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Fix Microsoft Forms Settings Preventing Response Collection

John Wilson Oct 7, 2026 868 views

Question details

Users are unable to collect responses in Microsoft Forms due to conflicting audience settings, and previously submitted responses appear to be missing or discarded.

How to Fix Microsoft Forms Settings Preventing Response Collection

Product: Microsoft Forms
Device & OS: not provided
Scenario: Collecting survey responses and managing form access settings.
Observed behavior: The form displays conflicting settings (e.g., 'Anyone can respond' and 'Only specific people can respond' active simultaneously). Participants submit responses, but the form owner does not receive them and cannot view them.

Before you start

Before modifying your current form, verify if there is a known Microsoft 365 service outage affecting Microsoft Forms in your organization's region.

Solution 1Recommended

Create a Test Form to Isolate the Issue

Determine whether the conflicting settings and lost responses are limited to a single corrupted form or represent a tenant-wide backend issue.

Changing one audience setting in Microsoft Forms normally updates the related option automatically. When they conflict and prevent data collection, it usually points to a synchronization glitch.

By testing with a completely new form, you can find out if the problem is localized to your specific survey.

Create a new blank form

Go to the Microsoft Forms dashboard and click on 'New Form' to create a fresh, empty survey.

Configure audience settings

Click the 'Collect responses' button in the top right corner and set the audience to 'Anyone can respond'.

Submit a test response

Copy the form link, open it in a private or incognito browser window, and submit a dummy response.

Check the results tab

Return to your form editor and click on the 'Responses' tab to verify if the test submission was successfully recorded.

Interpreting Results: If the new form works correctly, your original form is likely corrupted and may need to be recreated. If the new form also fails, the issue affects your entire Microsoft 365 tenant.

Solution 2

Check Service Health and Open a Support Request

If multiple forms fail to collect responses, an administrator must investigate backend service health and request Microsoft Support to recover lost data.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Can I recover Microsoft Forms responses lost due to conflicting settings?

If respondents successfully clicked submit but the data never appeared in your Responses tab, the data might be stuck in the Microsoft backend. You cannot recover this yourself; your IT admin must open a support request in the Microsoft 365 admin center to have Microsoft engineers attempt data retrieval.

Why does my form show both 'Anyone can respond' and 'Specific people'?

This is a known synchronization glitch in Microsoft Forms. Normally, selecting one option automatically deselects the other. When both appear active, the form's configuration has become corrupted, preventing proper access control and data collection.

How do I fix a corrupted Microsoft form?

If the issue is isolated to a single form, the fastest solution is often to duplicate the form. Go to the Forms portal, click the three dots on the affected form, and select 'Copy'. Test the new copy to ensure the settings behave normally before sending it to participants.

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