Deleted File Recovery

How to Recover a Microsoft Form After the Owner Leaves

Natalie Taylor Sep 27, 2026 869 views

Question details

Administrators need to recover and transfer ownership of a Microsoft Form when the original creator leaves the organization and their account is deactivated.

How to Recover a Microsoft Form After the Owner Leaves

Product: Microsoft Forms
Device & OS: not provided
Scenario: A former employee's Microsoft 365 account has been disabled or scheduled for deletion, and their shared Microsoft Forms links risk becoming inaccessible.
Observed behavior: The form link stops working or threatens to stop working because the original owner's account is tied to the form, and their data is pending permanent deletion.

Before you start

Ensure you have global administrator privileges in your Microsoft 365 admin center and verify that the former employee's account was deleted less than 30 days ago.

Solution 1Recommended

Transfer Form Ownership via Forms Delegation Page

Global administrators can use the delegation page to move the former employee's forms to a new active user or a Microsoft 365 group.

It is crucial to act within the 30-day retention period after the employee's account is deleted. Once 30 days have passed, the account and its associated forms are permanently deleted and cannot be recovered.

Access the Forms delegation page

Navigate to the Microsoft Forms delegation URL using your global administrator credentials, replacing the end of the URL with the former owner's email address.

Locate the specific form

Find the form you need to recover in the list of forms previously created by the former employee.

Select the move action

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

Transfer to a new owner

Select an active user or a Microsoft 365 group to transfer the form to. Moving it to a group is highly recommended for continuous access.

Transfer Form Ownership via Forms Delegation Page

Proactive Group Transfer: To prevent forms from becoming orphaned in the future, ideally, forms should be moved to a Microsoft 365 group before an employee departs.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Can I recover a Microsoft Form if the owner left over 30 days ago?

Generally, no. Microsoft 365 retains deleted account data for only 30 days. After this retention period, the account and its associated forms are permanently deleted and cannot be recovered.

Who has permission to transfer form ownership?

Only users with Global Administrator or Office Application Administrator roles in the Microsoft 365 admin center can access the Forms delegation page and transfer ownership of an orphaned form.

What happens to the original form link after ownership is transferred?

Once the form is successfully moved to a new user or a Microsoft 365 group, the original form link remains active. Respondents can continue to submit answers without any interruption.

How can I prevent losing forms when employees leave the company?

The best practice is to move important business forms to a Microsoft 365 group before the employee's departure. Forms owned by a group are not tied to a single user account and remain active even if individual members leave.

Migration & Recovery