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What Happens to Microsoft Forms and Power Automate After Account Deactivation?

Tauseeq Magsi Sep 30, 2026 869 views

Question details

The user needs to know whether Microsoft Forms and Power Automate flows remain accessible and functional after the original owner's Microsoft 365 account is deactivated.

What Happens to Microsoft Forms and Power Automate After Account Deactivation?

Product: Microsoft 365
Device & OS: not provided
Scenario: An employee is leaving the organization, and the administrator or team needs to secure and manage the departing user's automated workflows and shared forms.
Observed behavior: Upon account deactivation, the former owner's access is revoked. Without proper preparation, automated flows may fail due to invalid authentication, and form editing capabilities or response data may be lost.

Before you start

Before deactivating an employee's Microsoft 365 account, verify that you have global administrator or SharePoint administrator privileges to successfully transfer ownership of their files and automations.

Solution 1Recommended

Proactively Transfer Ownership Before Deactivation

The safest and most recommended approach is to transfer ownership of Microsoft Forms to a group and update Power Automate connections before disabling the user's account.

Taking action before the employee departs ensures that critical business processes are not interrupted by sudden authentication failures.

Move Microsoft Forms to a Group

Have the departing user open Microsoft Forms, locate the form in question, click the 'More options' (three dots) icon on the form tile, and select 'Move to a group'. Choose the appropriate Microsoft 365 group to ensure the team retains editing and response access.

Add Co-owners to Power Automate Flows

In Power Automate, navigate to 'My flows', select the flow you want to share, and click the 'Share' icon. Add another active user or a Microsoft 365 Group as a co-owner so the flow remains manageable.

Update Flow Connections

Open the flow in edit mode and locate any steps that authenticate using the departing user's credentials (such as sending an Outlook email or modifying SharePoint files). Click the three dots on those steps, select 'My connections', and switch them to a service account or the new owner's account.

Proactively Transfer Ownership Before Deactivation

Prevent Data and Workflow Loss: Transferring assets to a shared group guarantees that flows and forms continue to run seamlessly after the original owner's account is fully disabled.

Solution 2

Understand the Post-Deactivation State

If the account has already been deactivated, here is how the existing Forms and Power Automate flows are affected and what functionalities remain.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Can I recover a Microsoft Form if the creator's account is permanently deleted?

If an account is permanently deleted (which typically occurs 30 days after deactivation), any forms tied solely to that user's OneDrive are also deleted. An administrator must restore the user account within that 30-day window to transfer the form to a group.

Will a shared Power Automate flow stop running if the original creator leaves?

The flow itself will not be deleted if it has assigned co-owners, but it will fail to run if it relies on authentication connections tied to the deactivated user's credentials. A remaining co-owner must open the flow and update the connection references.

How can a global administrator transfer a departed user's Microsoft Form?

An administrator can generate a specialized admin URL containing the departed user's email address to access their forms portal. From there, the admin can select 'Move to a group' to transfer ownership before the account data is permanently purged.

Do respondents get an error on forms owned by a deactivated account?

If the form was not shared to a group, respondents may eventually encounter an access error once the account becomes fully unlicensed and the associated OneDrive and SharePoint storage is deprovisioned.

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