# Where Do Microsoft Forms File Uploads Go?

> Files uploaded to a personal Microsoft form land in your OneDrive; group form uploads go to the team's SharePoint library. Know where to look and who can open them.

- URL: https://www.danielanderson.io/articles/microsoft-forms-file-upload-location/
- Author: Daniel Anderson, Microsoft MVP (https://www.danielanderson.io/)
- Published: 2020-08-10
- Updated: 2026-10-26
- Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlRI-SNV0WA

## Key takeaways

- Files uploaded to a personal Microsoft form are saved in the form owner's OneDrive, under Apps, Microsoft Forms, then a folder for the form and one for each upload question.
- Files uploaded to a group form are saved in the Documents library of the Microsoft 365 group's SharePoint site, in the same Apps, Microsoft Forms folder structure.
- A file upload question only works when the form is set to Only people in my organization can respond or Specific people in my organization can respond, so people outside your organisation can't upload.
- Each upload question takes up to 10 files, with a single file size limit of 10 MB, 100 MB or 1 GB.
- Moving a personal form to a group doesn't move its uploads: you delete and re-create the upload questions, and the files collected before the move stay in the old owner's OneDrive.

Microsoft Forms saves uploaded files in one of two places, depending on who owns the form. A personal form saves them in the form owner's OneDrive, and a group form saves them in the Documents library of the group's SharePoint site, in both cases under **Apps** > **Microsoft Forms** > the form's name > the question.

I recorded the video after someone asked in a Facebook group how to find the files people had uploaded through their form. Forms never asks you where the files should go. The type of form decides, and the folder only appears once you add the upload question.

## What is a Microsoft Forms file upload question?

It's a question type that lets the person filling in your form attach files, like a receipt or a signed document. You add it from **Add new question** > **More question types** > **Upload file**, then set the **File number limit** (up to 10 files per question) and the **Single file size limit** (10 MB, 100 MB or 1 GB). You can also restrict the file type to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF, image, video or audio.

The option only appears when the form is set to **Only people in my organization can respond** or **Specific people in my organization can respond**. With **Anyone can respond** there's no upload question, so a form shared with customers or suppliers outside your organisation can't collect files this way.

## Where do the files go for personal and group forms?

| | Personal form | Group form |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Who owns it | You | A Microsoft 365 group (and its team, if it has one) |
| Where uploads are saved | Your OneDrive, in **Apps** > **Microsoft Forms** > form name > question | The group's SharePoint site, in **Documents** > **Apps** > **Microsoft Forms** > form name > question |
| Who can open the files | You, unless you share them | Everyone with access to the group's site |
| Where the Excel workbook goes | Your OneDrive | The group's SharePoint site |

In my demo, adding an upload question to a Retail group's IT request form created the folder path in that group's Documents library straight away, and the file I submitted through the preview landed in the question folder. For a personal form, Forms tells you it's creating a folder in your OneDrive when you add the question.

Each file also carries the uploader's name. When Megan uploaded a PDF through my personal form, her name was added to the end of the file name, and **Modified By** showed her rather than me.

## Do people need access to the SharePoint site to upload?

No. In the follow-up video I created a group form on a private group site and sent the link to Alex, who couldn't open the site. He uploaded a file and submitted the form, and it landed in the group's library with his name in the file name and in **Created By**.

Video: Testing a group form upload from someone with no access to the group's SharePoint site. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4nF77apkHw

The person filling in the form never sees the library or anyone else's files. The library's settings still matter: required check out, a disabled **New Folder** command or disabled **People in your organization** sharing links all make uploads fail. Microsoft lists each error and its fix in [Resolve file upload errors in Microsoft Forms](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/troubleshoot/microsoft-365-apps/forms/resolve-file-upload-errors-forms).

## How do you move a form to a group?

1. In Microsoft Forms, scroll to the bottom of the page and select **All My Forms**.
2. On the form's tile, select **More options** and then **Move**.
3. Choose the group and select **Move**. The form now shows under **My groups**.

You have to own the form and be a member of the group. Being an owner of the group without being a member isn't enough. Forms creates a new Excel workbook in the group's Documents library and syncs the earlier responses into it the first time you open it from the form's responses page.

Video: Moving a personal form to a group form from the form's More options menu. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QuMcTRBZvc

In my 2020 recording, **Move** sat on the form card's three dots on the Forms home page; it now lives under **All My Forms**.

Uploads don't follow the form. The upload questions keep pointing at the old owner's OneDrive, which gives you "Failed to upload your file". Microsoft's fix is to delete the upload questions and re-create them after the move. New files then go to the group's site, and everything uploaded before the move stays in the old owner's OneDrive.

## Make the form a group form before you add the upload question

I make any form that collects files a group form from the start. The files belong to the process, and a personal OneDrive belongs to one person. When they go on leave, nobody else can open the receipts that came in, and when they leave the organisation, the files sit in a OneDrive on its way to deletion. A group form puts them on the team's site, next to the workbook, where the people handling the requests already have access. [OneDrive or SharePoint: when to use which](https://www.danielanderson.io/articles/onedrive-vs-sharepoint-when-to-use-which/) covers the same rule for files in general.

Access follows the site. Everyone who can open the group's site can open every file uploaded through the form, and Microsoft 365 Copilot can answer from those files for the same people, because it works within their existing permissions. For sensitive uploads, like medical certificates or identity documents, I'd own the form with a small private group rather than the big team everyone's in. [How Teams and SharePoint work together](https://www.danielanderson.io/articles/how-teams-and-sharepoint-work-together/) explains where a team's site permissions come from.

If the file is the whole point of the form, I'd skip Forms. A SharePoint library form saves the file into the library and folder you choose, with the metadata filled in from the form, instead of a nested Apps folder you have to go looking for. I set one up in [letting people upload documents to SharePoint with library forms](https://www.danielanderson.io/articles/sharepoint-forms-document-upload/).

## Frequently asked questions

**Why can't I see the file upload option in Microsoft Forms?**
The form is probably set to Anyone can respond. Change it to Only people in my organization can respond or Specific people in my organization can respond and the Upload file question type becomes available. On a personal form, it's also unavailable when Microsoft Information Barriers are turned on, and Microsoft's workaround is to create a group form instead.

**Why can't I find the Apps folder in my OneDrive?**
If the form is a group form, the files aren't in your OneDrive at all, so look in the Documents library of the group's SharePoint site. For a personal form, the folder sits in the form owner's OneDrive, so it's only in yours if you created the form.

**Can people outside my organisation upload files to a Microsoft form?**
No. File upload questions need the form restricted to people in your organisation, who sign in with their work or school account. For people outside, a OneDrive or SharePoint file request takes files from anyone with the link, without the questions.

**What happens to uploads if my SharePoint site moves to a new domain?**
Existing upload questions stop working after a SharePoint domain move. Re-create them in the new domain so new files go to the right place.