Microsoft Form Pre-fill Responses

Question

Hello,

I want to send a pre-filled Microsoft Form to around 200 people.

Theoretical example:

I have an Excel file with the following columns: Name / First Name / Email / Link.

I create a Microsoft Form within this Excel file with three questions: Name? First Name? Your age?

In Microsoft Forms, I use the prefill technology and retrieve the link, which I paste into Excel.

Back in Excel, I use concatenation (&) to generate personalized form links.

Then, I send the forms via email using a macro.

Questions:

• Is this type of action allowed by Microsoft?
• Is there an additional cost since there will be between 200 and 300 forms?

I have a Microsoft 365 Business Standard subscription.

Thanks A Lot

Answer 1

Dear Edouard Savart PERFORMDATA,

Thank you for your response. Please correct me if I'm wrong—if any data is deleted from the downloaded Excel file, which contains the responses from Microsoft Forms, it will not update anymore, but the form will remain accessible.

May I know how you are updating the Excel file?

Sincerely,

Nahid Sultan

Answer 2

Thank you again for your answers.

I just noticed this:

If I delete a piece of data in my Excel file (data from Forms1), I can't update the Excel file. The data has disappeared, but it is still accessible on the online Forms service.

Thanks!

Answer 3

Dear Edouard Savart PERFORMDATA,

Thank you for your response. Yes, you are correct. Microsoft Forms does not have an expiration date by default. A form can remain active and accessible as long as it is not manually deleted from the Microsoft Forms website.

However, if we decide to set a specific expiration date for responses, we can do so by setting a start date and an end date. This can be done by opening Forms, clicking on Settings, and under Options for responses, selecting the Start date and End date checkboxes.

If you have any questions, please feel free let us know for further assistance.

Thank you for your understanding. Your cooperation and contributions are greatly appreciated.

Kind Regards,

Nahid Sultan

Answer 4

Thank you very much for your response.

I would like to ask you another question: I assume that the form does not have an "expiration date" and can be used as long as it is not deleted from the Microsoft Forms website, correct?

Answer 5

Dear Edouard Savart PERFORMDATA,                  

Good day to you!

I hope you are doing well. Thanks for reaching out to our Microsoft Community Forum. We will be happy to help you.

Yes, Microsoft Forms allows pre-filling responses using personalized form links. This means you can generate unique URLs that automatically populate specific fields in the form based on user data (e.g., name, email). This method is commonly used to streamline the form-filling process and reduce manual input errors.

Regarding cost, since you have a Microsoft 365 Business Standard subscription, you won’t incur additional charges for sending forms to 200–300 recipients. Microsoft Forms is included as part of your subscription, allowing you to create, share, and collect responses without extra fees.

If you have any questions regarding your concern, please feel free let us know for further assistance.

Thank you for your understanding. Your cooperation and contributions are greatly appreciated.

Kind Regards,

Nahid Sultan