or to a cloud storage service of your choice. You can also check out this step-by-step guide on how to use Google App Script to back up responses to Google Drive.

B. Leveraging Third-Party Tools for Extended Functionality

1. Overview of Add-Ons and Extensions

Another great way to back up your Google Form answers is to use add-ons or extensions specifically designed for Google Forms. These add-ons provide powerful data recovery features, version control, and audit logs.

However, you must be very cautious when selecting add-ons, so they do not become a weak spot in your data security; make sure the add-ons meet your data security and privacy requirements.

2. What Add-ons Should I Get for Google Sheets?

• Formfacade: provides advanced data recovery options, including recovering deleted responses (under certain conditions)
• Pabbly Connect: Provides data backup, version control, and conditional branching for better response management.

Additional Tips for Data Integrity

1. Backup: Export response data regularly to your preferred secure cloud storage.
2. Version control: You can also integrate your Google Forms with third-party tools that have version history support.
3. Prevention Practices: Watch out for common mistakes and avoid them.

Introduction to Formplus as a Google Forms Alternative

Google Forms is one of the most widely used online surveys and data collection tools, but it doesn’t have a built-in recovery feature for deleted responses like Formplus. Here are some other reasons why Formplus is a better option:

Formplus Features

• Intuitive interface: Formplus has a no-code user-friendly drag-and-drop builder that allows you to create engaging forms.
• Variety of question types: Supports various question formats like text, multiple choice, file upload, etc.
• Conditional logic: Formplus also has a logic feature that helps you personalize respondents’ questions based on previous responses. For example, if you are collecting data about people living in Manchester, UK but the respondent lives in Texas, US, you can condition the form to close the survey based on this response. This will ensure you collect only relevant data and optimize user experience because they are only answering relevant questions.
• Customizable Templates: Formplus also has a wide library of pre-design templates for different industries and use cases. So, building your questionnaire from scratch, you simply tweak the template to fit your data collection goals.

Advantages of Formplus over Google Forms

• Activity Log: Formplus retains all your form activities or historical versions of your form, allowing you to revert to a previous state and recover accidentally deleted responses.
• Multiple Storage: You can back up your responses to both Formplus and Google Sheets, creating a backup for your backup.
• Export Form Data: Formplus offers a dedicated export data feature to download and re-upload your entire form in different formats, including responses, at any point.
• Delete protection: Formplus also offers you clear prompts to prevent you from deleting responses, minimizing accidental loss.
• Customer Support and Resources: You also get comprehensive customer support and resources with Formplus, including tutorials, guides, and a responsive support team, to help you create and manage forms effectively.  

Conclusion

While Google Forms is one of the most popular data collection tools, it does not have the best recovery option for deleted responses. Formplus, on the other hand, provides strong data security features, such as undo/redo and a full activity log.

We hope this guide helps you to recover your response from Google Forms. However, if you would to move to a seamless and more reliable data collection tool with advanced recovery options, Sign up with Formplus!