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About this lesson

Learn how to create a survey from scratch. 

Quick reference

Create a Survey

Learn how to create a survey in Microsoft Forms. 

When to use

We create a survey whenever we want to get feedback on a subject from others. 

Instructions

Forms vs. Survey vs. Quiz

It's important to understand the difference between a form, a survey, and a quiz. 

A form is something that people fill out where they share personal details and information, like on an application form.

A survey is also a type of form, but it is often used to gather feedback and/or opinions from others via a series of questions. 

A quiz is a form but the aim is to test people's knowledge on a subject and award points. 

Create a Survey

There is no 'New Survey' button in Microsoft Forms. We just use the 'New Form' button instead. 

  • Click New Form.
  • In the 'Untitled form' field, type a name for the survey. 
  • Click the image icon to the right of the survey name. 

Adding an image for the survey is optional. If we do choose to add an image we can upload one from OneDrive, our PC, or search the web. 

It is recommended that we add alternative text to any image in Microsoft Forms. Alternative text is just a detailed description of the image. This is helpful for people who have sight difficulties and use screen readers. 

To delete the image, click the trash can icon. 

  • Click in the form description field and add a detailed description of the form (optional). 

Preview a Form

It is beneficial to check how the form will look to others frequently when building a  survey. 

  • Click Preview. 

We can preview how the form looks on both computer and mobile. 

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  • 00:04 It's important to understand the difference between a form, a survey,
  • 00:09 and a quiz, because we can create all three within Microsoft Forms.
  • 00:15 Now effectively all three of these are forms so to speak, but
  • 00:18 they do differ slightly.
  • 00:20 Now in this lesson we're going to focus on creating a survey first of all.
  • 00:24 But before we do that, let's just take a brief look at an example of a form so
  • 00:29 that you can understand the difference between a form, a survey, and a quiz.
  • 00:34 Since the last lesson I've gone in and I've created myself a form.
  • 00:38 So you can see here underneath Recent, there it is, the employee form.
  • 00:43 If I click on it to open it up, this is the form.
  • 00:47 Now, you can see here that this is basically an employee form.
  • 00:51 So I need employees of my organization to complete the following fields, full name,
  • 00:56 work email address, work phone number, business legal name, so on and so forth.
  • 01:02 And we have quite a few questions in here and
  • 01:05 they are a mixture of different question types.
  • 01:07 So some of these are free text fields where they just type into the form,
  • 01:11 whereas some of these they need to make selections.
  • 01:14 Now this is classified as a form because other people fill it out,
  • 01:19 they complete their information.
  • 01:21 Now a survey, on the other hand, is slightly different.
  • 01:24 When we create a survey, we're looking for feedback from people.
  • 01:29 So we might want to find out what they thought of a product.
  • 01:32 We might want them to rate something out of ten or maybe we just want them to
  • 01:37 decide what chocolate bars we should have in the meeting room.
  • 01:41 So a survey is more for collecting feedback,
  • 01:44 whereas a form is something that people fill out for informational purposes.
  • 01:49 Now, a quiz is an entirely different thing, and
  • 01:52 we will talk about that a little bit later on.
  • 01:54 Now, when it comes to creating a survey, which is what this lesson is going to
  • 01:58 focus on, notice that we don't have a new survey button, and
  • 02:02 that is because we simply use the New Form button at the top.
  • 02:05 So we create forms and surveys in exactly the same way.
  • 02:09 So the first thing we need to do when we're creating a new survey is we
  • 02:12 need to give our survey a name.
  • 02:14 So in this header area at the top, if we click, we can then type in the name for
  • 02:18 our survey.
  • 02:20 So this is going to be a customer satisfaction survey for a candle company.
  • 02:25 We work at a candle company, we sell candles, and
  • 02:28 we want to get some feedback from our customer base.
  • 02:31 Now, once you've typed in the title of your form,
  • 02:34 notice on the right-hand side we have a little image icon just here, so
  • 02:37 we can add an image to the top of the survey.
  • 02:40 So we can search for an image online, we can grab one from OneDrive, or
  • 02:44 we can upload from our local drives.
  • 02:46 And that's exactly what I'm going to do.
  • 02:49 Now the image that I'm going to use, I've saved into the Course Files folder.
  • 02:53 So if you want to use the same image as me, you can.
  • 02:56 If you want to use something entirely different, that is up to you.
  • 02:59 So we're going to grab the logo for Happy Flame Candle Company.
  • 03:03 Let's click on Open and that's going to upload into the form.
  • 03:09 Notice that when we hover over this image,
  • 03:11 we get the opportunity to add in some alternative text, some alt text.
  • 03:15 Now I always highly recommend that you do this because this is super helpful for
  • 03:20 anybody using a screen reader.
  • 03:22 An alt text is really just a description of the image,
  • 03:25 so I'm going to add one in now.
  • 03:27 Let's click on Add to add that alternative text.
  • 03:31 And also note here we do have a trash can icon, so if we want to delete this image
  • 03:35 and re-upload something else, we can do that from here as well.
  • 03:39 The final thing to do this first stage of creating a survey is just add a form of
  • 03:44 description.
  • 03:44 Please provide feedback on your experience with Happy Flames so
  • 03:48 we can improve our service.
  • 03:50 And when we click away we have a really nice header to our survey.
  • 03:54 Now, at any time when you're working with a survey or a form,
  • 03:57 you can preview what that's going to look like to other people.
  • 04:01 Notice we have a Preview button in the top right-hand corner.
  • 04:04 If I click this, that is currently what my form looks like.
  • 04:08 And notice that we can preview on computer and
  • 04:11 also what it's going to look like on a mobile device, which is pretty cool.
  • 04:17 Let's click on Back.
  • 04:18 Because we're now ready to dive into the next lesson and
  • 04:21 start adding in some questions.

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