What you need to know
- Microsoft Forms is now available for personal use.
- Microsoft Forms allows you to create surveys and topics that you can easily share.
- People can fill out the created surveys and quizzes on the web or within the Office mobile app.
Microsoft Forms is now available and out of preview. Forms allows you to create surveys and quizzes that you can easily share with people through the web. People can view surveys and quizzes on smartphones, tablets, and PCs through a browser or through the Office mobile app (opens in new tab).
When creating a survey or quiz within Forms, you can use preexisting templates or create content from scratch. The smart templates suggest things to include, such as questions to add and answers to list as options. Forms will also suggest a theme for your quiz or survey. You can create forms with text, images, and videos to help gather the information you need from people.
Microsoft shares several examples in a blog post (opens in new tab) of how people can use teams, including planning for birthday parties, getting feedback through surveys and planning for the holidays.
I've used Microsoft Forms for the last month or so while it was in preview for the American football team that I coach. As part of current health guidelines, all players and coaches have to fill out a pre-practice health form before participating in any face-to-face team activities. I've used Forms for the last few weeks to gather responses from the team. Forms has an option to export responses in Excel, which makes it easy to copy over to my team's master spreadsheet.
When you create a survey or quiz within forms, you can then share it with a link or through a QR code. Responses update in real-time, so you can use Forms in a variety of settings.
Microsoft Forms also has versions for business (opens in new tab) and education (opens in new tab). The personal version that's avaialble now is free to use for anyone with a Microsoft account. If you have Microsoft 365 Personal or Family, you get additional features such as an increased maximum number of respondents.
Sean Endicott is the news writer for Windows Central. If it runs Windows, is made by Microsoft, or has anything to do with either, he's on it. Sean's been with Windows Central since 2017 and is also our resident app expert. If you have a news tip or an app to review, hit him up at sean.endicott@futurenet.com.
