Google Forms file upload: how to set it up, and why it needs sign-in

How to add a file upload question

Use a File upload question to collect attachments alongside answers, such as a résumé for an application. Set it up before sharing the form, so you can tell people what to prepare.

1. Add the question.Open your form in Google Forms. Click Add question and enter a clear request, such as “Upload your résumé.”2
2. Choose File upload.Open the question-type menu beside the question and select File upload.2

   

3. Read the notice, then click Continue.The notice explains that files go to the form owner’s Google Drive and respondents must sign in to Google. It also advises sharing the form only with people you trust.23

The notice is worth reading, because it states the two rules that cause most of the problems in this guide:

“Files will be uploaded to the form owner’s Google Drive. Respondents will be required to sign in to Google when file upload questions are added to a form. Make sure to only share this form with people you trust.”

Google Forms, “Let respondents upload files to Drive” notice3

So, as soon as you click Continue, two things change for the whole form. Uploaded files go into your Drive, and everyone who opens the form has to sign in to a Google account.

File upload settings: file types, number of files, size

Review four settings: allowed types, files per question, size per file, and total uploads to the form. Set them for the files you need: one PDF has different requirements from several videos.2

Allowed file types

Turn on Allow only specific file types to select the categories you want: Document, Presentation, Spreadsheet, Drawing, PDF, Image, Video and Audio. These are eight file-type categories, not eight individual extensions. For a PDF-only request, select PDF and say so in the question.3

Source: the Google Forms settings and menus captured in October 2026.3

The form total is a separate limit

The Maximum file size menu sets the allowance for each individual file. The line below it sets the allowance for all uploads to the form. Use Change beside the form total to raise that setting. Google’s 2017 announcement described a ceiling of 1 TB for total uploads per form; that figure comes from the post, rather than a current capture of the Change menu.37

Where uploaded files go, and what uses storage

Uploaded files are stored in the form owner’s Google Drive, in a new folder that Forms creates for the form.1 Each File upload question gets its own subfolder.2 To open the folder, click Responses, then Summary, then View folder.2

Two storage points are easy to get wrong:

• The form’s 1 GB upload total is a setting on the form. It is a separate thing from the 1 GB data limit Google sets for each form, which counts the form and its response data but not uploaded files.6
• Deleting responses does not delete the files. If you clear responses in Forms, the uploaded files stay in your Drive folder.6 Delete them from Drive if you no longer need them.

Why Google Forms file upload requires sign-in

Google Forms requires a Google account for file uploads, even when anyone with the link can respond. Google’s Help pages state the rule plainly: to answer a File upload question, respondents need to sign in to a Google Account.14 The notice in the editor says the same.3

Any Google Account works. It doesn’t have to be a Gmail address; a work or school Google account counts too.18

Google’s Help pages don’t say why. A volunteer Product Expert on Google’s help forum (not a Google employee) gave one reason: it is “a precaution to keep your Drive space from being filled by anonymous users.”11 That fits how the feature works: the files go into the owner’s Drive.

In practice, the effect is simple. With a File upload question on the form, nobody can upload without signing in to Google. That also answers the question of anonymous uploads: Google Forms has no way to upload a file without signing in to a Google account. If some of the people you need files from don’t have a Google account, or won’t sign in, see collecting files from people without a Google account.

Why file upload is greyed out or disabled, or respondents can’t upload

First identify where the problem appears: a File upload option that is disabled in the editor, or a respondent unable to attach a file. Use the relevant checks below.

The File upload option is greyed out in the editor

Google lists two cases where you can’t use the File upload question type:1

• The form is stored in a shared drive. The fix usually given on Google’s help forum is to move the form to My Drive, then add the question.12 If your team needs to reach the form from the shared drive, Clarkson University’s IT guide describes a workaround: keep the form in a folder in your own My Drive, then add a shortcut to that folder in the shared drive. The form and its uploaded files stay in your Drive, so you manage who can open them.16
• Your administrator turned on Data Loss Prevention (DLP). This is an organisation-wide security setting. Don’t try to work around it; ask your administrator.

To see what this looks like, Stony Brook University’s IT help page has screenshots of the greyed-out File upload option in a form stored in a shared drive.14

A respondent can’t upload a file

1. Check the file requirements.The owner can restrict the number, type and size of files. Compare your files with the question’s instructions. Contact the owner if the required file does not fit those limits.4
2. Check the account and access.Sign in to a Google account. If the form is restricted, use the account with permission to respond or ask the owner for access.84
3. Check organisation controls.For work or school users, external-response settings can affect access in either organisation. Administrators manage them under Drive and Docs › Form responses. Ask the administrator to review the applicable settings.9
4. Read any DLP warning.Google’s 2022 update allows existing Drive DLP policies to apply to files submitted to external forms in supported Enterprise and Education editions. A rule may warn or block the respondent. Ask your administrator how to proceed.10
5. Check where the source file is stored.Google says respondents cannot upload a file from a shared drive. If that is where your file lives, tell the owner or administrator and ask for an approved way to supply it.4

The device is unlikely to be the cause. Respondents can upload from a phone browser as well as a computer.15

How to make a Google Form public, and what that does to upload questions

A form has to be published before anyone can answer it. If it is unpublished, people with the link can’t open it.5

1. Open the form. At the top right, click Publish.5
2. Click Manage to choose who can respond.
3. Under General access, choose Anyone with the link.

   

4. Click Done, then Publish. The top right now shows “Published”.
5. To share it, click Published › Copy responder link.

   

6. Open the link in a private window where you are signed out, to see the form the way a stranger does.

On a work or school account, a form is open only to your organisation until you change this setting.8 Your administrator may also stop forms from taking responses from outside the organisation.9

Collecting files from people without a Google account

Google Forms can’t take a file from someone who isn’t signed in to Google. If that rules out some of the people you need files from, these are the options:

• Ask them to use a Google account

  Simplest if they already have one. Some people don’t, or won’t sign in.

• Ask for a link instead of a file

  Swap the File upload question for a Short answer question asking for a link to the file. You keep the questionnaire, but each sender has to host the file somewhere and set its sharing so you can open it.

• Use a form add-on or another form tool

  They work in different ways. Some store uploaded files on their own servers; Formfacade, for example, says files are “uploaded on our servers”.13 Others send files to Google Drive. Check where each product keeps the files before you choose one.

• Send a BeamUp upload link

  A separate upload link, not an upload field inside your form. The sender opens the link and uploads without signing in. Files go straight into a Google Drive folder you already use (or an S3 bucket); BeamUp keeps no copy and doesn’t ask senders for a name or email. Uploading works on desktop browsers only for now. How BeamUp works with Google Drive

If you need answers to questions as well as files, keep the form for the questions and send the upload link alongside it.

Google Forms file upload FAQ

Google Forms vs a BeamUp upload link

They solve different problems. Forms collects answers and files from people who use Google. An upload link collects files only, from anyone.