We are excited to announce that we have a new and improved solution for syncing your form responses to Excel, with better reliability and performance! Previously, some Forms supported an older version of live data synchronization with Excel. This older solution will be gradually discontinued and completely replaced by the new solution by October 20th, 2024.

The older version of data sync exists in two types of forms:

Forms created from OneDrive for Business and Excel for the web

Form created from Excel for the web

Group forms created with SharePoint Online, Teams and M365 Group.

Group forms created with SharePoint Online

After the older solution for data syncing is replaced, the existing Excel workbooks and their data will still be retained, but they will not be updated with new responses. To ensure that your workbooks continue receiving new form responses, you must follow the steps below to update your workbook.

How can I upgrade to the new version of data sync via the Forms website?

Open a form using the older syncing solution, and you’ll see a pop-up reminding you to update your workbook. Simply click ‘Update sync in Excel’ to open your workbook and initiate the syncing process. 

Upgrading to the new Forms data sync

How do I upgrade my workbook in web to use the new version of data sync?

Open an Excel workbook that uses the older syncing solution, and you will see a pane on the right-side reminding you to update the workbook to continue syncing new responses. Click the “Update sync” button to begin the updating process. Please note that this process is not reversible.

Upgrading to the new Forms data sync via the web

A new sheet will be created in the same workbook that is connected to the form using the new syncing solution.

You should see all your previous responses being resynced to this new sheet, and any new responses will also be synced to this sheet. You will still be able to see the previous data in your workbook, but this will no longer be updated.

Once the update is complete, a green success bar will appear near the top of the page. The right-side pane will also change to confirm that the update has been successfully completed.

Updated to the new solution

FAQ

Q: What will happen if I don’t update to the new solution?
A: The old data sync service will stop on Oct 20th, 2024. After this point, any new form responses will still be saved in your form, but they will no longer sync to your workbook. As soon as you update your workbook to the new data sync solution, these new responses (and the older ones) will sync to a new sheet in your workbook.

Q: What’s the difference between the old version and new version?
A:

The new syncing solution is more reliable and has improved performance.
Currently, the new solution will only sync new responses to Excel for the web. But we are actively working on adding the new syncing solution to the Windows and Mac desktop apps.
With the new syncing solution, you must open the Excel app to receive new responses. Otherwise, they will not sync to the workbook.

Q: Can I receive new responses without opening my workbook? What if I have a Power Automate Flow based on the data sync?

A: With the new syncing solution, new form responses will only sync to the workbook when it is opened in Excel for the web (with desktop support coming soon). If you have a Power Automate Flow connected to the workbook, it will no longer receive new responses until the workbook is manually opened. In this case, we recommend updating your workflow to use the Forms Connector.  Create an automated workflow for Microsoft Forms – Microsoft Support

Q: How do I know if the form is using the older version or the new one?

A: In the new solution, we also updated the UI to open responses in Excel in Forms “responses” tab.

Open responses to Excel button in the old experience

Open responses to Excel button in the new solution – Excel file is not created

Open Excel button in the new solution – Excel file is created

Q: I’m not the form owner, should I do anything?
A: Contact the form owner if you know who that is and ask them to update the workbook. If you don’t know who the form owner is, contact your IT admin.

Q: If the upgrade failed, what should I do?
A: If the update fails, then restart the Excel app. You should see the option to try updating the workbook again. We only disconnect the older syncing solution once the new syncing solution has been successfully connected.

Q: Could I revert back after the update?
A: No. Once your workbook has been updated to the new syncing solution, it cannot be reverted back to the old syncing solution.

Q: How could I find the forms need to be updated?
A: You could check the forms or Excel file from Excel for the web which are still actively receiving responses. If there are notification shows, please follow the guidance to update.

Q: I received an email from Microsoft Forms, what should I do?
A: The email will contain links to each of the workbooks that use the older syncing solution with forms that you own. You need to go to each workbook and update to the new syncing solution individually.

Q: I have a form which has more than 50K responses, could I create new data sync for it?
A: The new syncing solution should sync all responses your form has ever received in the newly created sheet in your workbook. But if you have over 50,000 responses, then the new syncing solution will only sync the most recent 50,000. In this case, you can copy the missing responses from your original data and paste them into the table in the new sheet in the appropriate place. Please make sure to insert the appropriate number of blank rows before pasting the missing data. The table will continue adding new form responses as they are received.

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