Admin information

Getting started

How do I turn off or turn on Microsoft Forms?

By default, Forms is turned on for everyone in an organization. Microsoft 365 IT Administrators can turn off Microsoft Forms in the Microsoft 365 admin Center, under the User Management tab. See Set up Microsoft Forms and Turn off or turn on Microsoft Forms for more details.

How do I allow Microsoft Forms access for only specific people in my organization?

Administrators can change access permissions for specific people in the organization. See Administrator settings in Microsoft Forms.

Data storage

Where is data stored for Microsoft Forms?

Microsoft Forms data is stored on servers in the United States, with the exception of data for European-based tenants. The data for European-based tenants is stored on servers in Europe.

 

User activity

How do I see the activities performed in Microsoft Forms by people in my organization?

You can review Microsoft Forms activities in the Microsoft 365 security center audit log. Learn more about Auditing in Office 365 (for Admins).

User account information

How do I check to see if a user account has been "hard deleted"?

1. Admins can login to Microsoft Graph.

2. In the top search box, paste the following URL:

   https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/directory/deletedItems/microsoft.graph.user?$filter=mail eq 'user email'

   Note: user email = Email address of the form owner that has left your organization and/or whose account has been disabled.

3. Click Run query.

If the account information you're looking for is returned in your query, this means the account has been soft deleted and is within the 30 day limit. A global admin can transfer the forms owned by the soft deleted account using the transfer method as previously described.

If the account information you're looking for is not returned in your query, this means either the account still exists in the Office 365 tenant or was deleted more than 30 days ago. If the account exists or is in a disabled state in the Office 365 tenant, a global admin can transfer the forms owned by the account. If the account was "hard deleted" from the Office 365 tenant, a global admin won't be able to transfer the forms that were owned by that account. These forms are also not recoverable. 

Learn more about deleted accounts and associated data.

Is there a limit to the number of users and amount of data stored for user accounts even after they have left my organization?

Currently, there is no limit for the number of users for which data is retained, as long as the provisioning of their accounts is within your organization's online service agreement. There is also no limit for the amount of data stored for user accounts.

What happens to a form's data if the owner's Microsoft Forms license has been removed, or the user is disabled or deleted from your tenant (Azure AD)?

If the owner license has been removed or the owner's account is disabled, there is no change for the amount of data stored for the user account.

If a user account has been deleted from your tenant (Azure AD), all account-related data will be deleted 30 days after the user has been deleted.

Form ownership transfer

The original owner of a form is no longer with my organization. How can I transfer ownership of their form?

To transfer the form of someone who has left your organization, the following requirements must be met:

• You are the global administrator of the organization and have a valid Forms license.

• The employee whose form you want to transfer has an account that has been deleted or disabled.

• The form is transferred within 30 days of when an account was deleted.

  Note: There is no time restriction to transfer ownership of a form from an account that has been disabled (and not deleted).

If all requirements are met, you may transfer form ownership. In the address bar of your browser, replace the existing URL with the following:

1. https://forms.office.com/Pages/delegatepage.aspx?originalowner=[email address]

   Note: email address = Email address of the form owner that has left your organization and/or whose account has been disabled.

   For example, if the form owner ("Jason Fabian") left your organization ("Contoso"), your workaround URL would look like this:

   https://forms.office.com/Pages/delegatepage.aspx?originalowner=JasonFabian@contoso.com

2. You now have access to the former employee's forms. On the form you want to transfer, click More form actions , and then select Move.

Note: If you're trying to transfer ownership of the form to a currently actively employee within your organization, you can move it to a group they belong to. If you're not already a member of that group, you must join it in order to perform the transfer. After the form ownership transfer is complete, you can choose to leave the group.

When I try to transfer ownership of a form, why do I I get an error?

If you get an error message, any of the following may prevent you from transferring ownership:

Error message	Explanation
We can't access this page The forms owner still has an active account.	The owner of the form still has an active Forms license and account.
We can't access this page Make sure you've entered the email address correctly and the forms owner account wasn't deleted more than 30 days ago.	The email address is spelled incorrectly and/or the account of the forms owner was deleted more than 30 days ago.
We can't access this page Make sure you've entered the email address correctly, and then try again.	The email address is missing or misspelled.

Forms usage in Outlook or PowerPoint

People in my organization aren't able to add a Poll to an Outlook email message. How do I fix this?

The Modern authentication setting for Outlook needs to be enabled in order to ensure people in your organization can create a poll in Outlook.

1. Sign in to https://admin.microsoft.com with your work or school account.

2. Select Settings > Org settings.

   Note: If you don't see the Settings option, select Show all in the left pane.

3. Select Modern authentication.

4. Check the option, Turn on modern authentication for Outlook 2013 for Windows and later (recommended).

Learn more about modern and multi-factor authentication and how set it up and roll it out to your organization.

I don't want to deploy Office add-ins for my entire organization. Can people in my organization still use the Forms add-in for PowerPoint?

Yes, you can use Centralized Deployment to deploy just the Forms add-in for PowerPoint. 

1. Sign in to https://admin.microsoft.com with your work or school account.

2. Select Settings > Add-ins.

   Note: If you don't see the Settings option, select Show all in the left pane.

3. In the Add-ins list, select Forms.

4. Under Assign Users in the Edit Forms pane, select Everyone.

5. Select Save.

Forms and anti-phishing

What can I do about phishing and potential malicious intent in forms within my tenant?

In Microsoft Forms, we enable automated machine reviews to proactively detect the malicious collection of sensitive data in forms and temporary block those forms from collecting responses.

Learn more about Microsoft Forms and proactive phishing prevention.

If you're a global and/or security administrator, you can log in to the Microsoft 365 admin center at admin.microsoft.com and go to the Message Center. Here, you'll get a daily summary of any and all blocked forms. For each form listed, you can choose whether to unblock it or confirm its phishing attempt. Learn more about how to review and unblock forms or users detected and blocked for potential phishing.