How to rename the files synced to google drive?

Boobesh Ramalingam
Boobesh Ramalingam
Co-founder of Guesswork.co.
"Create Google Drive folders and rename documents from Google Forms responses"- Google Docs Editors Community

When a safety officer asks for one worker's forklift training record, they want it now. Looking through boxes of paper can take hours. A Google Drive folder of signed forms named only with a unique id is not much faster, because you open them one by one until you find the right worker. Google Forms only keeps the answers, so it won't give you a file with the worker's name on it. With Formesign, you configure the key fields in the form to automatically include the respondent name or email in the file name when the files are synced to your google drive. A search in Google Drive for the worker's name then finds every new record.

Let's start. Create your form and follow the steps below.

How to rename the files?

  • Click on Create your form, click Enter your form name, type the name and click Generate
  • Check the outline and click Proceed. On the form's "Edit" tab, close the "Add eSignature" dialog that says "Your signing link is ready".
The Add eSignature dialog saying Your signing link is ready, with its close icon marked and Share form and Add another signature under Manage
  • Scroll to the end of the form. Click on the configure key fields icon, the notebook in the last After page row
The After page 1 row at the end of the form, with the Configure key fields icon marked
  • In the Respondent panel, set Get name from and Get email from to the fields with the respondent's name and email. If Get email from is not shown, click + Email.
  • Click Save
The Respondent panel with Get name from set to Worker name and Get email from set to Worker email, both marked and the Save button marked
The file name now includes the name. Once you have a response, you can see it on each card in the Signed PDF tab. Responses you already have change too.
A card in the Signed PDF tab, with the file name PF000002 - Noor Ali - and the unique id - Signed Document.pdf marked
To sync these files to your google drive, see how to sync signature and signed document to google drive.

Summary

When signed files are named only with a unique id, finding one person's record means opening them one by one. With Formesign, you configure the key fields once to include the respondent's name or email in the file name and you can find every new record by searching your google drive. Create your form and complete the steps above.

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