Rolling out slowly and without much fanfare is a feature I’ve been asked a lot by clients – the ability to upload files into Microsoft Forms.
To date when people have asked about that I’ve said it wasn’t possible, and that they should build a PowerApp to achieve the functionality. However as of today I now have that functionality in my tenant, and am told it is rolling out slowly.
I haven’t actually seen this in the Microsoft 365 roadmap or the Message Center – but am happy to be corrected.
In any case, here’s a brief walk-through of the functionality.
Creating a question
A file upload is like any normal question type, other than we specify the “File upload” type:
The default looks like this:
If you hit the ellipsis in the bottom right corner, you have the ability to be more specific about types of files you upload (for example if you want to restrict it to be a document, or a picture, etc.):
We have the ability to allow up to 10 file uploads:
And it supports files up to 1GB in size!!!!!
Where the files are stored
If the Form is a personal form (ie. not attached to an Office 365 Group), the creator will be prompted to store the uploaded files in their OneDrive:
Within moments of selecting “Yes” to this, I saw the following folder appear:
Going down the rabbit hole of folders, this is where the actual files for the question are shown up, and you can also see the name of the responder (me) has been appended to the file name:
File storage for Group-related Forms
When I moved the Form to an Office 365 Group, the applicable folder was then created in the document library:
However the files itself were not moved across:
I hope this is an oversight or bug that will be addressed shortly.
Creating a Form in a Group
Ideally when people create a Form they should think about its application. While it’s perfectly valid to create a Form under your own account and move it, as we can see from above the files may not come across.
But, much like a conversation thread we want to start or document we want to create, so too should we with Forms. Before hitting the button to create a new form, we should pause first and see if we are creating it in the right location – much like sending an email vs. starting a conversation in Yammer or a channel in Teams, or creating a document in a SharePoint site or Team channel, rather than our own OneDrive.
In this scenario I created a Form directly connected to an Office 365 Group, and instead of the previous prompt of a OneDrive folder creation I now see a prompt for a SharePoint folder creation:
The same structure applies as previously seen for OneDrive:
Accessing files from within the Form
While I’ve shown that the files are stored within OneDrive and SharePoint subject to the context of which Form is actually created (ie. individual or Group-connected), the files are easily accessible directly from the result of the Form itself. Clicking on the link opens the files directly, so there’s less clicks for end users to worry about.
Use cases
The use cases for this are virtually unlimited. In its most basic form (pardon the pun) it can be used to replace where emails might be sent in to shared mailboxes or distribution lists requesting action – as now they can go through the Form where instructions can be more carefully extracted as well as any required documentation being supplied. This can then be connected to a workflow that issues a ticket, creates an automated response, adds to a Planner, or anything else really.
Also published on Medium.
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This is a vital piece of kit that is a huge game changer for forms so great to finally see it being implemented.
I’ve been doing a lot of searching and have seen that a number of people are confirming that this is up and running however our tenant is in Ireland and as yet we don’t seem to have this functionality enabled.
You mentioned that the rollout is slow (although why this would be the case is a mystery considering how popular this addition is, you’d think that be announcing it from the rooftops). Do you know of a source that outlines which regions/tenants are likely to receive updates and what those timeframes may be?
Thanks very much for the article by the way especially the considerations regarding personal vs group forms.
Thanks for the feedback Warren!
Unfortunately they don’t make the specifics of feature deployments across different datacentres public.
For some reason I do not see this option — is this limited to MS forms Pro?
No, it doesn’t require Forms Pro. It is rolling out globally, which means it might not appear in your environment for a few more days or even weeks. Not all features are enabled globally at the same time.
Hi Mr. Strant, it’s been a year and I’m still not seeing this feature. What may be the cause? Thank you.
Are you using the Office 365 version of Forms, or free version?
If the Office 365 version, I would suggest logging a support case through the portal.
Its 2 years since your original post. unfortunately not yet seen here.. I have a paid MSFT 365 ID
Sorry, but what do you mean you’ve paid for “MSFT 365 ID”? Did you purchase a business or consumer license?
This functionality is well and truly rolled out to all Microsoft 365 Business, Enterprise, and Education organisations.
You cannot change the file type (but there is a lot of file type including .ps, .vob, …) and as a consequence, you cannot upload even simple file like .txt or .msg
Hopefully they open it up to more options later, however I think the use cases are limited.
am i right is seeing that you can only choose this option if the form is internal? I cannot choose to upload a file and share it externally.
That is correct, that seems to be a limitation at this point.
Loryan, can files be uploaded into the form, from outside of your own organisation? Or is this purely for responders within your organisation.
Purely within your own organisation.
“Users within the organization” – can Guest Users submit attachments?
Good question. I don’t know and haven’t tested. Have you tested this yourself?
Not sure if it works for Pro, but currently on our Tenant, guest users can’t upload attachments. When attempting to share a form that has file upload enabled with people outside the organization the option “Anyone with a link can respond” is greyed out.
Given that a folder is created on SharePoint to house the uploads and that the upload is linked to a user’s AD information this is probably why the limitations is to those within the organisation.
I’m not getting the option for SharePoint for group created forms–it only shows OneDrive. Then I get a message “You do not have access to create this folder or you do not have a valid license.” I am a admin on the site but the group is a dynamic membership O365 group if that matters.
That’s an odd one. Are you creating the Form in your account and then moving to the Group, or creating straight in the Group?
Also getting this error. Stupidly annoying. Posting this comment in case others have found a fix for it.
Have tested both creating form from group and moving form across to group membership. Once it’s attached to 365 Group is when the problem seems to appear.
Gut feeling is because we have custom permissions in SP site – wondering if affecting the process even though user still has “edit” permissions in SP site.
Under the Default library for the Group/Teams/SharePoint site go to the Library Settings > Advanced Settings . Then scroll down to the Folders section and make sure that the “Make “New Folder” command available?” is set to Yes
Hi all never tried using this before. I have a form, but want others outside my organisation to be able to upload files, is this doable in forms as it does not seem to want to allow it
No, unfortunately you cannot have external people upload files.
Hi, I know this is an old post but we have created this form but the guys on site do not have company emails. We would like them to access via the QR code generated but the option to load pictures is only for those ‘inside the company’. Can you tell me if there is a way round this?
Sorry I honestly don’t know. I did however create a form last night and shared it publicly using a QR code, so I’m surprised that functionality has anything to do with the audience of the form.