we need urgent access to a microsoft form to check rsvp's to an event in 2 days

Question

a collegue has had one of her accounts deleted by our company when they created a new position for her. She has now lost access to a Microsoft Form, and we have an event we need to see responses for.

Our IT has "merged" her 2 email accounts, but it still does not give us access to the form she created under the one they deleted without telling her.

We don't know who the Global admin is, as we are a large government organisation

Answer 1

I attempted to use the alternative option but it said the form could not be accessed.

I don't think we will get access to the form in time for the event.

Answer 2

Dear @Jonelle McDonell,

Thank you for posting your question in the Microsoft Q&A forum.

I apologize for any inconvenience you may encounter when using our services/ products. Based on your description:

Microsoft Forms ownership is tied to the account that originally created the form, so an email “merge” does not automatically restore access to a form that was created under the previous (now deleted) account.

Because your IT team was able to merge the mailboxes, they should be able to check whether the colleague’s original account is still within the organization’s retention window and restore it if it was deleted recently (within 30 days of deletion). Once the account is restored, you can sign in with that original account to access the form and its responses.

Alternatively, an Administrator can recover and move the form to your current account or to a Microsoft 365 Group. Here are the steps:

• Open this URL in a browser (replace with the deleted user’s email/UPN): https://forms.office.com/Pages/delegatepage.aspx?originalowner=<deleted_user_email>
<deleted_user_email> fill this = the deleted email address
• On the target form, select More form actions (…) > Move.
• Choose to move it to the IT Administrator or (recommended) to a Microsoft 365 Group, so the form is no longer dependent on one person.
• Note: you must be a member of the destination group to move it there.

Here are some references:

• Admin information - Microsoft Forms Admin | Microsoft Learn
• Move your form to a group - Microsoft Support

If you still cannot find your Global Admin, here is a article: How do I find my Microsoft 365 admin? - Microsoft Support.

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