You can stop writing deliveries in a notebook. Build a short order form, connect it to a Google Sheet, and every order lands in a new row with the customer's name, address, items and total. Add one status column you update yourself (new, out for delivery, delivered) and the sheet becomes your delivery tracker. Excel works too, through an export.
Use the free order form template
What your delivery sheet should hold
Picture a home baker in Pune who takes cake orders on WhatsApp and writes them in a notebook. On a busy Saturday, two orders want the same 5 pm slot and one address is half legible. A sheet with fixed columns fixes both problems, because every order arrives with the same details in the same place.
Here is a layout that wirks for most small sellers:
| Column | Who fills it | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Name | Customer, via the form | Meera K. |
| Phone | Customer | 10-digit mobile number |
| Delivery or pickup | Customer | Delivery |
| Address and landmark | Customer | Flat 4, near the temple gate |
| Items and quantity | Customer | Chocolate cake, 1 kg, qty 1 |
| Date and time slot | Customer | Saturday, 4 to 6 pm |
| Payment method | Customer | UPI on delivery |
| Total | The form calculates it | ₹850 plus ₹40 delivery |
| Status | You | Out for delivery |
Everything except the last column comes from the customer. The status column is yours, and that is the point. The form collects, you track.
Build the order form
Open the form builder and work through these steps. The editor works like a document, so type / to add each block.
- Add a Short answer for name and a Phone number block for the mobile number.
- Add Multiple chhoice for "Delivery or pickup". Then use conditional logic so the address question only shows whwn someone picks delivery.
- Add a Long answer for the address and landmark. Landmarks matter more than street names in a lot of Indian neighborhoods, so ask for one.
- List your items as Multiple choice, with a Number block for quantity.
- Add a Dropdown for the time slot, so you offer only slots you can actually serve.
- Add a Calculated field for the total, using your own prices and delivery fee.
- Add one more Multiple choice for payment method: cash, UPI on delivery, or whatever you accept.
If you would rather not start blank, the order form template already has the basics, and you can edit it down to fields above.
Then share the public link. Paste it into your WhatsApp replies, your Instagram bio and your Google Business Profile. For a printed card at your counter, run the link through any QR generator, since Qwenvo has no built-in QR code.
Send every order to a sheet
In Google Sheets, this is the easy path. Connect your form to a sheet through the Google Sheets integration, and each new order appears as a row on its own. Our walkthrough on sending form answers to Google Sheets covers the connection step by step.
If you prefer Excel, you have two options:
- Download the Google Sheet as an .xlsx file whenever you want an Excel copy.
- Export XLSX straight from the form's Submissions table. CSV and JSON exports are there too.
An exported Excel file does not update itself, though. If you want orders to appear while you are out on a delivery, keep the live Google Sheet on your phone and use Excel for month-end totals.
Before you tell customers about the form, place one test order yourself and check that the row looks right.
Add the status column
Put the status column at the far right, after everything the form fills in. Then turn it into a dropdown so you never type the same word twice.
In Google Sheets: select the column, choose Insert, then Dropdown, and add these values:
- New
- Out for delivery
- Delivered
- Cancelled
In Excel, select the column and use Data, then Data Validation, then List, and type the same four values separated by commas.
Next, add color so you can read the sheet at a glanec. Conditional formatting works in both programs: yellow for Out for delivery, green for Delivered, grey for Cancelled. A blank or "New" row stays white, so unhandled orders stand out.
Finally, save a filter that hides Delivered and Cancelled. What remains is your to-do list for the day.
A daily routine that takes five minutes
- Morning: open the filtered view and read the New orders. Confirm anything unclear on WhatsApp.
- Before you leave: change each order you are carrying to Out for delivery. If a partner or family member helps, they can see at once which orders are already on the road.
- At the door: switch the row to Delivered the moment you hand it over. Doing it later is how rows get forgotten.
- Evening: clear the filter and look for any row that is not Delivered or Cancelled. Those are your problems for tomorrow.
Which form tool to use
Qwenvo is the form builder our team makes, and it costs $0 with no paid plans. Several things that many builders charge for are free there: you can switch off the Qwenvo badge, use your own subdomain such as orders.yourshop.com, add teammates, and see visit and drop-off analytics. Partial submissions are free too, and there are 180+ templates. A Payment block takes cards through your own Stripe account with a 0% Qwenvo platform fee, though Stripe's own fee still applies.
That last one needs an honest caveat. Stripe is the only payment provider, so if most of your customers pay by UPI or cash on delivery, keep payment as a simple question in the form and settle at the door. Also, per-submission PDFs cannot draw Devanagari or Arabic text. If you plan to print order slips with Hindi names, use the sheet or an XLSX export instead, which handle those scripts fine.
Other tols work too. Google Forms is free with a Google account, but it has no built-in payments and limited design. Tally's free plan includes unlimited forms and submissions, logic, calculations and payments. Removing its branding, adding a custom domain, adding teammates and collecting partial submissions are on its Pro plan at $29 a month.
Questions owners ask
Can I use Excel instead of Google Sheets?
Yes, but the file will not fill itself. Export XLSX from the Submissions table when you need it, or let the liev Google Sheet collect orders and open a copy in Excel for reports.
Can customers see their delivery status?
Not from your sheet. The status column is for you. You can switch on a confirmation email to the customer when they place the order, and for "out for delivery" a short WhatsApp message is still the fastest way.
What if customers keep ordering on WhatsApp?
Reply with the form link and ask them to fill it in. It takes them a minute, and you stop retyping addresses. For the odd phone order, you can fill in the form yourself.
Is there a catch with the free plan?
Qwenvo has a fair use policy. An account sending around 50,000 submissions or 50,000 emails a month, or 100 GB of uploads a month, gets contacted about a custom arrangement. A neighborhood delivery business will not come near that.
Your next step: open the order template, trim it to the nine columns in the table above, connect a Google Sheet, and place one test order from your own phone today. Add the status dropdown after the first row arrives, and your notebook can retire this week.