How to Share or Automate the Microsoft Forms Responses Summary Page
Question details
The user wants to share the visual Responses summary dashboard from Microsoft Forms with others, or set up automated reporting for form submissions.
- Product
- Microsoft Forms
- Device & OS
- not provided
- Scenario
- Collaborating on data collection and sharing form submission statistics with stakeholders or team members.
- Observed behavior
- Microsoft Forms does not offer a built-in, direct feature to share only the Responses summary page independently without granting full form edit permissions.
Before you begin, ensure you are the original owner or have full administrative access to the Microsoft Form you intend to share.
Share the Form Using a Collaboration Link
Since there is no standalone summary link, you can grant collaboration access so others can view the responses dashboard.
Microsoft Forms requires users to have collaboration access to view the live responses dashboard. Keep in mind that users with this link will also be able to edit the questions and structure of your form.
Log into Microsoft Forms, open your specific form, and click on the 'Share' or 'Collaborate or Duplicate' button located in the top right corner of the screen.
Navigate to the 'Share to collaborate' section and click on 'Get a link to view and edit'.
Choose the appropriate permission level from the dropdown menu (such as specific people in your organization). Copy the generated link and send it to your stakeholders.
Export Form Responses to Excel
Download your response data into an Excel spreadsheet to share the information securely without risking modifications to your original form.
Automate Reporting with Power Automate
Use Microsoft Power Automate to automatically send response data or customized summaries to stakeholders whenever a new submission is made.
Analyze and Share Your Exported Form Data Using WPS Office
Since Microsoft Forms restricts sharing just the summary dashboard, exporting your data to Excel is the safest workaround. You can open, analyze, and create stunning custom dashboards with the exported data using WPS Office—a fully compatible, lightweight, and completely free alternative to Microsoft Office.
- 1. Export data from Forms: Download your Microsoft Forms responses by clicking 'Open in Excel'.
- 2. Open with WPS Spreadsheet: Launch WPS Office and open the downloaded .xlsx file.
- 3. Create a custom dashboard: Use WPS Spreadsheet's intuitive pivot tables and chart functions to build a visual summary page you can safely share with anyone.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I share Microsoft Forms responses without giving edit access?
Currently, the built-in 'Share to collaborate' link grants both view and edit permissions. To share response data without allowing others to alter your form, you must either export the data to an Excel file or use Power Automate to distribute the responses.
Where did the 'Share a summary link' feature go in Microsoft Forms?
Microsoft Forms previously included a 'Summary link' feature that allowed users to share a read-only view of the responses dashboard. This feature has been restricted or deprecated in many organizational environments due to security policies, leaving collaboration links or data exports as the primary alternatives.
How can collaborators get notified when a new response is submitted?
Anyone with collaboration access can turn on email notifications by opening the form, clicking the three-dot menu (...) in the top right corner, selecting 'Settings', and checking the box for 'Get email notification of each response'.
