Why is my Google Form not sending: what stops it

A Google Form either saves the answer and shows a confirmation, or it stops at a wall. The silent walls are the hard ones, since nothing tells the visitor to try again or where to look. The visitor filled in every field they could see, pressed Submit and got no confirmation. Behind that press, the form may be checking a required question above the button, asking for a sign-in they cannot give, or refusing new answers because it is closed. A browser that blocks the request to Google fails the same silent way. To the visitor, all four look like one button that did nothing.

• Open the form in a private window while signed out of Google, then press Submit on the last page.
• Note which question shows a red message, and whether that question is on screen when the message appears.
• Look for a sign-in page or a notice that the form is for one organization before any question appears.
• Check the form's settings for a switch that stops new answers, and see whether a closed notice replaces the questions.
• On a laptop, open the browser console right after the press and look for a blocked request to Google.

The first wall is the last page. If a question the visitor was shown is required and left empty, or an email question holds text that is not an email address, the form stops and writes a red line under that question. On a long form that question can sit well above the button, so the visitor sees the button do nothing. The second wall is a sign-in. A form limited to people in one organization, or one that requires sign-in, sends a stranger to a Google sign-in page or to a notice that the form is for someone else.

The third wall is a form that has stopped accepting responses. The visitor sees a notice where the questions used to be. The fourth wall has no screen at all. A browser that blocks the request to Google leaves the button idle or spinning, and nothing new appears. When no notice shows, a blocked request and a stuck button look the same from the stranger's side, so you have to read the console to tell them apart.

You edit the form signed in to Google, so your own view runs under your account. That account skips the sign-in wall a stranger hits, and a test run from the edit screen can pass while the same link stops for everyone else. Open the shared link in a private window that is signed out of Google, and test that window instead. Repeat the test on a phone, since a red line under a question high on a long last page can sit below the part of the screen the visitor sees.

Sometimes the confirmation appears and the Responses tab of the form you edit stays empty. A common cause is a copy. Making a copy creates a second form with its own Responses tab. The link you shared still opens the original, so answers land there while you edit the copy. Submit a valid answer through the shared link from a private window, then check the Responses tab of each form you own. If the row shows up in the other form, the shared link is the one to replace.

Forms get copied for the next term, and an event form gets switched to not accepting responses once it fills. Each change can stop the next sends without any change you notice on your own screen. Run the same visitors through the shared link after every edit, in a private window and on a phone, and read the Responses tab of the form you edit before you share the link again.