How to Fix Duplicate Responses in Microsoft Forms
Question details
Users are receiving duplicate submissions with identical text and timestamps in Microsoft Forms, even when the option to submit another response is disabled.
- Product
- Microsoft Forms
- Device & OS
- not provided
- Scenario
- Collecting survey, quiz, or registration data using a distributed Microsoft Form.
- Observed behavior
- The form records exact duplicate entries with the same timestamps, despite settings designed to prevent multiple submissions.
Before making any changes to your form settings, export your current form responses to an Excel spreadsheet to preserve the original data, timestamps, and submission IDs.
Isolate the Issue with a Test Form
Determine whether the duplication bug is specific to your current form's configuration or a wider account issue.
Sometimes, a specific form can become corrupted or encounter backend syncing issues. Creating a fresh test form helps identify if the problem is isolated.
Log into Microsoft Forms, click on 'New Form', and recreate a few of the questions from your affected form.
Open the test form in a different web browser or an Incognito/Private window, and submit a few test responses.
Check the 'Responses' tab of your new test form to see if the duplicates appear. If they do not, your original form may need to be duplicated or recreated.
Review Form Settings and Submit to Support
Check your sharing settings and gather necessary evidence to provide to Microsoft Support if the issue persists.
Try WPS Office for Seamless Data Collection and Document Management
Dealing with unexplainable glitches in Microsoft Forms? Switch to WPS Office, a free, lightweight, and easy-to-use alternative. It offers full compatibility with Microsoft Office formats and provides a smooth, familiar interface for analyzing your response data.
- 1. Download WPS Office: Visit the official WPS website and download the free WPS Office suite.
- 2. Open your response data: Launch WPS Spreadsheet and open the Excel file containing your exported form responses.
- 3. Remove duplicates: Highlight your data, navigate to the 'Data' tab, and use the 'Remove Duplicates' feature to instantly clean up your form submissions.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is Microsoft Forms recording duplicate responses at the exact same time?
This usually happens due to a browser glitch where a respondent double-clicks the submit button, an unstable network connection causing the browser to retry the submission, or a backend synchronization delay in Microsoft Forms.
Does the 'One response per person' setting prevent duplicate submissions?
Yes, enabling 'One response per person' generally prevents duplicates by restricting users to a single entry. However, this setting requires users to sign in with a Microsoft account and cannot be used for anonymous surveys.
How can I remove duplicate responses from my exported data?
You can clean up the data by exporting the responses to an Excel file. Open the file in a spreadsheet program like WPS Spreadsheet or Microsoft Excel, select your data range, go to the Data tab, and select 'Remove Duplicates' based on the ID or Start Time columns.
