Deleted File Recovery

How to Recover Microsoft Forms After the Owner Leaves

Partner Editor Sep 25, 2026 870 views

Question details

Users need to recover Microsoft Forms and the submitted responses that disappeared after the original creator's company account was terminated.

How to Recover Microsoft Forms and Responses After the Owner Leaves

Product: Microsoft Forms
Device & OS: not provided
Scenario: An employee leaves the organization, their Microsoft 365 account is deleted, and their shared forms become completely inaccessible to existing collaborators.
Observed behavior: Collaborator links stop working and display an error stating that the form does not exist, causing the organization to lose access to the form structure and all collected response data.

Before you start

Ensure you have Microsoft 365 global administrator or forms administrator privileges, and act quickly, as recovery is only possible within 30 days of the user's account deletion.

Solution 1Recommended

Transfer Form Ownership via Microsoft 365 Admin Center

Microsoft 365 administrators can restore the deleted user account or transfer the abandoned forms to an active group within the 30-day retention period.

Being a collaborator on a Microsoft Form does not grant you ownership rights. When the original creator's account is terminated and deleted, the form goes with it. The only way to retrieve the form and its responses is through administrative intervention.

Administrators have a 30-day window from the time of account deletion to either temporarily restore the account or transfer the ownership of the specific forms to an active Microsoft 365 Group.

Access the Microsoft 365 Admin Center

Contact your IT administrator and have them log into the Microsoft 365 admin center using their global administrator or forms administrator credentials.

Navigate to Deleted Users

In the left-hand navigation menu of the admin center, click on 'Users' and then select 'Deleted users' to locate the departed employee's account.

Restore Account or Transfer Forms

If the account is within the 30-day deletion window, the admin can click 'Restore user' to temporarily reactivate the account. Alternatively, the admin can access the Microsoft Forms admin portal to directly move the user's forms to a shared Microsoft 365 Group.

Retention Period Warning: If the user account has been deleted for more than 30 days, or if it was manually permanently deleted from the recycle bin, the forms and all submitted responses are permanently lost and cannot be recovered.

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Streamline Your Work with WPS Office

If you frequently encounter administrative blocks or account-tied access issues with Microsoft 365, consider switching to WPS Office. It provides a lightweight, highly compatible, and free alternative to Microsoft Office, empowering your team to create, share, and collaborate on documents without complex admin center limitations.

1. Download the Installer: Visit the official WPS Office website and click the free download button for your operating system.
2. Install WPS Office: Run the downloaded installation file and follow the simple on-screen instructions to set up the software.
3. Start Collaborating: Open WPS Office, sign in to your cloud account, and start creating or co-editing documents with your team instantly.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Does form ownership transfer automatically to a collaborator?

No. Collaborating on a Microsoft Form only grants you permission to view and edit the form design or responses. Ownership strictly remains with the original creator. If their account is deleted, the form will become inaccessible.

How long is the recovery window for deleted Microsoft Forms?

Administrators have a strict 30-day retention period starting from the exact date the original owner's Microsoft 365 account was deleted. After 30 days, the data is permanently purged.

How can I prevent losing access to forms when an employee leaves in the future?

To prevent data loss, it is highly recommended to move important organizational forms to a shared Microsoft 365 Group or SharePoint site rather than keeping them tied to an individual user's personal account.

Migration & Recovery