Microsoft Forms Creating a Form

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Unlike other Microsoft 365 products that exist as individual files, Microsoft Forms are cloud-hosted databases and cannot be stored directly within SharePoint sites.

With Microsoft Forms, you can create a form, invite people to fill it out, see real-time results, evaluate responses with built-in analytics, and export results to Excel for further analysis or grading.

Whether you need a web form or something that can be filled out on paper, we've got you covered with fully customizable form templates.

Microsfot Forms Support

Creating a Form

Log into MS Forms with your SUNY Geneseo credentials.

  • Click New Form to begin.

  • Use a MS Form template or create your own form.                       

           image of a new ms form

  • To create your own form add a title to your form and add a description.

    • Form titles can have up to 90 characters.

    • Descriptions can have up to 1,000 characters.

    • Your form is saved automatically while you create it.

  • Select  Add New to add a question to your form.

  • Choose what question type you want to add.

    • You can format the text by double clicking the text to show the text menu.

  • Questions can be required by toggling the required button at the bottom of the question.  image of required toggle on question

Question Types

Choice: Presents options for single or multiple answers, using radio buttons (single) or checkboxes (multiple).

Text: For open-ended responses, allowing for short (one-line) or long (multiple-line) text input.

Rating: Uses stars or numbers (e.g., 2-10 levels) to gauge opinions or satisfaction.

Date: Prompts users to enter a specific date, often with a calendar picker.

Ranking: Asks respondents to drag and drop options to order them from highest to lowest.

Likert: Uses a scale (e.g., 5-point) to measure agreement, importance, or satisfaction (e.g., Strongly Agree to Strongly Disagree).

File Upload: Allows respondents to upload files, useful for applications or submissions.

Net Promoter Score (NPS): Measures loyalty on a 0-10 scale (Not at all likely to Extremely likely). 

Creating Sections

If you're creating a lengthy questionnaire, it can be helpful to organize your questions into pages—or "sections".  

To add a section:

  1. Press the green + sign.   

  2. Select More Question types (chevron symbol)

  3. Select Section 

  4. Add a Section title and Subtitle (optional).

  5. Add your questions.

To rearrange the order of your sections: 

  1. Select the ••• to the right of the section's title.  This will bring up the Settings menu. 

  2. Choose Move section.   

  3. Press the ↑ and ↓ keys to move the section. 

  4. Press Done.  

To remove a section but leave the questions on the form:

  1. Select the ••• to the right of the section's title.  This will bring up the Settings menu. 

  2. Choose Remove section -->  Just section

To remove a section along with the questions it contains:

  1. Select the ••• to the right of the section's title.  This will bring up the Settings menu. 

  2. Choose Remove section -->  Section and questions

Branching Logic

Design forms that allow you to direct respondents along different conditional paths based on their responses to preceding questions.

 

BEFORE You Add Branching

Before you can add branching, you will need to have ALL of your questions already written on your form. 

  • As you are writing your questions, think about formatting.  Forms has several question types from which to choose:  Choice, Text, Rating, Date, Ranking, Likert, Upload File, Net Promoter Score.

  • Rearranging the order of your questions is easy.  Hover the mouse over a question until 6 grey dots appear over the question.  Place the cursor over the 6 dots, click & hold the mouse, and then drag the question up or down.

How to Add Branching

You may add branching to individual questions and/or sections.  

A key point to keep in mind:  Creating branches in a form that contains many questions requires forethought.  You cannot branch a question to a preceding question, only one that comes after it. For example, you cannot branch from question 4 to question 3. You can only branch from question 4 to questions 5 or 6 or 7, and so on.

 To create a branch from one question to another question (or section):

  1. Select the question for which you want to add branching. 

  2. Select ••• More settings 

  3. Choose Add branching. 

  4. Next to each answer(s) under the given question, there will be the words Go to.  Click on ↓ to view the drop down menu.  The menu contains every question and section on your form.  Select the question or section that you wish to appear NEXT for the respondent. Remember, you cannot branch a question to a preceding question or section, only one that comes after it.

  5. Next, continue through the rest of your form and add branches accordingly.

To create a branch from one section to another section:

  1. Select the section for which you want to add branching. 

  2. Select ••• More settings 

  3. Choose Add branching. 

  4. At the bottom of the section, there will be the words Go to. 

  5. Click on ↓ to view the drop down menu.  The menu contains every section on your form. 

  6. Select the section that you wish to appear NEXT for the respondent to Reset Branching

If you want to completely remove the branching, go to the question where you began branching.  Select the 3 dots at the bottom right and choose Add branching.  

Next, you will see the heading "Branching options" at the top of the screen with 3 dots to the right.  Click on those 3 dots and select Reset.  This will eliminate all branching on the form.  From here, you can set up new branching if you'd like.  

Form Settings

In your form, click on the settings button to open

Who can fill out this form

This section controls access and how user data is collected.

  • Anyone can respond: Best for public surveys; users do not need to sign in, and responses are anonymous.

image of who can fill out this form section

  • Under Send and collect responses, select the audience from these options:

    Choose from three options to allow different types of people to respond, depending on how they sign in or not.

  • Only people in SUNY Geneseo can respond: (Selected in image) Restricts the form to your organization. Users must sign in with their school credentials.

    • Record name: Automatically tracks the name and email of the person responding.

    • One response per person: Prevents individuals from submitting the form multiple times.

  • Specific people... can respond: Allows you to limit access to up to 100 specific individuals or groups within your organization. (individuals or groups within SUNY Geneseo)

Send and Collect Responses

  1. Open: your form in Microsoft Forms. 

  2. Click the “Collect Responses” (usually at the top right). 

  3. You can also select who has access to this form on this pop out.

  4. Select a sharing method:

    • Link: Copy the URL to share in chats, emails, or documents. 

    • QR Code: Scan to open the form on mobile devices. 

    • Email: Send directly from Forms to specific people. 

    • Embed: Get code to embed the form on a website. 

image of sharing options

Options for responses

image of option for response box

These settings manage the timeline and behavior of the form.

Accept responses: Keeps the form active. Unchecking this "closes" the form.

Start/End date: Schedules the exact date and time the form opens and closes.

Set time duration: Limits how long a person has to finish once they start (e.g., a 30-minute timed quiz).

Shuffle questions: Displays questions in a random order for each person.

Show a progress bar: Provides a visual indicator of how much of the form is left (only available for multi-section forms).

Customize thank you message: Allows you to write a personalized message that appears after they click "Submit".

Allow respondents to save/edit: (Checked in image)

Save: Allows users to save their progress.

Note: In 2026, users usually must submit once to "save" their responses in the "Filled forms" section of their account.

Edit: If enabled, users can revisit the link to update their answers as long as the form remains open

Email Notifications when a form is submitted:

  1. In MS Forms, go to Settings (three dots ...).

  2. Under Response receipts, check "Get email notification of each response."

  3. In the Add recipients box, enter email address.

  4. Note: Uncheck your own name if you only want the department to receive alerts.

Response Notifications & Receipts

User Receipts: Check "Allow receipt of responses after submission" to let respondents download or print a PDF of their answers.

image of response receipts with check next to get email notification for each repsponse

The owner of the form will be added automatically to receive the responses.

The owner can then click on the 3 dots ... to add others to review response notifications..

Collaborators

  • Open your Microsoft Form

  • Click the three dots at the top-right,

  • Open Collaborate or Duplicate.

  • Click +Share the link to collaborate and view result.

image of drop down options for sharingimage collaboration screen to add collaborators

If you want to change who can use your collaboration link (e.g., restricting it from "Anyone" to "Only people in my organization"):

  • Open the form you are currently sharing.

  • Click the three dots (...) in the top-right corner and select Collaborate or Duplicate.

  • Under the Add collaborators section, you will see a dropdown menu under your existing link.

  • Select a new permission level:

    • Users with an Office 365 work or school account: Anyone with a Microsoft business account (even outside your company) can edit.

    • People in my organization: Only coworkers signed into your company’s tenant can edit.

    • Specific people in my organization: You can type in names or email addresses of specific individuals or groups.

How to Revoke Access (Stop Sharing)

Microsoft Forms does not have a "Remove" button for individual users unless you used the "Specific people" setting. To stop everyone from collaborating, you must delete the link:

  1. Navigate to Collaborate or Duplicate (as described above).

  2. Locate the trash can icon (Delete) next to the collaboration link text box.

  3. Click Remove link.

  4. Warning: This permanently deactivates that link. Anyone who previously had it will no longer be able to access the form. If you still need some people to have access, you will need to generate a brand-new link and send it only to them.

Preview Your Form

  1. On a computer, select  Preview to see how your form will look. On a mobile device, select to see how your form will look.

  2. To test your form, answer the questions in Preview mode and select Submit.

  3. To keep editing your form, select Back.

If you delete a question after you have collected responses, it will be permanently deleted along with any response data collected for it. Learn more.

 

 

Still Need Help?

Ask CIT! 📞 (585) 245-5588 | 📧 Email | 💬 Chat | 📝 Submit a Request and we'll be happy to assist you.

 

 

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