Bridging Forms and Calendar: Automating Event Creation from Responses

One of the most powerful applications of Google Apps Script is its ability to bridge different Google services. In this section, we'll explore how to automatically create Google Calendar events directly from Google Forms responses. Imagine a scenario where you have a form for booking appointments, scheduling events, or even collecting sign-ups for workshops. Instead of manually transferring this information to your calendar, Apps Script can do it for you, saving you valuable time and reducing the chance of errors.

The core idea is to set up a trigger that listens for new form submissions. When a new response comes in, the script will read the relevant data (like event title, start time, end time, and description) and then use the CalendarApp service to create a new event in your specified Google Calendar.

graph TD
    A[New Google Forms Response] --> B{Apps Script Triggered}
    B --> C[Read Form Data]
    C --> D[Extract Event Details]
    D --> E[Create Google Calendar Event]
    E --> F[Event Added to Calendar]

Let's break down the essential components of such a script.

First, we need a function that will be executed when a form is submitted. This function will receive an event object containing information about the submission.

Inside this function, we'll need to get the submitted data. Google Forms responses are typically stored in a Google Sheet linked to the form. We can access this data through the event object, or by directly referencing the linked sheet.

Next, we need to identify which form fields correspond to the event's title, start time, end time, and any other details we want to include. It's crucial to name your form questions clearly to make this mapping straightforward.