MS Forms Excel Not Recording Full Responses

Question

Hello,

The school I work at has been collecting information from our students' parents using MS Forms. We need to keep a record of the information they give so have been using the "Open in Excel" option and saving this for our records.

However, going through this today I found that many of the full answers from parents are not recorded in the Excel file, they just cut off after so many characters. This is obviously quite an issue as we need the full information, and to go through hand copy-and-paste manually would be a enormous job.

Does anyone know if there is a solution to this? If the Excel cuts off the answers it's a rather useless option.

Answer 1

In Microsoft Excel, when you save a worksheet as a Formatted Text (.prn) file, there is a known limitation where any characters beyond the 240th character are wrapped to the next line. This behavior is by design for Formatted Text (Space Delimited) files. Therefore, if the responses from parents exceed this character limit, they may not be fully recorded in the Excel file as you expect.

To ensure you capture all responses, you might consider exporting the responses to a different format or using Excel's capabilities to handle larger text entries. Additionally, if you are using the "Open in Excel" option, make sure that you are not saving it in a format that imposes these character limits.

If you continue to experience issues, it may be beneficial to check if there are any updates or changes in how Microsoft Forms handles data exports, or consider reaching out to Microsoft support for further assistance.

Answer 2

Dear @JD, 

Good day! Welcome to Microsoft Q&A forum! 

Based on your description, I understand that you’re encountering a problem where responses collected through Microsoft Forms are not fully captured in the linked Excel file when using the ‘Open in Excel’ option. Instead of showing the complete answers from parents, the data appears truncated after a certain number of characters.

I sincerely apologize for the inconvenience caused by this issue.

To understand the situation better and provide you with the most suitable support, could you confirm the following information: 

• Was the form created directly in Microsoft Forms, or from Excel Desktop app > Insert > Forms or via OneDrive/SharePoint?
• Is the Excel file stored in OneDrive for Business or SharePoint Online, or was it downloaded locally?
• Are all responses truncated, or only certain questions/answers?
• Does the truncation happen for text-based questions only, or other types (e.g., Likert, Choice)?
• Have you noticed any sync delays or errors when refreshing the Excel file?
• Are the affected answers exceeding known character limits for text items?

Your confirmation would be very helpful in ensuring you receive the most suitable support!

I tried creating a form in Excel via Insert > Forms > Open forms. Then I sent the form to collect some long responses and checked in Excel:

In the formula bar, I couldn't see the full answer, so I clicked on Expand Formula Bar:

However, your situation might be different from mine as I only have a relatively short answer to test in my environment. Therefore, your answers to the questions above are greatly appreciated!

If you’re able to share a bit more about your situation, I might be able to suggest some helpful next steps. 

Kindly let me know when there are updates or if you need further assistance. Any updates you’re able to share would be really helpful. I appreciate your time and look forward to hearing how things are going! 

Thank you for your time and patience.

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