Hands-on with Microsoft Forms, the Microsoft answer to Survey Monkey and Google Forms

If you’ve ever had a situation where you need to run an internal poll or questionnaire amongst coworkers, then you’ve likely turned to tools like Google Forms or Survey Monkey. Well, as covered as part of most Office 365 subscriptions, Microsoft also has a tool known as Forms which can help you do the same.

As the name suggests, Forms is a simple to use lightweight tool that can help you quickly create forms, collect responses in real-time, and view charts to help you visualize your data. Best of all, it works from any web browser, and there’s no need to install a dedicated app. As we continue to dive into each of the Office 365 apps or services, we’ll now be taking a closer look at Microsoft Forms.

Creating forms

Once you open the Forms experience from the Office 365 launcher, you’ll notice two options. You can create either a new form or a new quiz. You can then enter in a name for your new form or quiz, or choose an optional subtitle. Next, there are options to choose to add Choices, Text, Ratings, or Date questions. If you choose a choice option, you’ll need to enter the text you want to display for each question.

When creating a quiz specifically, you have options to assign each quiz a certain amount of points. You also can add options for multiple answers, or switch the question to required. And, if you want to spice up the look of the quiz, you can click the Theme option, and choose one of the preset options.

In some cases, Microsoft Forms is smart enough to know what you’re writing about and will suggest some templates for you when creating forms. For further customization when you’re filling out a form, you can choose a theme to make the form look a bit more stylish. There are a few preset options to choose from, be it balloons, office, or art. Once you’re finished, you can click the Preview button to have a peek at what the form or quiz will look like.

Sending forms

Once you finish creating a form or a quiz, you can select the Share button on the top of the screen. From there, there are a few options. You can choose if you want only people in your organization to respond, or if you want to allow anyone with the link to response. There are also options where you can share a QR code for the person to scan, so they can visit the form. And, there’s even an embed code, which will let you embed it in a blog or website. For simplicity’s sake, you also can invite others to the form via email.

If you want, you also can share the form as a template, so anyone with the link can duplicate it. And, if you’re really up for collaboration, there’s an option to share a link that will let others edit the form too.

Viewing Results

After a form is shared, you’ll be able to view the results. To do this, head back to the main Microsoft Forms dashboard. You’ll be able to click the form, and then click the Responses tab along the top. If you click, you’ll be able to see individual details for each responder, such as the time it took for them to finish the form, and which option was selected. If you really love numbers, you also can click the option to open in Excel, which will give you a deeper dive into the data.

Try out Microsoft Forms Pro!

Much like free solutions from Survey Monkey and Google Forms, Microsoft Forms is a bit limited in scope. Microsoft, however, does offer a premium version of the service known as Microsoft Forms Pro. This service is more designed for the enterprise and can help you act on customer and employee feedback. It has features like an ability to automatically send surveys, identify sentiment, and Develop customized, on-brand surveys with your company’s look and feel using AI-assisted suggested questions. Is Microsoft Forms something you’ll be interested in? Let us know in the comments below!