How can I delete a poll that was posted using the Polls app into a Group Chat?

Question

A senior leader created a poll in the wrong group chat. Members of that chat keep responding to the poll, and the leader can't find a way to delete the message or close the poll. How can a poll posted into the wrong chat be removed?

Clicking on the "More" button just takes me to a Forms page that says it can't be edited:

I found where to delete the form itself from the Forms site, but the poll still shows in the chat and appears active so people keep trying to click on it.

Answer 1

Hi @Warsinski, Karilyn (K.R.)

Thanks for reaching out to the Microsoft Q&A forum and sharing your experience.  Based on your description and my own testing, I can confirm that polls created using the Polls app in Microsoft Teams cannot be directly closed or deleted from within Teams, even if you delete the poll from Microsoft Forms. 

However, I’ve discovered that when a poll is deleted from Microsoft Forms, it becomes inactive. This means that even if someone tries to vote, their response won’t be recorded. If you later restore the poll, it will function normally again. 

If you accidentally create a poll, I recommend deleting it from Microsoft Forms and notifying your team members to disregard it. While this isn’t a perfect solution, it does prevent further interaction with the poll.   

I completely understand that having more control over polls, such as the ability to close or delete them directly from Teams, would be a valuable feature. I strongly encourage you to share this idea through our Microsoft Feedback Portal. The more users who support this suggestion, the higher the chance our development team will prioritize it.   

Since the Polls app is powered by Microsoft Forms, you might consider creating your poll directly in Microsoft Forms. This gives you greater control over who can participate, the duration of the poll, automatic closing, and other advanced settings and customization. Once created, you can easily share the form link in your Teams chat for others to join. 

I sincerely hope this information helps you clarify your situation. If you have any updates or additional information, please don't hesitate to share.  

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