How to Change the Owner in Microsoft Forms?
Microsoft Forms is a powerful tool to create surveys, quizzes, and polls for personal and business use. As more people collaborate on creating forms, the ownership and permissions need to be properly managed. There may be situations where you need to change the owner of a Microsoft form due to various reasons, such as Organization hierarchy changes, the original owner leaving the organization, you want to transfer responsibilities to someone else, etc. Fortunately, Microsoft Forms makes it easy to change owners and assign permissions with a few simple steps.
In this detailed guide, we will cover everything you need to know about changing owners in Microsoft Forms, including:
- Why You Might Need to Change Owner in Microsoft Forms
- Who Can Change Ownership of a Microsoft Form
- How to change the Owner of a Microsoft Form
- How to Transfer Ownership of a Microsoft Form of users who left the organization
- Best Practices for Microsoft Forms Ownership and Permissions
Why You Might Need to Change Owner in Microsoft Forms
A centralized Form ownership approach where individual users retain control can lead to bottlenecks, particularly when such individuals are unavailable or have departed from the organization. This highlights the importance of transferring ownership to a group, allowing for undisturbed access and editing capabilities when individual ownership changes.
The Ownership transfer feature promotes teamwork by converting individual forms to Group forms. Here are some common scenarios that require you to change the owner in Microsoft Forms:
- Original Owner Left the Organization: If the person who created the form leaves your organization, you need to assign a new owner to manage that form.
- Transferring Responsibilities: As your business grows, you may want to re-distribute responsibilities by transferring ownership of forms to appropriate people.
- Broader Access Needed: If a form needs input and management from multiple departments, you can add owners from those departments to provide broader access.
- Revoking Access: If an existing owner should no longer have access to manage a shared form, you can remove them and assign new ownership.
Who Can Change Ownership of a Microsoft Form
By default, these users have permissions to change owners of a Microsoft Form:
- The current owner of a form can move the ownership to a Microsoft 365 group.
- Microsoft 365 Global admins can change form ownership for user accounts that are disabled or deleted (But the owner account wasn’t deleted more than 30 days ago).
Find the Owner of a Microsoft Form
As the first step, You have to get the Owner of the Microsoft form. There is no direct way to do it! You have to use the Web Dev toolbar in your favorite browser and check the network response to get “OwnerID”. Refer here: How do I find the owner of a Microsoft Form? Once you obtain the Owner information, you can proceed with the below steps to change the ownership of any Microsoft Form.
How do you change your ownership to a group in a Microsoft Form?
Microsoft Forms introduces a seamless ownership transfer feature, integrating the utility of Group forms. This advancement allows creators of Microsoft Forms to move their individual forms to Microsoft Groups, broadening ownership to include all group members and conferring upon them full editing rights.
The transfer process requires just a few clicks. Follow these simple steps if you need to change your ownership of an existing Microsoft form to a Microsoft 365 group:
- Sign in to Microsoft Forms with your Microsoft 365 account and navigate to “My Forms”.
- Click on the little three dots of the specific form you want to change ownership >> Choose “Move to a group” from the context menu.
- Select the destination group from the popup and click on “Move”.
- You should see the “Form Moved” message as soon as the ownership is moved from your account to the selected group.
Now, You can see the form under the “My Groups” section, if you are part of a particular Microsoft 365 group. By selecting your desired group and confirming the move, you empower your team with collective management of essential forms.
Once a form is moved to a group, all members gain ownership roles, enhancing collaboration. So, from now on, You can add or remove users to the Microsoft 365 Group to edit and manage the Microsoft Form! BTW, transferring ownership back from a group to an individual is not supported by Microsoft Forms.
How to Transfer the Microsoft Forms Ownership of Users Who Left the Organization?
If you need to change the Microsoft form ownership for someone no longer associated with your organization, here are the steps: Make sure the original owner account is disabled (at least for the time being) before proceeding with the below steps. If the account is active, You’ll see an error message: “We can’t access this page. The forms owner still has an active account.”. More here: How to Disable a User Account in Microsoft 365?
If the user who created the form left the company, you can take ownership of those forms and change the owner with the below process:
- Login to Microsoft Forms as a Global Admin (Assuming your tenant Admin account has a Microsoft Forms License Assigned!)
- Visit this URL, by setting the [User@Domain] Parameter to the existing owner Email: https://forms.office.com/Pages/delegatepage.aspx?originalowner=User@Domain.com
- This will load all the forms owned by the particular user. Select the form and choose “Move” to move the Form Ownership.
- You can set the Owner to your account or pick any Microsoft 365 group.
The Forms data will be retained only for 30 days after a user account is deleted! After 30 days, all the Forms data will be permanently deleted. So, make sure you move the ownership of a form within 30 days of an employee’s departure.
If you want to transfer the form to another personal user, you need to give them the “Share as a template” link. The other person would then create a duplicate of the form.
Best Practices for Microsoft Forms Ownership
Follow these guidelines for optimum security and collaboration on Microsoft Forms:
- Share the Forms with More than One User – So that there is no single point of failure.
- Use Group Forms: For team projects or collaborative efforts, consider using group forms. This allows multiple people in a group to own and manage the form, which is particularly useful for team activities or when the primary owner is absent.
- Review the owner, editor, and respondent access regularly and remove those no longer relevant.
- Transfer Ownership When Necessary: If the primary owner is leaving a project or the organization, transfer ownership to another team member. This ensures continuity and prevents loss of access to the form and its data.
By following these best practices, you can ensure that your Microsoft Forms are well managed, secure, and effective in meeting your data collection needs.
Navigating Errors During Ownership Transfer
Occasionally, during the Microsoft Forms ownership transfer process, users may encounter errors that prevent successful completion. Recognizing and understanding the type of error message can help in applying the correct troubleshooting solution. Here, we look at some common ownership transfer errors and their potential fixes:
| Error Type | Common Causes | Solutions |
|---|---|---|
| Access Issues | Former owner’s active account or form not moved within 30 days post account deletion | Confirm the account status of the previous owner and respect the 30-day transfer window |
| Incorrect Email Entry | Mistyped email address or form was never owned by the given account | Double-check the email accuracy and verify the form’s original owner |
| Ownership Transfer Errors | Lack of administrative credentials or errors in the transfer URL | Ensure proper admin rights are in place and reformat the URL as needed |
| Disabled Account Oversight | The mistyped email address or form was never owned by the given account | Proceed with the transfer in a timely manner before account deletion, if possible |
By adhering to the proposed solutions for each error type, users can prevent delays in form transfer, maintain data access, and ensure continuity in form management practices. It is advisable for administrators to be well-versed in Microsoft Forms troubleshooting procedures, particularly concerning active and disabled user accounts, to avoid common ownership transfer errors and guarantee seamless team collaboration.
Conclusion
Ownership continuity in Microsoft Forms is more than a feature – it’s a strategic pillar, essential to the lifeblood of an organization’s operational fluency. Appropriately managing the permissions and ownership settings will help you securely collaborate with the right stakeholders. Whether you want to change your Forms Ownership or take over the ownership from users who left the organization, this guide covers the step-by-step process in Microsoft Forms.
By following this guide, you have a comprehensive picture of the step-by-step process to transfer ownership. It allows for a smooth transition of form management, ensuring that crucial data remains accessible and editable by authorized team members.
