Making a Microsoft Forms survey anonymous only takes a few clicks — but the settings differ depending on your account type, and a few gotchas can accidentally expose respondent identities.
This guide covers every step: disabling the Record Name setting, removing email tracking, understanding personal vs. work/school account differences, and verifying your form is truly anonymous before you send it out.
Are Microsoft Forms Surveys Really Anonymous?
Yes — Microsoft Forms can collect fully anonymous responses, but only if you configure it correctly.
By default, whether responses are anonymous depends on your account type and sharing settings. If you share a form using the "Anyone with the link can respond" option, Microsoft Forms does not require respondents to sign in, and no identifying information is captured automatically.
However, if you share a form restricted to "Only people in my organization can respond" and leave the Record Name setting enabled, Microsoft Forms logs each respondent's name and email address alongside their answers.
The key distinction: anonymity is not on by default. You need to actively disable identity tracking. If you skip this step, respondents signed into their Microsoft 365 account may have their name recorded without their knowledge — a trust-breaking surprise you want to avoid.
What Microsoft Forms does and does not track:
- Does not track: IP addresses, device information, or browser data
- Can track (if enabled): Respondent name and email address via the Record Name setting
- Always tracks: Submission timestamp
Personal vs. Work/School Account Differences
The anonymous settings in Microsoft Forms behave differently depending on your account type. This catches many people off guard.
Personal Microsoft Account (Outlook.com, Hotmail, Live)
- Forms are anonymous by default — there is no "Record Name" toggle because personal accounts do not have an organizational directory to pull names from
- The only sharing option is "Anyone with the link can respond"
- You cannot restrict responses to a specific group of people, so anyone with the link can submit answers
- Respondents are never required to sign in
Work or School Account (Microsoft 365)
- You get the full range of sharing options: "Anyone with the link," "Only people in my organization," or "Specific people"
- The Record Name setting appears under form settings — this is the toggle that controls whether Forms captures names
- Your IT admin can override sharing settings at the organization level, which may prevent you from selecting "Anyone with the link can respond"
- Additional features like branching logic and response receipts are available, giving you more control over the survey experience
If you are using a personal account and wondering where the Record Name setting is — it does not exist for your account type. Your forms are already anonymous by default.
Understanding the "Record Name" Setting
The Record Name setting is the primary toggle for making a Microsoft Form anonymous. It controls whether Forms automatically attaches the respondent's name and email to their submission.
When Record Name is ON (the default for work/school accounts), every response includes the respondent's display name and organizational email. When Record Name is OFF, the respondent column in your response spreadsheet shows "Anonymous" for every submission — no name or email is recorded, regardless of whether the person was signed in.
Where to find it:
- Open your form in the editor
- Click the Settings gear icon (or click "..." then "Settings" in older versions)
- Look under the "Who can fill out this form" section
- Uncheck "Record name"
Important: Unchecking Record Name only stops Microsoft Forms from automatically logging identity. If your form includes a question that asks "What is your name?" or "Enter your email," those answers are still recorded as regular form responses. For a truly anonymous survey, remove all questions that request personal identifiers.
Step-by-Step Guide: How to Make Microsoft Forms Anonymous
Follow these steps to create a fully anonymous survey in Microsoft Forms. This process applies to work and school accounts — if you have a personal account, your forms are already anonymous by default.
Step 1: Create or Open Your Form
Go to forms.office.com and sign in. Create a new form or open an existing one you want to make anonymous.
Step 2: Open Settings
In the form editor, click the Settings gear icon in the top-right corner. In some versions of Forms, you may need to click the "..." (More Options) menu first, then select Settings.
Step 3: Set "Anyone with the Link Can Respond"
Under the "Who can fill out this form" section, select "Anyone with the link can respond." This removes the sign-in requirement, so respondents do not need a Microsoft account — which means fewer people will abandon the form before completing it.
If this option is greyed out, your IT admin may have restricted external sharing at the tenant level. Contact your admin to enable it. Alternatively, select "Only people in my organization" and disable Record Name — this still keeps responses anonymous within your org, even though respondents sign in.
Step 4: Uncheck "Record Name"
This is the critical step. In the same settings panel, find and uncheck the "Record name" checkbox. When this is off, Microsoft Forms will not attach respondent names or email addresses to submissions.
Step 5: Remove Any Email Collection
Check whether your form has email collection enabled. If you see a setting for "Send a receipt of responses" or "Collect email addresses," disable it. Either setting captures the respondent's email even if Record Name is off, which breaks anonymity.
Step 6: Review Your Questions
Look through every question in your form. Remove or make optional any fields that ask for names, email addresses, employee IDs, or other personally identifiable information. Even with all tracking disabled, a required "Name" field defeats the purpose of anonymity.
Step 7: Test with a Preview
Click Preview in the top-right corner to open the form as a respondent would see it. Look for the message "This form will record your name" — if you see it, go back and check your settings. You should see "This form will not automatically collect your details" or no identity message at all.
Step 8: Share the Form
Click Collect Responses (or Send) and copy the sharing link. Distribute it via email, Teams, Slack, or wherever your audience is. Since the form does not require sign-in, anyone with the link can submit a response anonymously.
What Does "This Form Will Not Automatically Collect Your Details" Mean?
When respondents open a Microsoft Form, they may see one of several messages at the top of the form. Understanding these messages helps respondents (and form creators) know exactly what is being tracked.
"This form will record your name and email address" — Record Name is ON. The respondent's Microsoft 365 identity will be attached to their submission. This form is not anonymous.
"This form will not automatically collect your details" — Record Name is OFF, or the form uses an anonymous sharing link. Microsoft Forms will not log the respondent's name or email. This is the message you want to see on an anonymous form.
"You need to sign in to fill out this form" — The form is restricted to specific people or the organization. The respondent must authenticate. Whether the form is anonymous depends on the Record Name setting — signing in alone does not mean the respondent's name is attached to their answers.
If you are a form creator, the easiest way to verify anonymity is to open the form link in a private/incognito browser window and check which message appears. If it says "This form will not automatically collect your details," your anonymous settings are working correctly.
Making Anonymous Forms in Microsoft Teams
Microsoft Teams does not have a built-in form builder — it uses Microsoft Forms through an integration. Here is how to create and share an anonymous form in Teams:
Option 1: Add a Forms Tab to a Channel
- Go to the Teams channel where you want the form
- Click the "+" icon at the top of the channel to add a tab
- Search for "Forms" and select the Forms app
- Choose "Create a new form" or "Add an existing form"
- If adding an existing form, select the anonymous form you already configured
- Make sure "Collect responses" is selected (not "Show results")
Option 2: Use Forms in a Teams Chat or Meeting
In a Teams chat or meeting, click the "+" or Apps icon below the message compose box, then select Forms. You can create a quick poll here — however, polls created in Teams chats are not anonymous by default. Team members can see who voted for what.
For a truly anonymous survey in Teams, create the form first in forms.office.com with the anonymous settings described above, then share the link in the Teams channel or chat. The anonymity settings you configured will carry over — Teams does not override them.
A Note on Teams Polls vs. Forms
The quick "Poll" option in Teams meetings is a separate feature from Microsoft Forms. Polls in Teams show voter names to the meeting organizer. If you need anonymous feedback during a meeting, share a link to an anonymous Microsoft Form instead of using the built-in poll feature.
Admin Audit Log Considerations
If you are running an employee satisfaction survey, this is the question people will ask before they respond honestly: can IT administrators trace anonymous responses back to individuals through audit logs?
What admins CAN see in audit logs (Microsoft Purview):
- That a form was created, edited, or deleted
- That responses were submitted
- General form metadata (form title, creator, timestamps)
What admins CANNOT see when Record Name is off:
- Which user submitted which response
- The content of individual anonymous responses
If the form uses "Anyone with the link can respond" and Record Name is off, even the audit log shows submissions as anonymous activity. Based on Microsoft's documentation, there is no method for administrators to unmask respondents.
If the form is restricted to "Only people in my organization" with Record Name off, the audit log may show that a user accessed the form URL — but it cannot connect that to a specific response. For maximum anonymity (particularly for sensitive employee surveys), use "Anyone with the link can respond" so there is no log of who even opened the form.
How to Remove Anonymous Settings (Start Recording Names)
Need to go the other direction? Maybe you set up the form as anonymous by mistake, or you are switching from an anonymous feedback round to an identified follow-up.
To remove anonymous settings and start recording names:
- Open the form in the editor at forms.office.com
- Go to Settings
- Under "Who can fill out this form," change the setting to "Only people in my organization can respond" (or "Specific people in my organization")
- Check the "Record name" checkbox
- Optionally, enable "One response per person" to prevent duplicate submissions and keep your data clean
Important: Changing these settings only affects future responses. Responses already collected anonymously stay anonymous — there is no way to retroactively identify those respondents.
Switching to "Only people in my organization" means external users can no longer access the form. If you need to share your Microsoft Form with external users while recording names, keep "Anyone with the link" enabled and add a required name/email question to the form itself.
Benefits of Using Anonymous Responses
Here is when anonymity matters — and why it leads to better data:
- Employee feedback: Staff give more honest feedback about management and workplace culture when their name is not attached. Anonymity tends to increase both response rates and candor.
- Sensitive topics: Surveys about harassment, mental health, or workplace safety need anonymity. People will not report problems if they fear retaliation, and one leaked identity can destroy trust in every future survey you send.
- Educational assessments: Course evaluations produce more useful results when students know their grades will not be affected by honest opinions.
- Privacy compliance: Collecting identifiable data may trigger GDPR or CCPA obligations. Anonymous surveys reduce compliance burden by not collecting personal data in the first place.
Limitations: Anonymous Forms and File Uploads
There is one frustrating limitation to be aware of: Microsoft Forms requires respondents to sign in with a Microsoft account to upload files. This means you cannot have a truly anonymous form that also accepts file uploads — the two features are mutually exclusive.
If your form includes a file upload question, the sharing option gets locked to "Only people in my organization can respond," and anonymous external submissions become impossible. For more details on this restriction, see our guide on Microsoft Forms file upload limits and workarounds.
Workarounds for anonymous file collection:
- Split the process: Create an anonymous Microsoft Form for the survey questions, then use a separate tool for file collection
- Use a dedicated file request tool: Services like File Request Pro allow anonymous file uploads directly to OneDrive or SharePoint without requiring respondents to sign in or identify themselves
- Use a cloud storage upload link: Some cloud storage services offer upload-only links, though these lack question logic, branching, and other survey features
If you need both anonymous survey responses and file uploads, keep them as two separate steps. You can also embed a Microsoft Form on your website and pair it with a separate file upload solution on the same page.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can Microsoft 365 admins see who submitted an anonymous form?
No. When Record Name is off and the form uses "Anyone with the link can respond," administrators cannot identify individual respondents — not through Forms response data, audit logs, or any other backend tool. The identifying data is never collected.
Can I make a Microsoft Form anonymous after responses have already been collected?
You can change settings to anonymous going forward, but responses already collected with names will keep that data. There is no way to retroactively strip names. If you need all responses anonymous, you would have to delete the identified responses (losing that data) and redistribute the form with anonymous settings enabled.
Why is the "Anyone with the link can respond" option greyed out?
This usually means your form contains a file upload question (which requires authentication) or your IT admin has restricted external sharing at the tenant level. Remove the upload question, or contact your IT team to enable external sharing in the admin center under Settings > Org settings > Microsoft Forms.
Are Microsoft Forms anonymous if I share them in a Teams channel?
It depends on how the form is configured, not where it is shared. If you created the form with Record Name off and "Anyone with the link can respond," it remains anonymous even when shared in Teams. However, the quick poll feature built into Teams meetings is not anonymous — it shows who voted.
Does "Record Name" exist on personal Microsoft accounts?
No. The Record Name toggle only appears on work or school (Microsoft 365) accounts. Personal accounts (Outlook.com, Hotmail, Live) do not have this setting because there is no organizational directory. Forms created with personal accounts are anonymous by default.
Can respondents see each other's answers on an anonymous form?
Not by default. Only the form creator (and co-owners) can see responses. However, there is a setting called "Post responses to a channel" in Teams that could make responses visible. For anonymous surveys, avoid sharing results publicly until you have reviewed them.
What happens if I accidentally leave Record Name on?
Every response submitted while Record Name was on will have the respondent's name and email attached permanently. There is no undo. Turn off Record Name immediately to protect future respondents. Then consider whether you need to notify affected respondents that their identity was captured, and take appropriate steps based on your organization's privacy policies.
Is there a way to make a Microsoft Form anonymous but still track who has NOT responded?
Not natively within Microsoft Forms. Anonymity and response tracking are fundamentally at odds — if you can see who has not responded, you can deduce who has. Some organizations use a separate tracking list where people voluntarily mark themselves as "completed" — but this relies on the honor system.
