Blogger Newsletter with Google Sheets: Free Setup Guide

Every Tooliqo template ships with a newsletter form already built in. All it needs is a place to store each subscriber's email address. This guide explains how the system works and how to connect it, for free, to a Google Sheets spreadsheet you own: through a Google Form, which needs no code at all, or, in templates that support it, through a small Apps Script that can also send welcome emails and your new posts automatically. No paid service, and no changes to your template code.

How the Tooliqo newsletter works

Understanding the flow makes setup easier and helps you spot a mistake right away.

• When a visitor clicks Subscribe, the template sends the address in the background, so the visitor never leaves your page.
• The address goes to the connection you set up, a Google Form or an Apps Script web app, and appears as a new row in a Google Sheets spreadsheet in your own account, usually within seconds.
• You set the connection in Blogger's Layout, inside the newsletter widget. The template's code never changes.
• A Google Form only collects the list, and you send your newsletter yourself. The Apps Script can also send a welcome email and your new posts automatically.

Google Form or Apps Script?

Part 1: Check which newsletter widget your template has

It takes ten seconds and decides the last step of the setup.

Blogger › Layout › look for “Newsletter”

Both types use the same Google Form, so Parts 2 and 3 are identical for everyone. Only step 6 differs.

Part 2: Create the Google Form

Required. Done once.

1. Create a form with one Email question

   Open Google Forms with the Google account that should own your subscriber list, click Blank form, and give it a name you'll recognize, such as “Newsletter – My Blog”. Visitors never see this name.

   • Title the first question Email and set its type to Short answer.
   • Turn on Required.
   • Optional but useful: open ⋮ under the question and choose Response validation › Text › Email address, so Google rejects anything that isn't an email.

   Delete any other question Google added. One question is enough; optional extra questions are covered in One list for several blogs.

2. Turn off everything that requires a Google sign-in

   Settings › Responses

   • Collect email addresses: Do not collect. Your own Email question already collects the address.
   • Limit to 1 response: off.
   • Restrict to users in your organization: off (Google Workspace accounts only).

   Why this step matters most

   Each of these options forces visitors to sign in with a Google account. Because your site submits the form in the background, Google silently rejects the submission: the visitor sees a confirmation, but nothing reaches your sheet.

3. Publish the form to anyone with the link

   Publish › Manage › Responder view: Anyone with the link › Done › Publish

   New Google Forms stay in draft until you publish them, and a draft refuses every submission. Once the form is published, the button at the top right reads Published: click it and check that Accepting responses is on.

   An older form may still show a Send button instead. In that case, just make sure Accepting responses is on in the Responses tab.

4. Link the form to a Google Sheets spreadsheet

   Responses › Link to Sheets › Create a new spreadsheet › Create

   A spreadsheet opens with a Timestamp column and an Email column, in a sheet named Form Responses 1. From now on, this is your subscriber list.

   Get an alert for every new subscriber

   In the Responses tab, open ⋮ and choose Get email notifications for new responses.

Part 3: Copy the pre-filled link

This one link carries everything the template needs.

5. Get the pre-filled link

   ⋮ at the top of the form editor › Get pre-filled link

   Type a test address containing @, such as you@example.com, in the Email question, then click Get link › Copy link. The link looks like this:

   https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd…Xw/viewform?usp=pp_url&entry.123456789=you@example.com

   It contains the two values the template needs: the form ID, after /d/e/, and the email field ID, the entry. followed by digits.

   Don't copy the address bar

   The edit link in your browser (/forms/d/…/edit) is not the one you need: it has no /e/, and its ID is different. Always use the pre-filled link; its form ID usually starts with 1FAIpQL.

   Setup guide

   Paste this link into the setup guide and it checks it for you, warning you if something looks wrong before you go any further.

Part 4: Connect the form to your template

From Blogger's Layout. You won't open the HTML editor.

6. Paste the link or the code into the newsletter widget

   Follow the variant that matches what you found in Part 1.

   ATemplates with Newsletter Settings

   Blogger › Layout › Newsletter Settings › ✎

   Name (keep as is)	URL (what to paste)
   endpoint	Leave #. This row is for the Apps Script (Part 5).
   form	Your full pre-filled link from step 5
   consentUrl	Your privacy page, such as /p/privacy.html (# hides the line)

   That's all: the template extracts the form ID and the email field ID from the link itself. Templates with a popup also have an autoOpen row: the number of seconds before the popup opens on its own, or 0 to open it only from a Subscribe button.

   BTemplates with the footer Newsletter widget (news-form)

   Blogger › Layout › Newsletter widget in the footer › ✎ › Content

   Replace the widget's content with the code below. To do it by hand, change just two values: your form ID in place of FORM_ID, and your email field ID in place of entry.123456789.

   Setup guide

   Skip the manual part: paste your pre-filled link into the setup guide and it writes this whole code for you, in your blog's language.

   <p>Get the latest tools and articles delivered to your inbox every week</p>
   <form action="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/FORM_ID/formResponse" id="news-form" method="POST">
     <input type="email" name="entry.123456789" placeholder="Enter your email address" required="required" aria-label="Email address"/>
     <button type="submit"><i class="fa-solid fa-paper-plane"></i> Subscribe now</button>
   </form>

   Three things not to change

   • id="news-form" is how the template recognizes the form and submits it without leaving the page. Without it, visitors are sent to a Google page.
   • The address ends with formResponse, not viewform.
   • name="entry.…" matches your email field ID digit for digit.

   You can edit or translate the visible texts freely.

   In both variants, save the widget, then save the Layout.

7. Test it with your own email

   • Open your live blog, not the preview, and hard-refresh: Ctrl + F5, or Cmd + Shift + R on Mac.
   • Subscribe with one of your addresses: a confirmation appears and you stay on the page.
   • Open the spreadsheet: a new row with your email and the date should appear within seconds.

   Google doesn't let a website read the result of a form submission, so the confirmation can appear even when something is wrong. This test is your only proof that addresses really reach your sheet. Delete the test row afterwards if you like.

Part 5: Go further with Apps Script

Optional. Only in templates with Newsletter Settings, through the endpoint row.

Instead of a Google Form, you can connect the newsletter to a small Apps Script attached to your spreadsheet. The template sends subscribers to it the same way, and the script adds what a form can't do:

• A Subscribers sheet with Date, Email, Language, Page, Site, Source and Status columns.
• Duplicates rejected automatically, even when someone subscribes from two of your blogs.
• An unsubscribe link in every email it sends, with the Status column updated on its own.
• Three modes you can switch at any time:

In short: paste the ready-made script into Extensions › Apps Script in your spreadsheet, deploy it as a Web app with Execute as: Me and Who has access: Anyone, then paste the address ending in /exec into the endpoint row. Opening that address in a browser should show newsletter endpoint ready. To change the mode later, add MODE (and SERVICE) under Project Settings › Script Properties: it applies to the next subscriber, with no redeployment.

If both endpoint and form are filled in, the template uses endpoint.

One list for several blogs

You don't need a separate newsletter for each blog. The same Google Form link, or the same /exec address, works everywhere: paste it into each blog's Layout and every subscriber lands in one sheet. To know where each one came from:

• Apps Script: nothing to do. Each row records the site, such as myblog.blogspot.com, along with the language and the page.
• Google Form in Newsletter Settings: add optional Short answer questions named Site and Language, and type {site} and {lang} in them when you get the pre-filled link. The template fills them in on every blog.
• Google Form in the news-form widget: this code doesn't fill placeholders. Add a Short answer question named Source, get its entry. ID from a new pre-filled link, and add a hidden line carrying the blog's name inside each blog's form, before the button:

<input type="hidden" name="entry.987654321" value="blog-en"/>

Managing your subscriber list

• Where it lives: the Form Responses 1 sheet with a Google Form, or the Subscribers sheet with the Apps Script.
• Remove duplicates (Google Form): select the Email column, then Data › Data cleanup › Remove duplicates.
• Unsubscribe requests: with a Google Form, delete the person's row. With the Apps Script, the unsubscribe link updates the Status column by itself.
• Export: File › Download › Comma-separated values (.csv) gives you a file any email service can import.

Sending your newsletter

A Google Form only stores addresses. To send an issue, pick the option that fits the size of your list:

• Automatically: the Apps Script's free or service mode sends a welcome email and your new posts for you (Part 5).
• A small list, by hand: send from Gmail with the addresses in Bcc, never in “To”, so subscribers can't see each other. A personal Gmail account can reach about 500 recipients a day, and Bcc addresses count toward that limit.
• A growing list: import your CSV file into a service such as Brevo, Mailchimp or MailerLite. They add an unsubscribe link automatically and protect your sender reputation.

<small>We'll never share your email. <a href="/p/privacy.html">Privacy policy</a></small>

Limits you should know

• No double opt-in: subscribers don't confirm their address, so a mistyped email can be recorded. Clean the list from time to time; email services also flag invalid addresses.
• A confirmation isn't proof of delivery with a Google Form, because Google doesn't return the result to your site. Test again after any change to the form.
• Gmail quotas: about 500 recipients a day when you send by hand, and about 100 a day for emails the Apps Script sends from a free account.
• Capacity: a spreadsheet holds up to 10 million cells, far more than any blog's list will ever need.

Troubleshooting

Frequently asked questions

Want visitors to create accounts on your site, unlock protected downloads and rate your posts? Read the next guide: the Firebase sign-in tool.