Create, Configure, and Share Microsoft Forms

Overview

Microsoft Forms is a Microsoft 365 application that allows you to create surveys, questionnaires, polls, and quizzes to collect information from others.

With Microsoft Forms, you can:

  • Create forms using different question types.
  • Customize the appearance and settings of your forms.
  • Collect responses from students, faculty, staff, or external participants when permitted.
  • Share forms through links, email, QR codes, or webpages.
  • Collaborate with others on forms.
  • Review responses and export results to Excel.

This article explains how to create, configure, share, and manage Microsoft Forms using your Cedar Crest College account.

Step 1 – Access Microsoft Forms

  1. Open a web browser and go to Microsoft Forms.
  2. Sign in using your Cedar Crest College email address and password.
  3. Complete multifactor authentication (MFA) if prompted.
  4. The Forms homepage displays your available forms and options for creating new ones.

Step 2 – Create a New Form or Quiz

  1. From the Microsoft Forms homepage, select New Form or New Quiz.
  2. Enter a title for your form.
  3. Add an optional description explaining the purpose of the form.
  4. Microsoft Forms automatically saves your changes as you work.

What's the difference?

  • Form: Best for surveys, feedback, registrations, and collecting general information.
  • Quiz: Best for assessments or activities where questions can have correct answers and assigned points.

Step 3 – Add Questions

  1. Open your form.
  2. Select Add new to add a question.
  3. Choose the question type you want to use.
  4. Enter your question and any answer choices.
  5. Enable Required if respondents must answer the question.
  6. Repeat these steps to add additional questions.

Available Question Types

Question Type Description
Choice Allows respondents to select from predefined answers
Text Allows short or long written responses
Rating Collects ratings using numbers or symbols
Date Allows respondents to select a date
Ranking Asks respondents to arrange options in order
Likert Collects responses using a rating scale across multiple statements
File Upload Allows eligible signed-in respondents to upload files
Net Promoter Score Measures responses using a 0–10 recommendation scale
Section Organizes questions into separate sections

Note: File Upload questions require organizational authentication and are not available for forms that allow anyone to respond anonymously.

Customize Your Questions

Depending on the question type, you can:

  • Allow multiple answers.
  • Require a response.
  • Add subtitles or additional instructions.
  • Apply restrictions to certain answers.
  • Use branching to direct respondents to different questions based on their answers.

Step 4 – Customize Your Form

You can change the appearance of your form to make it easier to read and more visually appealing.

  1. Open your form.
  2. Select Style near the top of the page.
  3. Choose an available theme, background color, or image.
  4. Review the changes.

Preview Your Form

Before sharing your form:

  1. Select Preview.
  2. Review how the form appears on a computer or mobile device.
  3. Complete the form as a test respondent to check the questions and navigation.
  4. Select Back to return to editing.

Tip: Test your form before distributing it, especially if it includes required questions, branching, or file uploads.

Step 5 – Configure Form Settings

  1. Open your form.
  2. Select Settings near the upper-right corner.
  3. Review the available response and notification options.

Choose Who Can Respond

Setting Description
Anyone can respond Allows responses from people inside or outside Cedar Crest College without requiring sign-in
Only people in my organization can respond Requires respondents to sign in using a Cedar Crest College account
Specific people in my organization can respond Limits responses to designated College users or groups

Important: Available options depend on Cedar Crest College's Microsoft 365 settings. Some external sharing options may be restricted.

Additional Settings

Depending on your selected response audience, you may be able to:

  • Record name: Record the identity of signed-in respondents.
  • One response per person: Limit each eligible respondent to one submission.
  • Accept responses: Open or close the form to new responses.
  • Start date and End date: Specify when responses are accepted.
  • Customize thank you message: Display a message after submission.
  • Get email notification of each response: Receive notifications when responses are submitted.

Privacy reminder: If a form allows anonymous responses, Microsoft Forms does not automatically identify respondents. Avoid collecting passwords, verification codes, or other sensitive credentials.

Step 6 – Share Your Form to Collect Responses

Once your form is ready, you can distribute it to respondents.

  1. Open your form.
  2. Select Collect responses in the upper-right corner.
  3. Choose who is allowed to respond.
  4. Select your preferred sharing method.

Sharing Methods

Method Description
Copy link Copy a link to share through email, Canvas, Teams, or a webpage
Outlook or Teams Share the form through supported Microsoft 365 applications
QR Code Download a QR code that participants can scan with a mobile device
Embed Generate code to display the form on a compatible webpage

Share a Form Using a Link

  1. Select Collect responses.
  2. Confirm the appropriate response audience.
  3. Select Copy link.
  4. Paste the link into an email, Canvas course, Teams message, or another appropriate location.

Tip: If you only want Cedar Crest College students, faculty, or staff to respond, use Only people in my organization can respond.

Step 7 – Collaborate with Others

Microsoft Forms allows you to invite other people to help create and manage a form.

Collaborators can edit questions, adjust form settings, review responses, and help manage the form.

  1. Open the form you want to share.
  2. Select More form settings (...) > Collaborate or Duplicate. Depending on your interface, this option may appear under Share.
  3. Under Add collaborators, select the option to create a collaboration link.
  4. Choose the appropriate permissions, preferably limiting access to specific authorized people.
  5. Copy the collaboration link.
  6. Send the link to your collaborators.

Important: Collaboration access is different from a response link. Collaborators can view collected response information, so only provide this access to authorized individuals.

Share a Form as a Template

If you want someone to create their own copy of your form:

  1. Open the form.
  2. Select More form settings (...) > Collaborate or Duplicate.
  3. Locate Share as a template.
  4. Select Get a link to duplicate.
  5. Copy the link and share it.

The recipient can create a separate copy of your form without modifying your original. Existing responses are not copied.

Step 8 – View and Export Responses

After people begin submitting responses, you can review the results.

  1. Open Microsoft Forms.
  2. Select the form you want to review.
  3. Select View responses.
  4. Review the response summary and individual submissions.

Export Responses to Excel

  1. Open the form's response section.
  2. Select Open in Excel.
  3. Depending on how the form was created, Microsoft Forms may open a connected workbook or provide an Excel file containing the responses.
  4. Use Excel to review, filter, or analyze the information.

Share Response Results

You may also be able to create a summary link from the response overview.

Important: A summary link can expose response information to people who receive or obtain the link. Do not share response summaries containing confidential or personally identifiable information unless the disclosure is authorized.

Step 9 – Stop Accepting Responses

When you no longer want people to submit the form:

  1. Open the form.
  2. Select Settings.
  3. Turn off Accept responses.
  4. Optionally, customize the message displayed to people who attempt to access the form.

Existing responses remain available to the form owner and authorized collaborators.

Departmental Forms and Group Ownership

Forms created under an individual account are associated with that person's Microsoft 365 account.

For ongoing departmental forms, Cedar Crest College recommends using an appropriate Microsoft 365 group so that multiple authorized employees can manage the form.

If you already created a personal form, you can move it to a group.

See Move a Microsoft Form to a Microsoft 365 Group for instructions.

Troubleshooting

Respondents Cannot Open My Form

  • Verify that the form is accepting responses.
  • Review the selected response audience.
  • Confirm that respondents are using an authorized account if sign-in is required.
  • Generate a new response link if necessary.

People Outside Cedar Crest College Cannot Respond

Open the form's settings and review who is allowed to respond.

If appropriate, select Anyone can respond, if available. External responses may be restricted by College settings.

Someone Can Respond but Cannot Edit My Form

A response link only allows someone to complete the form.

To grant editing access, use the collaboration sharing options.

I Am Not Receiving Response Notifications

  1. Open the form's Settings.
  2. Verify that Get email notification of each response is enabled.
  3. Check your Outlook Junk Email folder.
  4. Confirm that responses are appearing in Forms.

Additional Resources

Need Additional Assistance?

If you experience difficulty creating, configuring, or sharing Microsoft Forms, submit an IT Support Request.

Include a description of the issue, the action you are trying to complete, and any error messages. Do not include passwords, verification codes, or confidential response data.

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