How to Use Microsoft Forms for Repeated Intake Forms
Question details
The user needs to know if Microsoft Forms can handle repeated project intake submissions from the same person while retaining all previous responses for reporting.
- Product
- Microsoft Forms
- Device & OS
- not provided
- Scenario
- Collecting ongoing, multiple project intake submissions from the same users over time without losing historical data.
- Observed behavior
- The user requires a solution where each new form submission is stored as a distinct, separate response rather than overwriting previous entries from the same user.
Before configuring your form, ensure you have creator or editing access to the Microsoft Form and that you have finalized the questions needed for your intake process.
Enable Multiple Responses in Form Settings
Adjust your form settings to accept multiple submissions from the same user without overwriting previous data.
By default, some forms may be restricted to a single response per user. To collect repeated intake forms, you must adjust the core settings. This ensures every submission is recorded as a brand new entry, preserving all historical data for accurate reporting.
Open your Microsoft Form and click on the 'More form settings' icon (three dots) located in the top right corner of the screen, then select 'Settings' from the dropdown menu.
Under the 'Who can fill out this form' section, ensure that the 'One response per person' checkbox is left unchecked.
Click the 'Collect responses' button to copy the form link. Users can now use this same link to submit the intake form as many times as they need to.
Export Responses for Trend Analysis
Use spreadsheet software to organize, compare, and analyze the repeated submissions collected from your form.
Analyze Form Responses with WPS Office
Need to analyze your exported intake form data? WPS Office provides a powerful, free, and lightweight spreadsheet alternative to Microsoft Excel. Easily manage, filter, and create reports from your form submissions with a familiar user interface.
- 1. Install WPS Office: Download and install the free WPS Office suite on your computer.
- 2. Open Exported Data: Launch WPS Spreadsheet and open the .xlsx file you downloaded from Microsoft Forms.
- 3. Analyze Submissions: Use WPS Spreadsheet's built-in data tools to track and manage repeated intake submissions effortlessly.
Frequently Asked Questions
Will a user's second submission overwrite their first response?
No. As long as the 'One response per person' setting is disabled in your form's configuration, every submission creates a completely separate record. Previous responses are permanently retained and will not be overwritten.
How can I track who submitted the repeated intake forms?
If you set your form to 'Only people in my organization can respond' and check 'Record name', the submitter's name and email are automatically captured with each entry. This makes it easy to filter and track multiple submissions from the same person when you export the data.
Does Microsoft Forms automatically group multiple submissions from the same person?
No, Microsoft Forms lists all submissions chronologically in the summary view. To group or compare multiple entries by a specific user, you need to export the results to a spreadsheet application and apply filters or PivotTables.
