How Beginners Can Use Microsoft Forms to Build Surveys

Have you ever wanted to create a quick survey for your club or class but didn’t know where to start? You can build surveys easily with Microsoft Forms, even if you’ve never made one before. The simple design helps you collect feedback without stress. You just choose your questions, share your form, and watch the responses roll in.

Tip: You don’t need any special skills to get started. All you need is a device and a few ideas for questions.

Key Takeaways

• Microsoft Forms helps you make surveys fast. You do not need special skills. You do not need to install software.

• You can pick from many kinds of questions. You can use templates to make surveys that work for you.

• You can change how your survey looks. You can choose who can answer to keep your data safe and useful.

• You can share your survey in many ways. Use links, QR codes, email, or put it on websites.

• You can see answers right away. You can send data to Excel to study it more and make better choices.

Microsoft Forms Overview

What Is Microsoft Forms

You may ask what Microsoft Forms does. It is a tool that lets you make surveys, quizzes, polls, and sign-up forms fast. You do not have to install anything. You can use it on your computer or phone. You send people a link so they can answer your questions. You see their answers right away. You can also move the results to Excel if you want to look at them more closely.

Here is a quick table that shows how Microsoft Forms is different from other survey tools:

Note: You can work on the same form with your friends. Microsoft Forms lets you and your team edit and check forms together.

Survey Uses

You can use Microsoft Forms for many kinds of surveys. You can get feedback from customers, see how workers feel, or sign people up for events. There are 26 templates you can use for surveys, feedback, event sign-ups, polls, and quizzes. Some common surveys are for product feedback, customer happiness, new employee forms, and 360-degree feedback.

Microsoft Forms is good for simple surveys. You can share your survey with anyone, even if they are not in your group. You can also use it with Teams and OneDrive. This helps you keep your surveys safe and easy to find. You can see answers as soon as people send them. You can also use charts to spot trends fast.

Tip: Try moving your survey answers to Excel. You can sort and study the data to find patterns or help you decide what to do next.

Create Survey

Start New Form

You can start building your survey in just a few minutes. First, you need to access Microsoft Forms. You have a few ways to do this:

1. Open your web browser and go to forms.office.com.

2. Sign in with your Microsoft 365 account. This could be your school, work, or personal Microsoft account.

3. If you use Microsoft 365 at school or work, you can also find Forms in your Office 365 dashboard. Look for the Forms icon on the left menu. If you don’t see it, select "All apps" to find it.

4. You can also open Forms from OneDrive, Teams, or even OneNote if your school uses Class or Staff Notebooks.

Once you’re in, you can start a new survey by following these steps:

1. Click on New Form to create a blank survey.

2. Give your form a title and a short description. This helps people know what your survey is about.

3. Add your questions. You can choose from different types like multiple choice, text, rating, date, ranking, Likert scale, file upload, or Net Promoter Score.

4. Change the look of your form by picking a theme or making your own.

5. Set who can answer your survey. You can let anyone respond or limit it to people in your organization.

6. Preview your form to see how it looks on a computer or phone.

7. When you’re ready, share your survey by sending a link, email, QR code, or by embedding it on a website.

Tip: You can also create a quiz instead of a survey. Just select New Quiz instead of New Form. Quizzes let you set correct answers, give points, and add feedback for each question.

Use Templates

If you want to save time, try using a template. Templates are ready-made forms that you can change to fit your needs. Here’s how templates make things easier:

1. Pick a template that matches your goal, like event registration, customer feedback, or expense reimbursement.

2. The template comes with sample questions and a layout. You can change the questions, style, and order to match what you want.

3. Using a template does not change your other forms. It creates a new one, so you don’t lose any data.

4. Templates help you get started fast, especially if you’re new to surveys or short on time.

5. You can focus on what matters—your questions and results—instead of building everything from scratch.

Note: Microsoft Forms also lets you create polls. Polls are quick surveys with just a few questions. You can use multiple choice, text, rating, or Likert scale questions. Polls work great in meetings or classes, and you can even add them to PowerPoint slides.

Here’s a quick look at your options for surveys, quizzes, and polls:

Try starting with a template if you feel unsure. You can always change things later!

Customize Questions

Customizing your survey questions helps you get the answers you need. You can pick from different question types, organize them, and even make your survey interactive. Let’s walk through each step.

Add Question Types

You have many question types to choose from. Each type helps you collect different kinds of information. Here’s a quick guide to what each one does:

Tip: Mix question types to keep your survey interesting and get better answers. For example, use a rating for satisfaction and a text box for comments.

Edit and Organize

After you add questions, you can change them to fit your needs. You can move questions up or down, edit the text, or delete ones you don’t need. Here are some best practices to help you:

• Tell people how to save and finish their answers. If you want them to come back later, add a note in your survey.

• Add a question at the end like “Is this your final submission?” This helps you know if their answers are drafts or final.

• Test your survey with a few people before you send it to everyone. This helps you find confusing questions or mistakes.

• Use collections to keep your surveys organized. You can group similar surveys together, rename them, or move them around.

How to organize your forms:

1. Go to your list of forms.

2. Create a new collection and give it a name.

3. Move your surveys into the collection by dragging them or using the menu.

4. You can copy or rename collections to keep things tidy.

Note: Incomplete answers count as submissions. Remind people to finish all questions before they submit.

Branching Logic

Branching logic makes your survey smarter. It lets you show or hide questions based on someone’s answer. This way, people only see questions that matter to them.

Here’s how you can add branching logic:

1. Add all your questions first.

2. Pick the question where you want to add branching.

3. Open the settings for that question and choose "Add branching."

4. Decide where each answer should lead. You can send people to another question, a new section, or the end of the survey.

5. You can also add branching to whole sections.

6. Branching only moves forward. You can’t send people back to earlier questions.

7. Preview your survey to make sure the branching works as you want.

Tip: Use branching to skip questions that don’t apply. For example, if someone says “No” to “Do you have a pet?”, you can skip all pet-related questions for them.

Practical Tips for Effective Questions:

• Keep questions short and clear.

• Avoid double-barreled questions (don’t ask two things at once).

• Use simple language.

• Test your survey to make sure everyone understands the questions.

With these tools, you can build a survey that is easy to answer and gives you useful results.

Microsoft Forms Settings

Appearance

You can make your survey look unique with the built-in style tools. When you open your form, look for the Style button. This menu lets you pick from a gallery of themes with different colors and backgrounds. You can:

• Choose a theme with a fun image or color.

• Upload your own picture for the top of the form. You can use a photo from your computer, OneDrive, or search online.

• Try immersive styles with animated backgrounds for extra flair.

• Enter a hex color code if you want a specific color.

• Add background music from the preloaded options to make your survey more lively.

Want to show your brand? You can add your logo to the header. Just hover over the top area and select the logo option. You can change the logo’s size and where it sits—left, center, or right. You can also adjust the header’s background image and text alignment. If you don’t want a header, you can turn it off.

Tip: You can change the look of your survey at any time, even after you start adding questions.

Keep in mind, you can’t change the font style or layout beyond what the themes offer. Microsoft Forms keeps things simple so you can focus on your questions.

Permissions

You control who can answer your survey. Microsoft Forms gives you three main choices:

• Anyone can respond: Anyone with the link can fill out your survey, even if they don’t have an account.

• Only people in my organization can respond: Only people in your school or company can answer.

• Specific people in my organization can respond: You pick who can take the survey.

You can also:

• Limit responses to one per person.

• Set start and end dates for when people can answer.

• Choose to collect names or keep answers anonymous.

• Decide if people get a receipt after they submit.

Note: Even if you allow anonymous responses, Microsoft Forms still collects some data like submission time and device type for security.

Here’s a quick table to show what data gets collected:

With these settings, you can keep your survey private or open it up to everyone. You stay in control every step of the way.

Share and Analyze

Share Options

You have several ways to share your survey with others. You can pick the audience—anyone, only people in your organization, or specific people. Here are the main sharing methods:

• Direct Link: Copy the survey link and send it by text or post it online. You can shorten the URL for easy sharing.

• QR Code: Create a QR code for your survey. Download the image and print it or display it on a screen. People scan it with their phones to open the survey.

• Email Invitation: Send your survey through Outlook or Teams. You can add a custom message and even include a cover image. In Teams, you can invite up to 500 people at once.

• Embed on Webpage: Copy the embed code and paste it into a website, class blog, or online document. This lets people fill out the survey right where they are.

Tip: If you want quick feedback in class or a meeting, print the QR code and let everyone scan it. It’s fast and easy!

Here’s a table to help you choose the best sharing method:

View Responses

You can see survey results as soon as people start answering. To check your data:

1. Open your survey and go to the Responses tab.

2. See a summary with total responses and average time to finish.

3. Look below for charts showing answers for each question. You get bar graphs, treemaps, and word clouds for open-text questions.

4. Click View results to see each person’s answers.

5. If you want details for one question, select More Details to see who answered what.

Note: You can search for a specific response by respondent number. This helps if you need to find someone’s answers quickly.

Live analytics let you watch results update in real time. You can even present the results in full-screen mode, hiding other buttons so everyone focuses on the data. If you use Teams, you can run live polls and see instant feedback.

Export Data

You might want to analyze your survey results further. Exporting your data makes this easy:

1. On the Responses tab, select Open in Excel. Your answers will open in a spreadsheet.

2. You can also export to CSV format and open it in Excel.

3. In Excel, each question is a column and each respondent is a row. You can sort, filter, and use formulas or pivot tables to dig deeper.

4. Adjust number formatting by selecting columns, right-clicking, and choosing Format Cells.

5. If you use SharePoint, you can set up automated flows to send survey data straight to a SharePoint list. This helps keep everything organized and ready for reporting.

6. With Power BI, you can create interactive dashboards and charts to spot trends and make decisions.

Tip: Exporting to Excel lets you use advanced tools like filters and graphs. You can find patterns and create custom reports that help you understand your results better.

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You can build your first survey in minutes. People love how the drag-and-drop design makes everything simple. Even if you have never made a survey before, you will find it easy to use.

• No tech skills needed

• Many question types and themes

• Quick results and easy sharing

Ready to get started? Try making your own survey today and see how much feedback you can collect!

FAQ

How do you save your survey in Microsoft Forms?

You don’t need to click a save button. Microsoft Forms saves your work automatically as you build your survey. You can close the browser and come back later. Your changes stay safe.

Can you limit who answers your survey?

Yes! You can set permissions so only people in your school or company can respond. You can also let anyone with the link answer. Just pick your choice in the settings.

What happens if someone leaves a survey unfinished?

Microsoft Forms counts incomplete answers as submissions. You can remind people to finish all questions before they hit submit. If you want, add a note at the end of your survey.

Can you see who answered your survey?

You can collect names if you want. Turn on the “Record name” option in settings. If you keep responses anonymous, you only see the answers, not the names.

How do you get your survey results into Excel?

Tip:
Click the Responses tab, then choose Open in Excel. Your answers will download as a spreadsheet. You can sort, filter, and make charts in Excel.