Editing/Creating Workspace

When editing or creating a form or quiz, the Preview, Theme, Share, and ellipsis (…) options (Figure 10-3) become available.

The Preview button allows you to preview the form or quiz to see how your form or quiz renders. The preview mode offers an interesting function: it allows you to preview the form on both a typical mobile device and a computer.

The Theme button allows you to change the look and feel of the form. You can select from an available theme or upload your own image to use as a background image. If you choose to add an image, you can connect to the Bing search engine for pictures, OneDrive, or your local computer. Currently, you can only upload one picture to create a custom theme.

The Share button allows you to share your completed form or quiz in various ways (Figure 10-4) with any user. The form or quiz can be shared internally or externally because the object is hosted within Microsoft 365, so the object can be filled out from anywhere. The form can also be sent via email with a link, embedded in a web page, or accessed via QR code (barcode), or the link can be shared.

Part of collaboration is the ability to share your data with others. By selecting the “Share as a template” link, other users can duplicate your form and use it as a base for their own form. By selecting the “Share to collaborate” link, you can send the form to others to edit the questions and/or add values to the questions.

The ellipsis (…) (Figure 10-3) offers some additional functionality when the form in edit mode.

The first advanced feature is the settings menu. These options let you allow anyone to fill out the form (anonymous) or restrict it to just internal company users. This setting isn’t permanent; when you go to share the form, you can change the option. This simply sets the default for the form.

The options for responses are whether you can accept responses, the Start date and End date of when the form can be filled out, whether to shuffle or lock the questions, and if you want to receive a notification of each response. These advanced settings are useful if you need the form filled out prior to a deadline.

The second option is Multilingual where you can add alternate languages so the submitter of the form can change to one of the available choices. This is useful; however, it does not translate the questions/answers you used to create your form or quiz.

The third option is Print form, which will allow you to print the form; this was not available in previous releases.

Data Types

On the form, select “+ Add question.” In the resulting menu (Figure 10-7), each button represents a different data type that can be used in your form. These data types control the way a user can respond.

Choice

Choice is the basic multiple-choice data type we all know. A predetermined set of choices is presented, and a user selects one of them (or multiple selections, if allowed). These details are controlled in the interface (Figure 10-8).

With this data type, Microsoft Forms allows two options: “Multiple answers” and “Required.” Selecting “Multiple answers” allows the submitter to select more than one choice. You will notice that the radio buttons turn into checkboxes when “Multiple answers” is selected.

Multiple answers are useful when there is more than one choice that could be selected or a submitter can select multiple correct answers to a question. Selecting the “Required” toggle forces the user to answer the question; the form can’t be submitted if the question is not answered. Selecting the ellipsis (…) shows the options to add a subtitle and set the questions to shuffle, which presents the questions in a different order to individuals.

For this exercise, let’s create a survey to gather information from employees about the annual company picnic. For the choice data type, add two choice questions:

Question 1: Are you likely to attend this year’s company picnic?

• Choice options: Yes, No

• Allow multiple choices: No

• Required: No

Question 2: Please select an activity that you will like to participate in.

• Choice options: Basketball, Bocce, Horseshoes

  • Select “Add “Other” Option” to add a freeform field

• Allow multiple choices: No

• Required: Yes

Once you are satisfied with the questions and choices, select “+ Add question” and add another question using the date data type.

Questions also contain three other functions: copying a question, deleting a question via the trash can icon, and moving the question up or down in the form. See Figure 10-9.

Note

When creating questions, you can also insert a video or image into the question. This is done by selecting the image icon to the right of the text box.

Date

The date data type allows a user to answer the question with a date (Figure 10-10). Unlike the other data types, the configuration is quite limited to a question field and a date field. This data type also has the Required switch.

Question 3: Select the date that would be best for the company picnic.

• Required: Yes.

• Subtitle: Please select a date in June 2021 or August 2021.

Rating

The rating data type (Figure 10-11) asks users to rate using either the familiar stars or numbers. The form creator has the option to display five or ten stars or numbers. Utilizing ten stars is effectively a scale of 1–10.

Selecting the ellipsis (…) presents the opportunity to add labels to your rating. Labels help define what a single star/number is in terms of the lowest and highest.

Question 4: How would you rate last year's company picnic activities?

• Required: Yes

• Symbol: Star

• Labels:

  • 1 star: Bad

  • 10 stars: Excellent

Text

The text data type allows free entry of data and doesn’t have preset options like the choice data type. This data type has similar options to the choice data type (Figure 10-12).

The text data type does contain a “Long answer” toggle. Selecting this toggle increases the number of lines available for the user to fill out. This is preferred because you do not want to abruptly cut off an answer unless there is absolute certainty that the answer will be short.

Selecting the ellipsis (…) presents the option to restrict the data entered to a restriction value. The restrictions are limited to numbers only and cannot be used to restrict text.

Question 5: Please describe the best part of last year's annual outing.

• Long answer: Yes

• Required: Yes

Ranking

The ranking data type (Figure 10-13) allows the options to be sorted or ranked in an order. This is useful if you are trying to schedule a team meeting. Submitters can sort the available times from best to worst time slots.

The ranking data type does not contain any other configurable properties besides Required and Subtitle.

Note

One issue with the ranking data type is that if the field is set to Required, the order must be changed and set back to the default if the submitter agrees to that ranking.

To complete the form, use the following values for Question 6:

Question 6: Please rank the following food options from most desirable to least.

• Required: Yes

• Options: Seafood, Barbeque, Vegan, Italian, Sandwiches

Likert

Microsoft Forms also includes the Likert (Figure 10-14) data type. This data type is available by clicking the down arrow when adding a question. This data type strives to gauge a statement by having the user select one of the corresponding options.

You aren’t going to use the Likert data type in your survey, but let’s review the configuration of it. The keys to this data type are both the options and statements. The options are the gauge and are most commonly “Strongly Disagree,” “Disagree,” “Neutral,” “Agree,” and “Strongly Agree.” You can have more, but I think five is the perfect level of granularity and offers clear definitive lines between the options. The statements of the Likert data type are the statements that are gauged by the user.

We will discuss three new data types; they won’t be part of the form, but it’s good to be aware of these data types as they have specific uses and cases.

File Upload

Microsoft Forms also includes the file upload (Figure 10-15) data type. This data type is available by clicking the down arrow when adding a question. This data type strives to give the user the ability to upload a file. The file is then stored in SharePoint Online.

There is a size limit, which is currently governed to 10 MB. The only allowed file types currently are Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Adobe PDF, image, video, and audio files.

Net Promoter Score

Microsoft Forms also includes the Net Promoter Score (Figure 10-16) data type. This data type is available by clicking the down arrow when adding a question. This is similar to a Likert data type.

Section

Microsoft Forms also includes the ability to create a section (Figure 10-17) data type. This data type is available by clicking the down arrow when adding a question. This data type when configured will allow the form to be broken up by sections, providing the user with a “Next” button to progress through the form.

Once all the questions have been entered, your form should look like Figure 10-18.

Branching

Microsoft Forms contains a feature called branching. This feature allows you to tailor the questions asked or to end the form based on an answer to a question. This feature can be used in forms, surveys, or quizzes.

In this example, let’s create a new form titled “Company Picnic Survey.” Create the following questions with the following details:

Your finished form should look like Figure 10-19.

Now that the form is created, let’s add branching logic to the form to end the survey for users who answer “Yes” to the first question. By doing so, users will not have to worry about answering the second question, which in this context means nothing to them.

To add branching to the form, click the settings (…) located in the lower-right corner in the question when the form is in edit mode. Clicking the Add branching option reveals the interface in Figure 10-20.

Based on your example, when a user answers Yes to Question 1, you want to skip the next question and end the form for the user. In Question 1 of the form, select “End of the form” from the “Go to” drop-down on the Yes row. The branching logic should now look like Figure 10-21.

Once the logic is added, click the Back button in the interface, and it will reload the form in edit mode. Go ahead and preview the form; if done correctly, Question 2 will be hidden unless you select “No” for the first question.

Creating Your First Quiz

On the Microsoft Forms dashboard, select “New Quiz” from the drop-down menu in the upper-left corner. This creates an empty quiz where you can enter the questions and answers. Start by changing the title of “Untitled Quiz” to “Weekly Quiz” by clicking “Untitled Quiz” and entering the new title.

Add your first question. Click “Add question” and select the choice data type. Use the following data for the question:

If you hover over the answers 3 and 9, three options appear to the right of the answer. See Figure 10-24.

The trash can, message box, and correct answer icons appear. If you click the trash can icon, the answer will be deleted. The next two options separate forms from quizzes. The message box allows the quiz author to display a message when the answer is selected, and the correct answer icon marks the answer correct if chosen. At the end of the quiz, the correct answers are tallied, and a score is displayed.

Mark answers 3 and 9 correct using the correct answer icon when hovering over each value. On answer values 5, 7, and 23, add a message box to each one informing the user that “The answer selected is incorrect.” Add a point value of 10 points in the Points box in the lower-left corner. The question should now look like Figure 10-25.

Add a second choice question by selecting the “Add new” box and choosing the choice data type. Use the following info to build the question:

Click the ellipsis (…) in the lower-right of Question 2. Select the “Math” and “Subtitle” options, and an equation editor will appear where you can enter a math equation in the subtitle box. This formula editor offers a wide range of complex mathematical formulas. Currently you are only able to add mathematical formulas that are visible, but I could see where this could be extended to include chemistry, computer science, or physics formulas. For now, add the square root symbol with a value of 49.

Assign a point value of 10 points to the question and mark the question required. The question should look like Figure 10-26.

The completed quiz should now look like Figure 10-27. Feel free to add more questions.

Select the Preview button and go ahead and complete your first quiz. Once completed, you will see your score, and you can view the responses.

Forms

After creating your first form and distributing it through one of the share methods, it’s time to view the responses to your form. Microsoft has made this process extremely simple and consolidates the responses in an easy-to-read graphical dashboard.

To view the responses to the form, navigate back to Microsoft Forms; if you are in another Microsoft 365 application, use the app launcher. Once in Microsoft Forms, simply select your form from the Forms dashboard (Figure 10-2). When the form opens, select Responses from the top of the form (Figure 10-28).

Click the Responses tab (Figure 10-28) to see the responses displayed in a graphical format; see Figure 10-29. The summary includes the number of responders, the average time to complete the form, and whether the form is active or not. Clicking “View results” shows the individual responses for each submitter. If the form is set for anonymous or you chose not to record the name in the settings of the form, you will not know who filled out the form.

You can also export the results to Excel for further data analysis or if you want to create different charts from the dataset. In most cases, the displayed results are sufficient. Take, for example, Question 2 (Figure 10-30); the data is displayed in an interactive pie chart totaling the sports activities that have been selected. As you hover over each segment of the pie chart, the chart renders the total responses for the answer chosen.

Clicking the ellipsis (…) in the form summary gives you the following options: “Delete all responses,” “Print summary,” and “Get a summary link.”

Quizzes

Quizzes share a lot of the same functionality as forms but offer a few different options. When viewing the responses for a quiz, you can review answers and post scores.

The “Review answers” option is located underneath the responses for the quiz and shows the answers chosen, time to complete the quiz, and the score by quiz taker. You can adjust the point values given. This can be done by editing the “Auto-graded” total. You can also give feedback on a question by selecting the message icon and adding feedback. See Figure 10-31.

Under the Questions tab, the form author can review the questions or print all the answers for each question.

Back on the Responses tab of the quiz, select “Post scores.” Posting scores allows you to view the feedback, if any, and the correct questions. There currently is no portal, so you need to use the same link to view the completed graded quiz. To provide immediate feedback, set the “Option for quiz” to show results automatically. This option is located in the settings menu of the quiz.