Others

Fix Microsoft Forms Report Truncating Long Text Responses

Maira Mehtab Sep 22, 2026 868 views

Question details

Users need a way to display complete text answers in Microsoft Forms response reports, as the default view cuts off long submissions.

Product: Microsoft Forms
Device & OS: not provided
Scenario: Viewing or sharing Microsoft Forms response reports that contain long text answers.
Observed behavior: The response summary report truncates long text answers after approximately two lines, and shared report links also show incomplete text with no built-in settings available to display the full answers.

Before you start

Ensure you have access to Microsoft Power Automate through your Microsoft 365 account, as you will need to create an automated flow to bypass the built-in summary limitations.

Solution 1Recommended

Use Power Automate to Export Complete Form Responses

Since Microsoft Forms has a fixed summary format that cannot be changed natively, you can use Power Automate to automatically capture full, untruncated responses and send them to an email or an Excel table.

The response summary in Microsoft Forms is hardcoded to display a fixed format that truncates text for spacing purposes. Because there are no native settings to expand these text boxes, setting up a Power Automate API flow is the most reliable workaround to extract the complete text automatically.

Open Power Automate

Create a New Automated Flow

Click on 'Create' and select 'Automated cloud flow'. Name your flow and choose 'When a new response is submitted' as the flow's trigger.

Select Your Microsoft Form

In the trigger settings, use the 'Form Id' dropdown to select the specific form that contains your long text questions.

Get Response Details

Add a new step and search for the 'Get response details' action. Select the same Form Id and map the Response Id dynamic content to ensure it captures the exact submission data.

Define the Output Destination

Add a final action such as 'Send an email (V2)' or 'Add a row into a table' (Excel Online). Insert the dynamic content corresponding to your long text questions into the email body or table row, which will successfully output the complete, untruncated answers.

Submit Feedback to Microsoft: As this is a widely requested feature, it is highly recommended to submit a feature request through the Microsoft 365 feedback portal to encourage developers to add a native setting for full-text display.

Free Microsoft Office alternative

Try WPS Office for Seamless Data Management

Looking for a reliable way to manage survey data and analyze detailed responses without formatting limitations? WPS Office offers a free, lightweight, and fully compatible alternative to Microsoft Office. Easily handle large datasets in WPS Spreadsheet with a familiar interface and no text truncation issues.

1. Download WPS Office: Visit the official WPS website and download the free WPS Office suite to your device.
2. Export Form Data: Export your Microsoft Forms responses to an Excel (.xlsx) file.
3. Analyze Without Truncation: Open the exported file in WPS Spreadsheet, wrap text, and adjust column widths to view your full text responses effortlessly.

Free and lightweight office suite for seamless data handlingFully compatible with Microsoft Excel (.xlsx) and CSV formatsView and analyze complete text data with adjustable cell formattingFamiliar user interface allowing for a seamless migration

microsoft office alternative - wps office

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does Microsoft Forms truncate long text answers in reports?

The built-in response summary report in Microsoft Forms uses a fixed visual format designed for quick, high-level overviews. To save space and maintain a uniform layout, it automatically truncates long text answers to one or two lines.

Can I change the settings to show full answers in the shared report link?

Currently, there is no built-in setting in Microsoft Forms that allows users to customize the response summary or force shared links to display complete text answers.

How can I view the full text responses directly in Microsoft Forms?

While the overall visual summary truncates text, you can view complete individual answers by clicking the 'View results' button to read through each individual submission one by one.

Does exporting to Excel preserve the full text from Microsoft Forms?

Yes. When you click 'Open in Excel' from the Forms response tab, the exported spreadsheet will contain the full, untruncated text of all answers.

Office Quick Solutions