Lost Microsft Forms Survey Reponses

Question

I think I know the answer, but when I duplicated a Microsft Forms survey to use for another constituency, and deleted the responses from the copy, the responses dissapeared from both. I haven't opened the survey responses in Excel recently. Any hope I can recover them?

Thank you,

Mary

Answer 1

Dear @Mary Yeko,

Thank you for reaching out. I understand how concerning it can be to lose survey responses, especially after collecting valuable feedback.

Based on your description, it is possible that the responses were removed when the copied form's responses were deleted. Unfortunately, Microsoft Forms does not provide a built-in recycle bin or direct recovery option for deleted responses. However, there are a few recovery options that may still be available.

As a first step, please open the form and select Responses > Open results in Excel to check whether the responses are still available in the associated Excel workbook. Microsoft Forms stores response data in an Excel file, and in some cases the data may still exist there even if it is no longer visible within Forms.

If the responses are not present in the workbook, please check the Version History of the Excel file in OneDrive or SharePoint. If an earlier version of the file contains the missing responses, you may be able to restore or download that version. You may also refer to the documentation below for more details on how to restore files using Version History: Restore a previous version of a file stored in OneDrive - Microsoft Support

Additionally, if you have previously exported the responses to Excel, please check your Downloads folder, OneDrive, SharePoint, or any other storage location where the exported file may have been saved.

If none of the above options help recover the data, please let me know, and I will be happy to guide you through the next steps.

I appreciate your cooperation and look forward to your update.