Enterprise Business Use Cases
Instant Data Collaboration
Route survey or registration data directly into a shared Google Sheet. Your entire marketing team can watch the rows populate in real-time and leave comments on specific leads without needing administrative access to the Flex Forms backend.
Connect Google Sheets
You need a Google Cloud OAuth client plus a refresh token with Sheets access. Store credentials once, then attach them per form.Recommended: Integrations → Connections
Use a named Connection when you have more than one Google account (Production vs Marketing) or want feeds to pick which account to write with.1
Create the Google Cloud OAuth client
In Google Cloud Console, create or select a project, enable Google Sheets API, configure the OAuth consent screen, then create an OAuth client ID of type Web application. Copy the Client ID and Client Secret.
2
Obtain a refresh token
Authorize the client with the
https://www.googleapis.com/auth/spreadsheets scope and capture a long-lived refresh token (Google OAuth Playground, your own authorize script, or your IdP tooling). Flex Forms refreshes short-lived access tokens automatically from this value.3
Create a Connection in Flex Forms
Open Integrations (left rail) → Connections tab. Choose Google Sheets, give it a clear label (for example
Marketing workbook), paste Client ID, Client Secret, and Refresh Token, then Create. Click Test until the status is Connected.4
Enable Google Sheets in Catalog
Still under Integrations, open the Catalog tab, enable Google Sheets, and Save. Catalog can stay empty of tokens if every feed uses a Connection — enable only so the driver appears on forms.
5
Attach the Connection on the form
Open the form hub Integrations tab, enable Google Sheets, pick your Connection, set Spreadsheet ID and sheet tab, map columns, then save. Submit a test response to confirm a new row appears.
Alternative: Catalog (global) credentials
For a single shared Google account across all forms, paste Client ID / Secret / Refresh Token under Integrations → Catalog → Google Sheets instead of creating a Connection. Form feeds leave Connection empty to use those global credentials.Upgrading from an older install?
php artisan flex-forms:upgrade can backfill a Connection from legacy global Google credentials. Globals remain as a fallback until you switch feeds to connection_id.Route submissions to a spreadsheet
Establishing the connection allows Flex Forms to access your Google account, but you must instruct it exactly which Spreadsheet to write data to.Spreadsheet ID Requirement: You must provide the specific Spreadsheet ID in the form’s integration settings.How to find it: Open your target Google Sheet in a browser. Look at the URL:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1BxiMVs0X_X.../edit. The long string of characters exactly between /d/ and /edit is your Spreadsheet ID. Copy that string.Creating the Header Row
Flex Forms does not blindly dump data. It intelligently matches your form blocks to the Headers you define in Row 1 of your Google Sheet.- Spreadsheet Setup
- Exact Column Mapping Example
- Open your target Google Sheet.
- In Row 1, type the exact Block Names you defined in the Flex Forms Studio across the columns (e.g., A1:
first_name_input, B1:email_address, C1:company_name). - When a user submits the form, Flex Forms scans Row 1, matches the keys, and correctly appends the data in the corresponding columns in a new row.
The Spelling Trap: The names in Row 1 of your Google Sheet MUST perfectly match the block names in the Flex Forms Studio. If you name your block
first_name, but you type First Name in the Google Sheet column header, the API will silently ignore that data and the column will remain blank.Troubleshooting
Test connection fails
Test connection fails
Confirm the refresh token was issued for the same Client ID/Secret, and that the Google account can edit the target spreadsheet. Prefer refresh tokens over short-lived access tokens.
403 Permission Denied when appending a row
403 Permission Denied when appending a row
The Google account behind the Connection (or Catalog credentials) does not have Edit access to the Spreadsheet ID on the form feed. Share the sheet with that account.
Configuration reference
Credentials (Catalog or Connection)
Same fields appear under Integrations → Catalog → Google Sheets and Integrations → Connections when you create a Google Sheets connection.text
required
OAuth Client ID — Google Cloud OAuth 2.0 web client ID.
password
required
OAuth Client Secret — paired with the Client ID for refresh exchanges.
password
required
OAuth Refresh Token — preferred. Flex Forms refreshes access tokens automatically.
password
OAuth Access Token (fallback) — short-lived; use only for temporary tests.
Form feed
Located on the form hub Integrations tab.select
Connection — named account from Integrations → Connections, or Catalog (global) when empty.
Destination Sheet
text
required
Spreadsheet ID
The unique identifier of the target Google Sheet. You can extract this from the URL of your document.
Example: If the URL is
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1BxiMVs0X_x/edit, your ID is 1BxiMVs0X_x.text
required
Sheet tab name
The exact name of the specific tab inside your spreadsheet (e.g.,
Sheet1 or Leads_Q4). If you rename the tab in Google Sheets, you must update this field or the integration will throw a 400 error.Data Formatting
select
default:"1"
Include meta columns
Determines whether Flex Forms automatically prefixes your row data with system metadata.Options:
1: Yes — Automatically prepends columns for Timestamp, Submission ID, and Form Name before mapping your form answers.0: No — Only inserts the exact fields you map in thecolumn_map, giving you strict control over every cell.
textarea
Column map
The mapping engine for strict column placement. By default (if left empty), Flex Forms simply dumps all payload fields into the sheet sorted alphabetically by their name.To lock fields to specific columns, define one rule per line using the format:
COLUMN_LETTER=flex_forms_block_name.Example:
A=email_input
B=full_name
C=phone_number