You built a form, added an Upload file question, and sent the link to a client. Then you found the catch: Microsoft Forms only accepts file uploads from people signed in to your own organization. A client outside it can't attach a thing.
So you start looking for a Microsoft Forms alternative. Most of what you'll find ranks survey tools on design and price. This guide starts from the job instead: people outside your organization need to send you files, often with a few answers.
Three approaches solve it. You can pair Forms with a Request files link, switch to a form builder with uploads, or use a file request page. Which one fits depends on two things: whether your IT team allows Anyone links, and whether the answers or the files are the point.
Why Microsoft Forms can't take files from outside your organization
Microsoft Forms has three audience settings: "Anyone can respond", "Only people in my organization can respond" and "Specific people in my organization can respond". The Upload file question works only with the last two. Both require respondents to sign in with a work or school account in your organization. A client with their own Microsoft 365 account at another company is still locked out.
Switch the form to "Anyone can respond" and you can't keep the upload question. Microsoft documents no setting that changes this. SharePoint's newer forms inside document libraries don't get around it either: Microsoft's announcement says anyone in your organization can submit them, and that external or guest sharing isn't supported.
Our guide to the Microsoft Forms file upload question covers why the option goes grey and other causes. For the sharing settings, see sharing Microsoft Forms with external users.
Two other details matter when you plan a replacement. Uploads to a form you own land in your OneDrive, under Apps > Microsoft Forms > the form's name > a folder per question. Uploads to a group form go to the document library on the group's SharePoint site.
Each upload question also takes up to 10 files, with a per-file limit you pick: 10 MB, 100 MB or 1 GB.
In short, Forms takes answers from anyone or files from colleagues. It won't take files from outsiders.
Define the job first
Before you compare anything, write down what the replacement has to do. These five questions decide most of it:
- Do you need answers and files together? A job application needs both in one submission. A client sending last year's tax documents might only need the files and their name.
- Where must the files end up? A SharePoint library your team already works from, your OneDrive, or anywhere you can download them from.
- Does your organization allow Anyone links? Microsoft's upload link, Request files, depends on them. If you don't know, ask IT before you plan around it.
- Is it a one-off or a recurring collection? A one-off collection and a monthly round of 40 clients are different problems. The second one needs per-client tracking and reminders.
- How big are the files, and whose name is on the page? Check video and scan sizes against each option's limits, and decide whether clients should see your brand or someone else's.
Three Microsoft Forms alternatives that accept outside uploads
Each approach below takes files from people outside your organization. They differ in where the files go, what IT has to allow, and how much of the follow-up you do by hand.
1. Keep Forms for answers and add a Request files link
You don't have to leave Microsoft. Set the form to "Anyone can respond", drop the upload question, and pair it with a Request files link from a SharePoint or OneDrive folder. People fill in the form, then send their files through the second link.
Request files is built for one-way uploads:
- Uploaders don't need a Microsoft account or OneDrive.
- They can't see, edit, delete or download what's in the folder, and they can't see who else uploaded.
- You get an email each time someone uploads.
The harder part is the requirements. Request files works only on OneDrive for work or school and SharePoint, not on OneDrive for home. Your admin has to allow Anyone links, and the folder's Anyone-link permission has to allow uploads. Turning off Anyone links also turns off Request files. Microsoft's own Copilot readiness guidance tells admins to disable or restrict Anyone links, so check with IT before you rely on them.
The other weak spot is the gap between the two links. The answers sit in Forms and the files sit in a folder, and nothing ties them together. The uploader types a name, but Microsoft doesn't check it, so you match files to responses by hand.
Setup steps are in our guides to Request files in SharePoint and OneDrive file requests.
Good fit: an occasional collection, a handful of senders, and an IT team that leaves Anyone links on. It costs nothing beyond Microsoft 365, so it's also the answer if you need a free option.
2. A general form builder with file uploads
Online form builders let anyone fill in a form and attach files, usually without signing in. You get one link, one submission, and answers and files together. That's what most "alternative to Microsoft Forms" roundups compare.
For external file uploads, themes and question types matter less than these checks:
- Where the files are stored. Uploads usually sit on the vendor's servers by default. Getting them into SharePoint or OneDrive takes a built-in integration or a flow in Zapier or Power Automate. Jotform, for example, has a SharePoint integration that sends attachments to SharePoint. Ask whether a copy also stays with the vendor, and for how long.
- Who owns the connection. An integration runs under someone's Microsoft account. If that person leaves, uploads can stop arriving. IT may also need to approve the app's permissions.
- File size and storage. Free plans often cap file size and total storage well below what a scanned contract pack or a video needs.
- Whether respondents need an account. Open the form in a private browser window and upload a test file. If it asks you to sign in, your clients will hit the same wall.
- Branding. Many plans show the vendor's logo on your form, and removing it often costs more.
Good fit: the answers are the main point and the files are an attachment, such as an application, a registration or a quote request.
3. A file request page that saves into SharePoint or OneDrive
The third approach flips the priority. A file request tool is built around the files: you set up an upload page, add the fields you need, and each upload lands in a folder in your own cloud storage. Many also let you send a request to each client and remind them until they've sent everything.
Check the same storage, size and branding points as for a form builder, plus:
- Which storage it supports, on which plan. SharePoint support is often limited to higher tiers.
- The path the files take. Some tools pass files through their own servers on the way to your storage. Ask what they keep and for how long.
- The Microsoft permissions. Read what the app asks for. An app that writes to SharePoint usually needs an admin to approve it once.
- Per-client tracking. Can you see who has sent what and who still owes you documents?
Good fit: repeat collections from the same kinds of clients, files that must land in SharePoint or OneDrive, and chasing that eats your week.
What to check: the three approaches side by side
| What to check | Forms + Request files | Form builder with uploads | File request page |
|---|---|---|---|
| Outsiders upload without an account | Yes, through the Request files link | Usually. Test it. | Usually. Test it. |
| Answers and files in one submission | No, two separate links | Yes | Yes, if it has form fields |
| Where files land | Your SharePoint or OneDrive folder | The vendor's storage, unless you connect SharePoint or OneDrive | Your cloud storage. Check which providers each plan includes. |
| Needs Anyone links in your tenant | Yes | No | No |
| IT approval | Only to turn on Anyone links | Often, for the Microsoft connector | Often, for the Microsoft app |
| File size | Microsoft's normal SharePoint and OneDrive limits | Set by the plan | Set by the plan |
| Whose brand clients see | Microsoft's | Yours, often with the vendor's logo on lower plans | Yours, often with the vendor's name on lower plans |
| Tracking and reminders | None. You match and chase by hand. | Varies. Some send reminder emails; check for per-person tracking. | Often built in |
| Cost | Included in Microsoft 365 | Free tiers, then paid plans | Paid plans, usually with a trial |
Which one to pick
- Everyone sending files works in your organization: keep Microsoft Forms. The upload question does the job.
- A few outsiders, a one-off collection, Anyone links allowed: Forms for the answers plus a Request files link. It costs nothing extra.
- Anyone links are off: skip Request files. Either of the other two works without them. Microsoft's own fallback is sharing a folder with each person as a guest, which means one guest account per sender. Our guide to letting external users upload files to SharePoint compares that route with the rest.
- The form is the point and files are an attachment: a form builder. Check where the files are stored before you share the link.
- Clients send sets of documents, the files must land in SharePoint, and you chase people: a file request page with per-client requests and reminders.
Where File Request Pro fits
File Request Pro is the third approach. You build an upload page with your logo and the fields you need, so answers and files arrive in one submission. Clients don't need an account. Files pass through our servers on the way to a folder in your Google Drive, OneDrive or Dropbox, which every plan includes. SharePoint is on Pro ($79 a month) and up.
A few things to know before you try it:
- The Microsoft app asks for Files.ReadWrite and Sites.ReadWrite.All. On Microsoft's default tenant settings, an admin approves it once.
- Files can be up to 1 GB each on Starter and Lite, 5 GB on Pro, and 10 GB on Business and Enterprise.
- Reminders start on Lite. A Workflow emails each client their request and follows up until they've sent everything.
The free trial runs for 15 days or 25 files, needs no credit card, and includes SharePoint. Compare plans on the pricing page or start a free trial and point a test upload page at your SharePoint library.
