How to set up Autocomplete using Google Sheets

This feature will create a searchable dropdown, with the searchable options coming from a Google Sheet.

This is useful for cases where data shown in the search options may change frequently.

For example, if you have a spreadsheet with the data below, you can search for the name of the street.

You first need to make the Google Sheet public by going to the menu File > Share > Publish to web.

In the prompt that is then displayed, under the Link tab, choose the name of the sheet, e.g Sheet 1, then choose the CSV option.

After that, click on the Publish button.

Copy the share URL that will be shown.

Note – for this feature to work properly when you visit that shareable URL from your browser, a CSV file should be downloaded onto your computer.

In your data capture settings, enter the title of the row with the data you want to be searched. In this example, it’s “street”.

~~Choose the Answer Type, “Autocomplete Google Sheets”, then enter the shareable URL of the file.~~

Choose the Answer Type “Autocomplete Custom URL”, then enter the shareable URL of the file.

Once you’ve saved the data capture setting, navigate to the relevant form field. You will see a dropdown like the one below.

As you start typing, the Google sheet will be searched, and the matched data presented in the dropdown options.

When you later update the data in your Google Sheets, wait for a couple of minutes to elapse before you can search for the data.