Shared Form no longer exists because creator left company

Question

Hello,

my team has a shared form that is owned by a former co worker (no longer has access to account) and we need to transfer the form to another user. currently, the link says "the form doesnt exist".

Answer 1

Dear @Powers Anthony, 

Good day, and I appreciate the clear explanation of your concern.   

Based on the “form doesn’t exist” message, the form was most likely a personal form owned by the original creator. Once that user’s Microsoft 365 account was deleted during offboarding, the associated Forms data was automatically removed after the retention period, making the form unrecoverable and impossible to transfer. 

Below are the recommended options to check: 

Step 1: Verify the former owner’s account status 

Please contact your organization’s IT administrator and ask them to verify the former user’s account status. 

In the Microsoft 365 admin center > Users > Active users and check whether the account still exists but is disabled rather than deleted. 

If the account is not listed there, go to Deleted users and verify whether the account appears in that list. 

If the account is still within the 30‑day deletion window, the forms may still be accessible for transfer. 

Note: Restoring the account is optional and only needed if access is required to complete the transfer. 

Step 2: Transfer the form if the account is still recoverable 

If the former owner’s account exists or is within the 30‑day recovery window, the transfer can be attempted using Microsoft Forms’ delegate page. 

Open the following URL in a browser and replace the email address with the former owner’s email: 

https://forms.office.com/Pages/delegatepage.aspx?originalowner=[*email address*]

You should see a list of forms owned by that user. Select the required form, choose More form actions, then select Move. 

Move the form to a Microsoft 365 Group that the new owner or team belongs to. Moving the form to a group is the supported and recommended approach, as group-owned forms are not affected when individual users leave the organization. 

Note: If the form list does not appear when using the email address, your admin can try replacing the email parameter with the user’s Object ID in the same URL. 

This article provides further guidance on the topic: Admin information - Microsoft Forms Admin | Microsoft Learn 

Additionally, you may consider the following scenarios, if applicable: 

• Scenario 1: Restore the form from Deleted forms 

If the former owner manually deleted the form and it is still available in the Deleted forms section, recovery may be possible. 

An IT administrator can restore the user account and reset the password to access the account in Microsoft 365 admin center. After signing in, open Microsoft Forms, go to Deleted forms and check whether the required form is listed. 

If the form appears, select Restore. Once the form is restored, it can be moved to a Microsoft 365 Group as previously described. 

• Scenario 2: When recovery is not possible 

Unfortunately, if the former owner’s account was permanently deleted or has been deleted for more than 30 days, the form can no longer be recovered or transferred. In this situation, the form would need to be recreated. 

As a best practice going forward, creating important forms under a Microsoft 365 Group helps ensure continuity and prevents data loss when employees leave. 

As community moderators, we kindly ask for your understanding that our access to internal development details is limited. Our primary role is to guide users toward the appropriate resources and support channels. While we may not have visibility into performing deeper backend analysis, we’ll continue doing our best to support you within the scope of our responsibilities.  

I hope this information is helpful. If you have any questions or need further support, please don’t hesitate to reach out at any time. 

Thank you for your patience and understanding. 

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Answer 2

If the original owner has left the organization and the form link now shows “the form doesn’t exist,” recovery depends on the state of that user account and timing.

1. Verify whether the former employee’s account is deleted or disabled
   • An admin must check the account state in Microsoft Entra ID (Azure AD).
   • If the account is disabled (not deleted), the data and forms still exist and can be transferred.
   • If the account is deleted, all account-related data (including Forms) is deleted 30 days after the user was deleted from the tenant. After that, the forms are not recoverable.
2. If the account is deleted less than 30 days ago (soft deleted)
   • An Office application administrator with a valid Forms license can still transfer ownership of the forms.
   • Admin checks if the account is soft deleted using Microsoft Graph as described in the admin FAQ, then uses the transfer method.
3. Transfer ownership of the former employee’s forms (admin only)
   • Requirements:
     • Admin is an Office application administrator and has a valid Forms license.
     • The former employee’s account is disabled or soft deleted (within 30 days of deletion).
   • Steps:
     1. In a browser, replace the URL with: https://forms.office.com/Pages/delegatepage.aspx?originalowner=[user email or Object ID] where [user email or Object ID] is the former owner’s email address or Object ID.
     2. This opens a page listing that user’s forms.
     3. On the needed form, select More form actions > Move.
     4. Move the form to a Microsoft 365 group that is owned by or includes the new responsible user. Once in a group, the group effectively owns the form.
4. If the account was hard deleted more than 30 days ago
   • If the user account was permanently removed (hard deleted) and more than 30 days have passed, the forms and their data are not recoverable and cannot be transferred.
5. After moving the form to a group
   • The group will own the form. Members can access and manage it from the group’s Forms area.
   • If needed, adjust group membership so the correct team members can manage the form.

If the tenant admin confirms the former owner’s account has been hard deleted for more than 30 days, the only option is to recreate the form under an active user or group.

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References:

• Admin information
• Microsoft Forms and user accounts