Start with a blank form or template

Open Microsoft Forms by going to forms.office.com in your web browser and signing in with your Microsoft account — the same one you use for Outlook, OneDrive, or Office 365. Once you are logged in, click the New Form button in the top left corner. You will see two options: start with a blank form or choose from a template.

A blank form is the fastest route if you know what questions you want to ask. If you are unsure where to start, Microsoft provides templates for common survey types: Customer Feedback, Event Feedback, Quiz, and others. Clicking a template fills in sample questions you can edit or delete. Either way, you land in the same editor where you build your survey.

At the top of the page, you will see a text field that says "Untitled Form". Click it and type a name for your survey — something like "Customer Service Feedback" or "Event Attendance Survey". Below that is a description field where you can add context: "Please take two minutes to tell us what you thought of today's workshop." This text appears when people open your survey.

Key Takeaways

  • You create surveys in Microsoft Forms by signing in at forms.office.com, clicking New Form, and naming your survey at the top of the page.
  • Each question type — multiple choice, text, rating, ranking — serves a different purpose, and you choose the type when you add a question.
  • You can make questions required so respondents cannot skip them, and you can shuffle answer options so the first choice is not always selected more often.
  • Share your survey by copying the link from the Share button, or by sending it directly to specific people through Outlook.
  • Responses appear in real time on the Responses tab, and you can read them as an Excel file for further analysis.

Add and format your first question

Below the description field, you will see a line that says "Add new". Click it to add your first question. A text box appears where you type the question itself — for example, "How satisfied were you with your experience?" or "What is your job title?"

To the right of the question text, you will see a dropdown menu that currently says "Choice". This is where you pick the question type. The most common types are: Choice (multiple choice with radio buttons), Text (a short answer box), Rating (a 1-to-5 star scale), and Ranking (respondents order options from best to worst). Click the dropdown to see all available types and select the one that fits your question.

Once you pick a type, the question expands to show options. For a Choice question, you will see two blank answer options. Type the first answer, press Tab or click the next field, and type the second answer. Click Add option to add more choices. If you want to let respondents write their own answer, check the box that says "Add 'Other' option" at the bottom.

Make questions required and shuffle answers

Below each question, you will see three icons: a three-dot menu, a duplicate button, and a delete button. Click the three-dot menu to open more settings for that question. The first option is a toggle for Required. Turn this on if you want respondents to answer the question before they can submit the survey. This is useful for core questions but can frustrate people if you require too many answers.

In the same menu, you will find a Shuffle options toggle. When you turn this on, Microsoft randomizes the order of answer choices each time someone opens the survey. This prevents the first or last option from being chosen more often straightforward because of its position. Use this when you want unbiased feedback — for example, when asking people to rate competing product designs.

You can also set a question to allow multiple answers by clicking the toggle for Multiple answers in the three-dot menu. This changes radio buttons to checkboxes, so respondents can select more than one option. This is useful for questions like "Which of these features would you like to see?" where people might want more than one thing.

Add more questions and organize them

Click Add new again to add your second question. Repeat this for each question you want to ask. You can add as many questions as you need, but surveys with fewer than ten questions tend to get higher completion rates because they take less time.

To reorder questions, hover your mouse over the left edge of any question until you see a six-dot handle icon. Click and drag the question up or down to move it. This is useful if you realize mid-survey that a demographic question (like job title) should come first, or if you want to group related questions together.

You can also add sections to organize long surveys. Click Add new and select Section instead of a question type. A section is a divider with a heading and optional description — useful for surveys with more than fifteen questions. For example, you might have a "Product Quality" section followed by a "Customer Service" section.

Share your survey with respondents

Once your survey is ready, click the Share button in the top right corner. You will see two main options: a link and an email option. The link option shows a URL that you can copy and paste anywhere — into an email, a document, a social media post, or a website. Anyone with the link can open and complete your survey.

The email option lets you send the survey directly to specific people. Click Send and collect responses, then type or paste email addresses separated by semicolons. You can add a custom message that appears in the email body. Microsoft sends the email from your account, and responses come back to you automatically.

If you want to limit responses to people in your organization, click the three-dot menu next to the Share button and look for Settings. Under "Responses", you can choose whether to allow responses from anyone with the link, or only from people in your organization. You can also turn off the option to show results to respondents, so they cannot see other people's answers.

Review responses as they come in

Click the Responses tab at the top of the page to see answers in real time. Microsoft shows you a summary view with charts for multiple-choice questions and a list of text answers. For a rating question, you will see the average score and a bar chart showing how many people chose each rating.

If you want to see individual response sets — all the answers from one person — click Responses again and select Individual responses. You can scroll through each person's answers one at a time, or use the arrow buttons to move between respondents.

To read all responses into an Excel file, click the Open in Excel button at the top of the Responses tab. This creates a spreadsheet where each row is one respondent and each column is one question. You can then sort, filter, or analyze the data further in Excel.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I change the survey after people have already started answering it?

Yes. You can add, delete, or reorder questions at any time, even while people are responding. Existing responses are not affected. However, if you delete a question, the answers people gave to that question are also deleted, so be careful with deletions once responses have come in.

What happens if I want to close the survey so no one else can answer?

Click the three-dot menu next to the Share button and select Settings. Under "Responses", toggle off the option that says "Record name" or "Collect responses". This closes the survey to new responses. You can turn it back on later if you want to reopen it.

Can I see who answered my survey?

That depends on your settings. If you turned on "Record name" in Settings, Microsoft captures the email address of each respondent. If you left it off, responses are anonymous and you cannot see who answered. You can change this setting at any time, but it only applies to new responses going forward.

How do I make a survey that branches based on answers?

Click the three-dot menu on any question and select Branching. This lets you set rules like "If someone chooses 'No' to this question, skip them to question 5." Branching is useful for long surveys where different respondents need different questions — for example, asking follow-up questions only to people who said they were dissatisfied.

Can I use Microsoft Forms on my phone?

Yes. You can open forms.office.com in a mobile browser and create or edit surveys the same way you do on a computer. The layout adjusts for a smaller screen. Respondents can also fill out your survey on their phones — the form automatically formats itself to fit mobile screens.