The import rule: represent it or report it
Form builders lose trust when an imported form looks successful but a question, section or media item has vanished. Form303’s importer uses a stricter rule: an item becomes a usable question, a structural or media representation, or an explicit warning attached to the import result.
The studio includes loading, error and partial-success states. A partial result remains reviewable. It does not masquerade as a complete import.
Current item coverage
| Google Forms item | Form303 treatment | Publishing effect |
|---|---|---|
| Short and paragraph text | Editable text response | Allowed |
| Single choice, dropdown and checkboxes | Choice response with options | Allowed |
| Linear scale | Scale response | Allowed |
| Rating | Rating response | Allowed |
| Single and multi-select grids | Grid with row and column labels | Allowed |
| Page break or section | Structural section marker | Allowed |
| Image | Media item with source and caption when available | Allowed |
| Video | Linked media representation | Allowed |
| File upload | Preserved blocked question | Publishing blocked |
| Unknown future item | Warning with source context | Requires review |
This table describes the intended mapping and automated fixture coverage. Real Google imports also depend on the authorised account, API availability and consent configuration.
Minimum read-only Google access
Form303 requests Google Forms body read-only and Drive metadata read-only access. Provider tokens are processed by server functions, verified against the linked Google identity and encrypted at rest. They should not be trusted merely because a browser claims a scope or connected state.
An expired or invalid connection produces a reconnect action rather than a generic import failure. Reconnecting should be explicit because the creator needs to know why the form can no longer be read.
File uploads are preserved, not pretended away
Google file-upload questions depend on Google’s upload and ownership model. Form303 does not yet have its own signed-upload delivery system. The importer therefore preserves the item and its position, while publication validation explains why the form cannot go live.
This is intentionally conservative. Silently deleting the question would change the creator’s form; publishing an upload control that cannot safely receive a file would mislead respondents.
Where your responses go
Importing copies the question content once, at import time. It does not create an ongoing link back to the Google Form. Once you publish, every response comes in through your own form303 address and is collected in form303, where it powers your responses dashboard and CSV export. Anyone who fills in the original Google Form directly is submitting to Google, not to form303, and that response never appears in form303.
Form303 does make a best-effort attempt to also pass each response it collects on to the source Google Form, so a response captured through your form303 address will usually turn up there too. This is a convenience, not a guarantee, and it does not change where the response is recorded first: form303 is the system of record for your published form.
What happens when import is partial?
The studio shows the imported form alongside item-level warnings. Creators can continue reviewing and styling non-blocking content, or reconnect and retry when the failure relates to access. A failure does not erase the last usable local draft.
Current limitations
Google import requires a Google-connected account that matches the authenticated Form303 user. Form303 does not claim a real-account import has passed in an environment where credentials, API access or consent configuration are missing. Source forms must be accessible to the connected identity.