Permission & Access Issues

How to Transfer Microsoft Forms Ownership When an Employee Leaves

John Wilson Oct 16, 2026 868 views

Question details

Users need to know the correct procedure to transfer ownership of Microsoft Forms created by an employee who is no longer with the organization.

Product: Microsoft Forms
Device & OS: not provided
Scenario: An employee has departed the company, and their active forms need to be reassigned to a new administrator, owner, or team group to maintain data access.
Observed behavior: The forms remain tied to the deleted or disabled account of the former employee, risking data loss if not transferred within the allowed timeframe.

Before you start

Ensure you have global administrator privileges in Microsoft 365, and verify that the departed employee's account was deleted or disabled less than 30 days ago.

Solution 1Recommended

Transfer Form Ownership as an Administrator

Use the Microsoft Forms delegation page to safely move a departed employee's forms to a new owner or group.

This is the official method for administrators to recover forms from a disabled or deleted user account. You must complete this action within 30 days of the account deletion, and you need a valid Forms license to perform the transfer.

Access the delegation page

Log in to Microsoft 365 with your administrator credentials and navigate directly to the Microsoft Forms delegation page via its specific URL.

Locate the former employee's account

Enter the former owner's email address in the search field to pull up a list of all forms associated with their disabled account.

Select the form to transfer

Locate the specific form you wish to retain and click to select it.

Initiate the move action

Click on 'More form actions' (the three dots icon) next to the selected form, and choose the 'Move' option from the dropdown menu.

Assign a new owner

Select the new individual owner or an active Microsoft 365 group to receive the form, then confirm the transfer.

Transfer Form Ownership as an Administrator

Crucial Time Limit: Administrators only have a 30-day window from the time the original owner's account is disabled or deleted to successfully transfer the forms.

Solution 2

Move a Form to a Microsoft 365 Group

Existing active users can proactively move their forms to a Microsoft 365 group to prevent ownership issues before leaving.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Can I transfer Microsoft Forms ownership 30 days after the employee's account is deleted?

No. You must complete the transfer process within 30 days of the original owner's account being disabled or deleted. After this period, the forms and their associated data may be permanently unrecoverable.

Is it possible to assign ownership of a Microsoft Form to a shared mailbox?

Generally, no. Microsoft Forms are designed to be owned by individual user accounts or established Microsoft 365 groups. Transferring a form to a shared mailbox is not natively supported.

Who has the authority to transfer forms for a departed employee?

Only users with specific administrative roles, such as Global Administrator or Office Application Administrator, who also possess a valid Forms license, have the necessary permissions to access the delegation page and perform the transfer.

Document & File Issues