How to Delete a Google Form (and Restore One by Mistake)
Quick answer: Go to drive.google.com, find the form, right-click it, and choose Remove. This moves it to Trash, where it stays recoverable for 30 days — open Trash, right-click the form, and choose Restore to undo the deletion. Responses in a linked Google Sheet are not affected, since the Sheet is a separate file.
Deleting a Google Form is quick, which is exactly why it's worth knowing the details before you click anything — especially what happens to the responses you've already collected, and how much time you have to change your mind. Here's every way to delete a form, what actually gets removed, and how to bring one back if you deleted the wrong one.
Deleting from forms.google.com or Google Drive
There are two equally valid starting points:
- From forms.google.com — on the home screen, find the form's card under "Recent forms," click the three-dot menu on the card, and select Remove.
- From Google Drive — go to drive.google.com, locate the form by searching its name or browsing to the folder it's saved in, right-click it, and choose Remove (or select it and click the trash-can icon in the toolbar).
Both routes do the same thing: the form moves to Trash rather than disappearing instantly. It's no longer visible or accessible to respondents — the link stops working immediately — but it isn't permanently gone yet.
What happens to responses and the linked Sheet
This is the detail people get wrong most often: a Google Form and a linked Google Sheet are two separate files. Deleting the form does not delete the Sheet. If your form was sending responses to a connected spreadsheet, that spreadsheet stays in your Drive untouched, with every response it already received still intact — you just won't get new rows added, since the form that fed it no longer exists.
What does disappear along with the form is the response summary and individual response view inside Google Forms itself — the charts and per-submission view you'd normally see under the Responses tab. If you never linked a Sheet and relied only on that in-Forms view, deleting the form deletes your only copy of the response data, so it's worth exporting or linking a Sheet before you delete anything you might want to reference later.
Restoring a deleted form within 30 days
Google keeps deleted files in Drive's Trash for 30 days before removing them for good. To restore a form you deleted by mistake:
- Go to drive.google.com and click Trash in the left sidebar.
- Find the form — Trash shows the same file name and icon it had before deletion.
- Right-click it and select Restore (or select it and click the restore icon at the top).
Restoring puts the form back exactly as it was, including its original link, questions, and settings, in the same Drive location it was removed from. Anyone with the old link can use it again immediately.
Permanently deleting a form
If you want a form gone for good before the 30-day window ends, open Trash in Drive, right-click the form, and choose Delete forever. This cannot be undone — there's no second trash tier after this. Only do this if you're certain you'll never need the form or its response history again.
Deleting a form on a phone
The same Remove and Restore options exist in the Google Drive mobile app: tap the three-dot menu next to a form, choose Remove, and find it later under Trash in the app's menu if you need it back. It works reliably, though browsing a long Drive folder to find the right form is slower on a small screen than on desktop. If you manage a lot of forms from your phone, an app like FormMaker keeps your forms list front and center instead of buried in a general file browser.
Deleting individual responses vs. deleting the whole form
Deleting the entire form is a big step — it removes the form and its in-app response history for everyone. If your actual goal is narrower, there are gentler options:
- Delete a single response — open the Responses tab, click the individual response view, and use the trash icon to remove just that one submission (useful for test entries or spam).
- Stop new submissions without deleting anything — toggle off Accepting responses in the Responses tab. The form, its questions, and all existing data stay exactly as they are; people just can't submit new answers. See our guide on closing a Google Form or limiting responses for more control over exactly when and how a form stops collecting.
FAQ
What happens to responses when I delete a Google Form?
Deleting the form removes it and its response summary from Google Forms. If responses were also being sent to a linked Google Sheet, that Sheet is a separate file and is not deleted — it keeps every response already recorded.
Can I get a deleted Google Form back?
Yes, within 30 days. Open Google Drive, go to Trash, find the form, and click Restore. After 30 days in Trash, Google permanently deletes it and it cannot be recovered.
Should I delete a form or just stop accepting responses?
If you might need the form again, don't delete it. Turn off "Accepting responses" in the Responses tab instead, which stops new submissions while keeping the form and all past data intact.