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How to Save and Resume a Microsoft Forms Response with Required Questions

Maira Mehtab Sep 22, 2026 869 views

Question details

The user needs to know how respondents can pause and save their progress on a Microsoft Forms survey with branching and multiple required questions, allowing them to resume answering at a later time.

Product: Microsoft Forms
Device & OS: not provided
Scenario: Respondents are filling out a lengthy form with branching and required questions and need to stop and continue their progress later.
Observed behavior: Microsoft Forms currently lacks a native feature allowing users to save their progress when required questions are left unanswered.

Before you start

Ensure you have access to your Microsoft 365 account and understand that Microsoft Forms does not natively support saving incomplete forms if required questions are present.

Solution 1Recommended

Use Power Automate for Custom Save and Resume Workarounds

Since Microsoft Forms lacks a native save-and-resume feature for required questions, you can explore building a custom solution using Power Automate or Power Apps.

Currently, Microsoft Forms does not provide a built-in function to pause a response and resume it later, especially when required questions remain unanswered. However, advanced users can leverage Microsoft's Power Platform to create custom workflows that simulate a save-and-resume experience.

Consult the Power Platform Community

Navigate to the official Power Platform Community forums to ask for specific design options and workflows from experts who have built similar workaround flows.

Explore Power Automate flows

Look into creating a flow that captures partial data submissions by temporarily removing the 'required' status on your form questions, then using an email link to let respondents update a SharePoint list or Dataverse record.

Implement Power Apps as an alternative

If your form is highly complex with extensive branching and requires strict data validation, consider migrating the form to Power Apps, which natively supports saving drafts and resuming later.

Community Resource: You can ask for custom design options directly in the Power Platform Community: https://community.powerplatform.com/forums/thread/?groupid=46ce02a3-e1a7-4176-81fc-d93a4001d287

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Frequently Asked Questions

Why can't respondents save their progress in Microsoft Forms?

Microsoft Forms currently requires all mandatory questions to be answered before a form can be submitted. There is no native 'Save as Draft' button built into standard Microsoft Forms.

Can I remove the 'required' toggle to let users submit partial responses?

Yes. As a temporary workaround, you can make all questions optional. Respondents can submit their partial answers and you can use Power Automate to send them a link to edit their response later, though this sacrifices mandatory data validation.

Does Power Apps support save and resume functionality?

Yes. Unlike Microsoft Forms, Power Apps allows developers to build custom applications where users can save their input as drafts to a database (like SharePoint or Dataverse) and resume editing at any time.

Are there third-party tools that integrate with Microsoft to allow saving forms?

Yes, many third-party form builders offer native save-and-resume functionality and can integrate seamlessly with Microsoft 365 environments via Power Automate, avoiding the limitations of Microsoft Forms.

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