How it works
Alva Courses shows a Google Form in a frame inside the lesson, so students answer it without leaving the course. Google stores each response with your form, where you read it in Google Forms or a linked Google Sheet. Alva Courses never receives the answers. An Open the form in a new tab link always sits under the form.
Google Forms is in the Add Content menu of both the standard lesson editor and the fullscreen course builder, on every plan. The form isn't told who the student is, so responses are anonymous unless the form asks: Google's Collect email addresses set to Responder input works inside the lesson, while Verified needs a Google sign-in, so students must use the new-tab link.
Add a Google Form to a lesson
1. Publish the form in Google Forms
In Google Forms, open your form and click Publish. Until a form is published, students see Google's error page in the lesson instead of the questions.
2. Copy the responder link
In Google Forms, click Published (or Share, or the ⋮ menu) and choose Copy responder link, leaving Shorten URL unticked. The link starts with https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/ and usually ends with /viewform?usp=…. Anything after the question mark doesn't matter, and links from a second Google account (with /u/1/) work too.
3. Add a Google Forms block
In the Shopify admin, open Alva Courses, click Courses, select a course and open the lesson. Click Add Content and choose Google Forms.
4. Paste the link
Paste the link into Google Form link. Once the link is accepted, a live preview at the bottom of the block shows the form as students see it, at most 480 pixels tall.
5. Set the height
Enter the frame's height in Height (pixels), from 200 to 5000; it starts at 800. The form can't resize itself, so make it tall enough to show every question. A number outside that range changes to the nearest limit when you leave the field.
6. Choose whether to add the confirm button
To let students complete the lesson from the form, tick Show a button students click after submitting the form. An I've submitted this form button then appears under the form.
7. Save and check the lesson
In the standard lesson editor, click Save in the save bar; in the fullscreen builder, click Save this lesson. Then click Preview, open the preview link in a private browser window that isn't signed in to Google, and check that the questions appear.
Links that are refused
Alva Courses refuses these links and shows a message under the field:
- A forms.gle short link: "That's a shortened forms.gle link. When you copy the responder link in Google Forms, untick Shorten URL, then paste the full docs.google.com address."
- An edit link, or any
docs.google.com/forms/d/link without/e/: "That's the form's edit link, not the link students fill in. In Google Forms, choose Copy responder link and paste that instead." - Embed code, or any other address: "That isn't a Google Form link. Paste the responder link, which starts with https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/ and ends with /viewform (not the embed code)."
The message appears when you click away from the field, or straight away when you paste. A block saved with a refused link shows nothing to students.
Forms that can't show inside a lesson
A form that needs a Google sign-in can't show inside a lesson: Google's sign-in page won't load inside another site in any browser, so the frame shows an error such as "accounts.google.com refused to connect", or stays blank. That happens with a file upload question, verified email collection, a one-response limit, or a form restricted to your organisation.
Students can still fill these forms in with Open the form in a new tab. To show the form inside the lesson instead, turn those settings off in Google Forms.
Your own browser may be signed in to Google and show the form anyway, so check the lesson in a private window, as in step 7.
The "I've submitted this form" button
Google Forms doesn't tell Alva Courses when a student submits a form, so the lesson can't complete itself. The optional I've submitted this form button relies on the student instead: clicking it marks the lesson complete and moves the student on, exactly like the lesson's own completion button.
- It respects required quizzes. If the lesson has a quiz with Required to complete lesson ticked and the student hasn't passed it, they see "You must pass all required quizzes to complete this lesson", and the button stays ready for when they have passed.
- While the lesson saves, it reads Saving.... Once the lesson is complete, by this button or any other, it reads Submitted ✓ and can't be clicked again.
- It's switched off in Preview, with the note "Lesson completion isn't saved in preview mode."
- It's switched off for visitors the course player doesn't recognise, with the note "Log in to mark this lesson complete." Students who sign in, or open the course from the access link in their enrolment email, can use it. See How students sign in.
What students see
Students see the form across the full width of the lesson, at the height you set, with Open the form in a new tab underneath. If you added the confirm button, it sits below that link in your course's button colour. Both appear in the student's language, and you can reword them in storefront text.
In a course PDF export
In a course PDF export, the block prints as a "Google Form" panel with the form's link; the questions aren't printed.
Common questions
Why won't Alva Courses accept my forms.gle link?
Alva Courses needs the full responder link and doesn't follow short links. In Google Forms, choose Copy responder link, untick Shorten URL, and paste the full address that starts with https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/.
Why does the form show an error or a blank frame inside the lesson?
The form most likely needs a Google sign-in, which Google won't load inside another site, because it has a file upload question, collects verified email addresses, limits each person to one response, or is restricted to your organisation. Turn those settings off, or let students use Open the form in a new tab.
Does Alva Courses know when a student submits the form?
No. Google doesn't tell Alva Courses about submissions, and the responses stay in Google Forms. Read them there or in the Google Sheet linked to the form.
Can a student complete the lesson without submitting the form?
Yes. The lesson's own completion button still works, and the I've submitted this form button can't check that a response was sent. If a response matters, look for it in Google Forms.
See also
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Last updated 2026-11-03