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How to Limit Number of Responses in Google Forms [2024 Update]

In this article we will show you how to limit responses in google forms using multiple different methods. Simply follow the steps below.

How to Limit Responses By Account in Google Forms

1. Click Settings

At the top of Google Forms, click Settings.

how to limit google form responses

You will get different settings to adjust the functionality of your form.

Google forms settings

Screencap of this step

Click settings in google forms screencap‍

2. Click the Arrow on the Right of the Responses label

To access the responses settings, click the arrow on the right of the Responses label.

limit google form responses

The responses settings will appear.

Google forms response settings

Screencap of this step:

Open response settings screencap‍

3. Enable the Limit to 1 response setting

The specific setting we need to modify is the Limit to 1 response setting. By default it is disabled. Click the toggle on its right. 

how to limit responses on google forms

After clicking it, its color should change from gray to purple (or the color of whatever theme you use in your Google account).

Limit to 1 response setting enabled

Screencap of this step:

Enable limit to 1 response setting screencap

All done! You have now set the form to receive one response per user. 

How to Limit Google Form Responses Manually

1. Click the Responses Tab.

There are three tabs at the top of the Google Forms: Questions, Responses, and Settings. Click the Responses tab.

Google forms responses tab

You will see the list of responses and a few other settings for your Google Form. 

Google forms responses tabs, responses listed‍

Screencap of this step:

Access google forms responses tab screencap‍

2. Disable Accepting responses

To manually limit the Google Form responses, click the toggle besides the Accepting responses label. 

Google form limit responses

The label will change to Not accepting responses and a red-bordered box will appear, containing the message that will appear when someone tries accessing the form. You can change the message or leave it as is. 

How to limit responses in google forms

This is what appears to someone who tries accessing the form. Note that the link in the screenshot only appears if you can edit the form. 

How to limit responses in google form

Screencap of this step

Limit responses in google form screencap

How to Limit the Number of Responses in Google Forms Using Google Apps Script.

While there is no built-in function to close Google Forms when a certain number of respondents is reached, the solution can easily be implemented via Google Apps Script. Here are the steps:

1. Open Google Apps Script via Google Forms

Move your cursor to the upper-right corner of Google Forms, then click the three dots on the right of the Send button. 

Open google apps script by clicking the three dots on the right of send button

A drop-down box will appear. Select Script editor

Google forms options, select Script editor

A new tab will appear containing the Google Apps Script. 

Google apps script

2. Copy and Paste the Script to Apps Script

Copy the script from the following link:

https://github.com/rvbautista/google-forms-respondents-counter-lock/blob/main/Code.gs

After copying the script, go back to Google Apps Script. Clear the placeholder code, then paste the code you copied from the link above.

google forms limit number of responses

The set maximum number of responses in the original code is 5. If you need a higher limit, change the number 5 in Line 3 to the limit you want to set:

let maximum = 5;

Let’s say you want to set the limit the number of responses to 100, then Line 3 should be:

let maximum = 100;

Screencap:

google form limit number of responses

Don’t forget to save the project by clicking the Save project button above the code area.

Save script for limiting responses in Google Forms

3. Click Triggers on the Left Side of the Apps Script

You need to set the code to run whenever the form receives a response. To do so, hover the cursor to the left side, then click the Triggers.

How to limit number of responses in google forms

The list of triggers will appear. 

Triggers page in google apps script

Screencap of the step:

Open triggers page in google apps script screencap‍

4. Add a Trigger

Click Add Trigger on the lower-right corner of the Triggers page.

Google apps script trigger page

A large box listing the settings for the trigger will appear. 

Add trigger settings

Keep most of the settings as is except for the Select event type. Click it, then select On form submit. Click Save afterwards.

Trigger event type changed to on form submit

5. Authorize Script to Run

A new window will appear after you click Save. It will first ask you to choose the account to run the script. Select the account that you use to create the Google Forms. 

Choose account to run the script

Afterwards, the permissions needed by the script will be listed. Click Allow

List of permissions needed by the script

The window will close, and the trigger will be listed.

Trigger listed, the script will run automatically

The script will run as is, and it will automatically close once the set number of respondents has been reached. 

Google forms automatically closed when the number of respondents is reached

Google Forms automatically set to Not accepting responses after 5 Responses are reached.

Limit number of responses in google forms

We hope you now have a better understanding of how to limit number of responses in Google Forms. If you enjoyed this article, you might also like our article on the optimal header size for Google Forms or our article on how to close a Google Form. We also suggest checking out our article on how to set up email notifications for Google Forms.

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