SharePoint document libraries have a Forms button that turns the library’s columns into an upload form. You send someone the link, they pick a file and fill in the fields, and the document lands in the library with its metadata already set, without them ever opening the site.
The catch is who “someone” can be. Library forms are for people in your organisation: respondents sign in with their work account, and external and guest submissions aren’t supported. Forms rolled out to all tenants between late November 2025 and early January 2026, and they’re on by default with no admin setup.
Why use a form instead of giving people access?
Think about vendor documents, permit applications, timesheets or any submission where lots of people send you files and only a few people manage them. Without a form you either give everyone edit rights to the library or collect files by email and upload them yourself, typing in the metadata as you go.
A form gets around both. Submitters see only the form, never the library or anyone else’s submissions, and they can’t open their own submission afterwards unless they already have access.
How to set up a library form
I built mine on a Permits and Approvals library that already had columns for owner, project name, document status, permit type, who the permit was issued to and an expiry date.
- In the library, choose Forms in the command bar, then create a new form.
- Give it a name and a colour. This creates a folder in the library, and every file submitted through the form goes into that folder. You can also start from an existing folder’s menu.
- The form picks up every column on the library. Hide the ones the submitter shouldn’t fill in. I hid Project name, because that column has a default value and the form doesn’t need to ask.
- On the file upload field, restrict the file types if you want to, and set a maximum file size.
- Add a title, a theme (there are four built in, or you can set your own colour) and a logo if you like.
- Use Preview to see what the submitter sees, then Send form and copy the link.
In my demo, the settings also let me turn on a notification for new submissions, stop accepting responses, and set a start and end date for when the form is open.
Branching works on choice columns. I set the “Issued to” question so that choosing Titan Steelworks showed the document type question next, and choosing Green Core Civil skipped to the end. In preview, each path did what I’d set.
Then I opened the link as Frankie, a test user in my tenant, uploaded a document and filled in the owner, status, permit type, issued to, expiry date and document type. Back in the library, the file was in the form’s folder with every one of those columns filled in.
Let the form enforce your metadata
On a form, a required field has to be filled in before the file can be submitted, so the metadata comes from the person sending the file, at the point they know it best, and nobody has to chase it up later.
Before you build a form, look at the columns it will inherit. If they’re vague, duplicated or full of free text that should be a choice, fix the library first, because the form will copy whatever is there. The Copilot-ready library checklist is the list I use for that review, and SharePoint folders vs metadata covers why the columns matter more than the folder each form creates.
I’d also use default column values for anything the submitter shouldn’t decide, like the project name on my permits library, and hide those fields. To know when files arrive, turn on the form’s notification or add a rule to the library. SharePoint rules and the end of classic alerts covers the rules side.
What are the limits?
- Internal only. Respondents need a work account in your tenant. If you need uploads from suppliers or customers outside the organisation, use a file request (below).
- Sharing settings apply. If links shared with people in your organisation are turned off for a site or library, Forms isn’t available there.
- One file per submission. Someone with three documents submits the form three times.
- Files go to the form’s folder. Submissions can’t go to the root of the library.
- Folder changes affect the link. Renaming or moving the folder a form belongs to can break the form’s link, so name the folder properly when you create the form.
- Hiding the button. Forms are on by default. To hide the button in specific libraries, use command bar customisation in JSON formatting.
What about people outside your organisation?
Use a file request instead. In OneDrive or SharePoint, select a folder and choose Request files, and you get a link anyone can use to upload. Uploaders can’t see what’s in the folder, and you get an email when files arrive. You don’t get metadata, though: people who aren’t signed in just type a first and last name, which isn’t verified, and it’s added to the file name. An administrator also has to have file requests turned on. Microsoft’s guide to creating a file request has the steps.
Frequently asked questions
Can external users or guests submit a SharePoint library form? No, even if you send them the link. For outside uploads, a file request works, but uploaders who aren’t signed in only type a first and last name, which isn’t verified and ends up in the file name.
Who can create a form on a document library? Library owners and anyone with edit permissions on the library. The Forms button sits in the command bar of the library and of individual folders.
Do library forms work with document sets? No. Document sets apply their own metadata to the items inside them, which clashes with metadata entered on a form, so build forms on regular folders.
