Have you ever tried to customize SharePoint Online modern pages? It could be a very challenging procedure especially if you don’t have much time to study it deeply.
In Office 365 SharePoint, “modern pages” web parts are one of the most useful and revolutionary web parts provided by Microsoft. Modern pages can help you to fully customize the look and feel of your Office 365 environment easily without worrying about technical details. Modern page authors can publish data-rich content that looks great on any device, is backed by the full power of Office 365, and includes built-in functionality such as social features, contribution models, comments, and ratings.
What is a SharePoint Page?
For some users, the term SharePoint Page can be a little unclear or can be confused with a SharePoint Site, but the answer is that a SharePoint page displays the data and material kept on each Site. A Site may have as many pages as it wants. If your website contains a lot of content, you might wish to present it on many pages.
The purpose of a SharePoint page is to allow staff members to see any information they desire to present while also allowing SharePoint users to see what content is stored on the Site and how it is arranged. It is not intended to limit staff members’ access to content.
Difference Between a SharePoint Site and A SharePoint Page.
A site is a logical container within a SharePoint tenant, making it the biggest bucket of whatever you can construct in SharePoint. Then, everything is contained within that SharePoint site, and each site has its own set of users with restrictions and permissions. As a result, certain team members may have access to one site but not another. Within your tenancy, you can establish a variety of sites.
Now, how does that compare to a page? A page is a single view of a site, useful for displaying the content on your site such as libraries, lists, and forms in a clear and engaging way.
So, what if you need to create and manage a series of SharePoint forms for your employees and clients? And you need some team members to easily access that data and work with it efficiently, recurringly, and without chaos? How can we leverage SharePoint sites and Microsoft Forms to do that?
What Do SharePoint Forms Stand for?
SharePoint surveys are implemented using Microsoft Forms. It enables you to ask questions and offers various fields for entering responses. Users can choose one or more pre-selected responses, insert any word, or sentence, and enter only digits when responding to questions in the free-form mode.
On a SharePoint site, Microsoft Forms can be shared and published. After that, you can see the survey results as graphs, lists, etc. Being an intuitive web-based tool in Office 365, Microsoft Forms can integrate with SharePoint and Microsoft Flow (Power Automate). Purchase order forms, vacation request forms, company polls, quizzes, checklists, requests for SharePoint sites, etc. can all be created using forms.
Information is entered into SharePoint lists via forms, which can be heavily customized using specialized tools to implement business logic, dynamic fields, and conditional formatting. You could, for instance, design a form to register users for an event that saves attendance to a list in SharePoint, highlight fields with different colors according to the data provided, etc.
How to Create a Form in SharePoint.
Here we present a simple guide with a step-by-step on how to create forms in sharepoint in just a couple of minutes with your current SharePoint site.
SharePoint Form Step by Step:
You can add custom forms to new or existing SharePoint pages. We will demonstrate how to make a new page first as we’re starting from scratch before demonstrating how to make a new poll form.
Second Step: Open your team site in SharePoint and log into your Office 365 account.
Third Step: Go to your SharePoint site’s main page, click “New”, and then select “Page”.
Fourth Step: For a new page, you must choose a template. There are three types of templates: Blank, Visual, and Basic text. Select the one that is closest to what you want to achieve in terms of visual aesthetics for your final form and after that push the “Create Page” button.
Fifth step: To add Microsoft Forms to your new SharePoint site page, click Edit (the pencil icon). Once in edit mode, click and hold “Existing Web Parts” to reveal the addition icon, which allows you to add a new web part in the chosen location.
Sixth Step: In the option that appears, select Microsoft Forms by clicking the plus sign.
Seventh Step: On a page, a new Microsoft Forms element is created with two buttons on it. We click the new form to begin adding material to a SharePoint site from scratch. Enter a new form name in the window that appears on the right side of the online interface and click Create.
Eighth Step: In SharePoint, a new form is generated with a visible web address. You can choose which information to show:
- Gather responses
- Display form outcomes
Ninth Step: Click on the option “Edit current form”.
Tenth Step: Selecting the Questions tab is done as we develop a form for a poll. A panel with a plus sign to add a question and buttons to choose possibilities for answers can be seen below. Users can be given the option to write any text, rate a position, choose a date, or choose one of the available solutions.
Eleventh Step: If you want to prevent users from omitting to answer a question, you can create an option that allows users to select numerous replies and make the answer mandatory.
Twelfth Step: Once you’re certain the poll was made correctly and error-free, click the “Publish” button.
Thirteenth Step: Return to the SharePoint site page where you put the web component with the poll. To publish the page that contains the vote on your SharePoint team site, check your page and click Publish.
And by following this simple step you will have your form ready in no time. Another thing you can do is once you have the form ready you can set it up as a template. This enables you to reuse a comparable form design for a related purpose, such as an annual customer survey or a follow-up feedback form for employees
How To Duplicate a Form in Microsoft Forms.
First Step: Log into your Microsoft Forms account and open it after entering your credentials and choosing the form you wish to copy. Verify to be sure it is the form you are thinking of.
Second Step: Use the form’s “Share” button if Microsoft Forms’ “Collaborate or Duplicate” button is hidden. Go to the panel that has been opened and click Share as a template under “Get a link to replicate”.
Third Step: The link must be produced, copied, and then pasted into the URL of your favorite web browser. Click the “Duplicate It” button. Your current window or the current form will then be opened to the newer form. When the form title includes the word “copy” with the original title, you will know it has been duplicated.
Fourth Step: You might want to edit some of the forms now that it has been replicated. This might be the form’s heading, summary, or even particular sections or questions.
With all these steps, you already have the knowledge to create, edit and reuse your SharePoint forms as much as possible but what you may not know is that these forms have some limitations that make their use with users outside your company a little more complicated.
Shortcomings of SharePoint Forms.
The use of Microsoft forms comes with several restrictions, for example:
- The forms are limited to a maximum of 100 questions.
- There is no option for the user to save the form partially. It must be submitted all at once and this can lead to the user putting off completing the form and not getting the information you need on time.
- You will only be able to submit 2 to 10 responses when using the ranking question, in addition to the cap of 100 questions per form.
- The biggest drawback of using Microsoft forms is that users external to your organization cannot upload files. When a file upload feature is added, SharePoint forms immediately disable access for outside users and cannot be enabled via settings.
A Better Alternative to Collect Information From External Users Into your SharePoint.
A very user-friendly and easy file storage option is File Request Pro. It only takes a few minutes to set up, and after the initial setup is complete, you are free to personalize your online hub with your information, connect it to your preferred file sharing and management solution, and begin requesting files from coworkers, clients, and stakeholders.
When using File Request Pro, every piece of content that you submit after your user completes the form will be sent to a folder in your SharePoint account, structured in whichever folder structure you like (clients survey, satisfaction with the product, gender, just to name a few examples).
It is simple to share files. To exchange folders, pictures, music files, and other content with File Request Pro, they don’t need to register for an account.
They only need to drop the files into the provided web browser to finish. No forms are required. No need to disclose personal information. That’s how easy it is.
Once you’ve made a few simple adjustments, you can utilize the template forms again and over again. A consistent, efficient method for document gathering can reduce errors and save time.
You can also remind candidates and team members of application requirements and deadlines with automated email sequences. To learn more about this alternative and its integration with SharePoint you can read about it here.
Conclusion.
Given the multiplicity of applications that incorporate forms and the sheer amount of information that can be entered into them, it is easy to understand why SharePoint forms are so popular for employers, and business owners that need to gather and analyze data from their clients,
Yet many users also end up longing for a better alternative. A good gathering information tool will allow users to fill out the form and make their requests as easy as possible. This will save a lot of time for them, and you don’t have to worry about complex issues related to the use of SharePoint forms.
However, if you want to use a more robust data collection tool you may think about switching to File Request Pro.
