How to export form responses in Microsoft Forms

The data you collect for your forms can be pivotal in your day-to-day business operations. From leads to signups, this data must be easily accessible and shareable to maximize its value to your organization.

Learning how to export form responses is essential to the utility of online form solutions like Microsoft Forms. Follow along as we break down this simple process to help you extract and share your data with your team.

What is Microsoft Forms?

Microsoft Forms is a popular online form-building solution offered to Microsoft 365 subscribers. This program allows users to build custom forms and personalize them, use templates to accelerate the process, and share forms to collect valuable data.

Why and when you may need to export form responses

You may need to share the data you collect from form responses both within and outside your organization. Whether you’re publishing survey results, updating stakeholders, or sharing insights with partners, being able to pull data from your Microsoft Forms is a necessity for any business.

How to export Microsoft Forms responses

Exporting Microsoft Forms form responses is easy, but remember that your export options are limited to Excel. Follow these quick steps to get started:

1. Open the Microsoft Forms form from which you want to export responses.
2. Click the View responses button.

3. Select the Open results in Excel option from the View responses menu to view your results on a web version of Microsoft Excel. Or, you can click on Download a copy to export an Excel sheet directly to your device.

While you can only download your form responses from Microsoft Forms as an Excel spreadsheet, you can then export your Excel spreadsheet results as a separate PDF or CSV file if you’re willing to put in the extra work.

But if you’re looking for a solution that offers more options when exporting your response data, it may be time to consider a more powerful form software like Jotform.

How to export form responses with Jotform

Jotform is a free-to-use online form builder that allows you to easily download form responses in a variety of formats. Using Jotform Tables, you can download form responses in CSV, Excel, or PDF file formats. You can even download select responses and view form submissions from a particular data set rather than sifting through a dense data table.

Here’s how to download these documents in just a few clicks:

1. Open Jotform Tables to the data set you want to export.
2. Click the Download button in the top-right corner.
3. To start the download process, select the format you want.

You can also select the checkmark boxes next to each response to download specific responses and repeat steps two and three from above. Filters can also organize responses to streamline the selection process.

If you prefer to export form responses as a PDF, Jotform will create a ZIP file and send it to the email address attached to your account. CSV and Excel files will automatically download to your device.

Jotform Tables also offers a Microsoft Excel integration that can circumvent the export process by automatically uploading form responses to a linked spreadsheet. If you prefer to use a single solution, Jotform Tables will automatically update with every form response you receive — making tracking real-time responses simple.

If you’re trying to decide between Jotform vs Microsoft Forms, both solutions allow you to export your form responses. However, Microsoft Forms is somewhat limited compared to form builders like Jotform. Alternatives to Microsoft Forms can enhance your data collection process, so consider your options carefully to see which one will deliver the most benefits.

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