This article is for faculty, staff, and students who want to create a form, quiz, or survey on the web.
With Microsoft Forms, anyone can create surveys, quizzes, and polls, invite others to respond to it using almost any web browser or mobile device, see real-time results as they're submitted, use built-in analytics to evaluate responses, and export results to Excel for additional analysis or grading.
Combining Forms with Excel
If you would like to view the results in real-time inside an Excel spreadsheet, visit s.uconn.edu/onedrive and sign in with your email address and NetID password.
Click on My Files and find the folder that you would like the spreadsheet to reside in.
Click on Add new in the top-left corner to add a Forms for Excel.
Continue down this page to the “Question types” section.
Creating a Form without Excel
A form can be created without the real-time updates to an excel spreadsheet. Without this connection, the results of the Form may still be downloaded into a new spreadsheet each time you wish to view the results in Excel.
Go to forms.office.com and sign in with your email address and NetID password.
Click New Form to begin.
Click Untitled Form and enter a name for the form. If desired, a description can be added as well.
Question types
Click Add New and choose a question type.
At the end of each question title is an icon that allows you to add a picture to the question.
By clicking on the ellipsis (…) of each question you will find more options.
Choice: is a typical multiple-choice question. If multiple answers should be allowed, enable Multiple answers.
Click on ellipsis to shuffle the answers for each user. Choose Drop-down to change the radio buttons to a drop-down menu.
Text: is an open ended type question that gives the user a text entry field. The limit for this field is 4,000 characters.
If you choose Long answer the text field will adjust its size to fit the text entered by the user.Rating: allows the user to give a star rating to text of the question. You can have 2 to 10 stars appear in the question. The icon can be changed from a star to a few other icons.
Using the ellipsis menu, you can enter a description for the minimum and maximum rating level.Date: allows the user to enter a date using a calendar tool.
Ranking: allows users to click-and-drag a list of items to place them in an order of their choosing.
Likert: allows you to group multiple Rating questions into a single question. This question type will look familiar if you have filled out a satisfaction survey after receiving a service from a company.
File upload: Allows the user to upload (attach) a file to the form. ⚠️ Note that this option is available only when the form is limited to UConn users; this option is not available for public forms due to security concerns.
In the ellipsis menu you can restrict which file types are allowed for upload.
The file upload question cannot be anonymous.Net promoter score: is another way for users to describe their attitude toward the question. This question type will look familiar if you have filled out a satisfaction survey after receiving a service from a company.
Questions can be made required by selecting the Required icon.
Test out each question type by adding them to your quiz. Once you have a feel for the question types, you may remove the extras and continue creating your form.
After each question, you may click on Preview in the top-right corner at any time to see how your questions will function for the user.
Creating Sections
Sections break the form up into multiple pages. Instead of seeing all questions on one page, users will only see one section at a time. To navigate to the next section, all required questions must be answered and the user must click the Next button.
Click Add New.
Select Section.
Enter a section name, and if desired, a description.
Adding Branching (conditional formatting)
With branching, a user's response to a question can dictate what happens next in the survey. You can make questions either appear or disappear depending on a user’s choice on a previous question. On any question, branching can be added by:
Select the ellipsis icon in the bottom right corner of the question.
Click Add Branching
Next to an option or at the end of a question, choose the question or section the survey should go to next.
Example:
In the example above the branching is on the first question, therefore when a user opens the Form, they only see the first question. If the first branching was instead on the second question, they would see the first two questions when they open the form.
In the example above, if they choose “True” they will then see Question 2 along with the rest of the Form. If they instead choose “Very True”, they will see Question 3 and the rest of the Form; they will never see Question 2.
To reset all branching settings, click on the ellipsis and then Reset.
Adjusting Form Settings
Click the ellipsis icon in the top right corner of the screen.
Select Settings.
Choose whether you would like this form to be public-facing or only available to those with a NetID.
whether you would like to Record name or have an anonymous form
One response per person
Accept responses
If you disable this option you can disable entries without deleting the form.
Start date
Choose when the form goes live
End date
Choose when the form will no longer accept responses
Shuffle questions
The questions will be placed in a random order for each user
Customize thank you message
Send email receipt to respondents
Get email notification of each response
Previewing the Form
Previewing the form allows the creator to view the form as someone filling it out. To preview the form, click the Preview button on the top bar.
Click on Mobile to see how the form looks on a mobile device.
Changing the Form Style (theme)
To change how the form looks, click the Style button on the top bar. There are many default themes as well as the ability to create a custom theme by clicking the + icon.