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Fix Microsoft Forms Showing Creator Instead of Submitter

Natalie Taylor Oct 10, 2026 868 views

Question details

Users need form submissions and automated notifications to display the identity of the person who actually submitted the form rather than the user who created it.

How to Fix Microsoft Forms Showing the Creator Instead of the Submitter

Product: Microsoft Forms
Device & OS: not provided
Scenario: When different managers or team members submit a request form, the resulting notifications and workflow alerts incorrectly appear to originate from the form's creator.
Observed behavior: Microsoft Forms defaults to using the form creator's account identity when triggering notifications or sending emails through Power Automate, with no built-in toggle to change this behavior.

Before you start

Ensure you have editing permissions for the Microsoft Form in question and access to Microsoft Power Automate to create or modify custom workflow processes.

Solution 1Recommended

Collect submitter details manually and configure Power Automate

Since Microsoft Forms cannot natively change the sender identity, you must capture the submitter's email as a form question and use Power Automate to route notifications accordingly.

Microsoft Forms is designed to rely on the creator's account credentials for background operations, which is why system notifications display the creator's name. To bypass this limitation, you need to collect the submitter's contact information directly within the form and map it to a custom email workflow.

Add contact questions to your form

Open your Microsoft Form in edit mode. Add two new 'Text' questions asking for the 'Submitter Name' and 'Submitter Email Address', and mark both as 'Required'.

Create a new Power Automate flow

Log in to Microsoft Power Automate, click 'Create', and select 'Automated cloud flow'. Choose the trigger 'When a new response is submitted' under Microsoft Forms.

Retrieve the form responses

Add a new step called 'Get response details'. Select your Form ID from the dropdown and map the Response ID from the dynamic content of the trigger step.

Configure the email notification

Add the 'Send an email (V2)' action. In the email body or subject, use dynamic content to insert the 'Submitter Name'. To ensure replies go to the submitter, click 'Show advanced options' and insert the 'Submitter Email Address' dynamic content into the 'Reply-To' field.

Exchange Security Limitations: Due to Microsoft Exchange anti-spoofing policies, you usually cannot change the 'From' address to the submitter's email unless you use a shared mailbox. Setting the submitter's email in the 'Reply-To' field is the most reliable workaround.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Can I automatically capture the submitter's email without adding a question?

Yes, if your Microsoft Form settings are restricted to 'Only people in my organization can respond', you can check the 'Record name' box. This automatically captures the logged-in user's name and email, which you can then select as 'Responders Email' in Power Automate.

Why can't I just change the 'From' address in Power Automate?

Microsoft 365 enforces strict security policies to prevent email spoofing. You can only send emails 'From' your own account or a shared mailbox for which you have explicit 'Send As' permissions.

Does Microsoft plan to fix the creator identity issue in Forms?

This behavior is currently considered 'by design' for security and authentication routing within the Microsoft 365 ecosystem. There is no official announcement regarding a setting to dynamically change the native sender identity.

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