How do I remove the following sentence from my Microsoft Survey "when you submit this form, it will not automatically collect your details like name and email address unless you provide it yourself"?

Question

How do I remove the following sentence from my Microsoft Survey "when you submit this form, it will not automatically collect your details like name and email address unless you provide it yourself"?

Carrington, Patrick J (PERS) 30

When I send out a Microsoft Survey, the recipients always have the following sentence in their survey: "When you submit this form, it will not automatically collect your details like name and email address unless you provide it yourself." How do I get rid of this sentence?

Little 61 30 Reputation points

2025-07-11T01:27:26.68+00:00

This is such a confusing statement, I wish I could remove it. Many surveys I have open to any to respond, but I have questions such as name and email marked as required. This statement is not needed.
Schlenk, Lauren 20 Reputation points

2025-08-10T00:44:53.0133333+00:00

PLEASE allow this to be edited. We want our survey to be anonymous and we are asking for the user to provide free text feedback. Because our free text feedback SPECIFICALLY says do not provide any personal information, it directly conflicts with the statement "unless you provide it yourself"!
Jennifer Choot 20 Reputation points

2025-08-12T09:25:38.15+00:00

Adding this statement defeats the purpose of anonymous survey -.-
DaveShare 1 Reputation point

2026-05-18T20:48:52.5333333+00:00

The singular-plural mismatch between details and it also increases the confusion: "...will not automatically collect your details...unless you provide it yourself" is a phrase you'd expect to read in a phishing email.

How about rephrasing the note as "Your entries on this form are anonymous. The form does not collect identifying information like your name or email address unless you specifically provide it." ?
John Wood 0 Reputation points

2026-07-30T10:58:19.9833333+00:00

This is just another of the unnecessary design quirks in MS Forms that damages its usability and means we're getting confused and obstructued users and probably worse response rates to any survey. Why is this not removable? It adds confusion whenever I add mandatory contact fields to a form, which is most of the time. And even when it is useful to mention, it looks inelegant and would be much better included in the intro appropriately or styled separately. I'd like to make more use of Forms, but right now for anything important I still need to maintain a Typeform account as well.

9 answers

Your answer

Little 61 30 Reputation points

2025-07-11T01:27:26.68+00:00

This is such a confusing statement, I wish I could remove it. Many surveys I have open to any to respond, but I have questions such as name and email marked as required. This statement is not needed.
Schlenk, Lauren 20 Reputation points

2025-08-10T00:44:53.0133333+00:00

PLEASE allow this to be edited. We want our survey to be anonymous and we are asking for the user to provide free text feedback. Because our free text feedback SPECIFICALLY says do not provide any personal information, it directly conflicts with the statement "unless you provide it yourself"!
Jennifer Choot 20 Reputation points

2025-08-12T09:25:38.15+00:00

Adding this statement defeats the purpose of anonymous survey -.-
DaveShare 1 Reputation point

2026-05-18T20:48:52.5333333+00:00

The singular-plural mismatch between details and it also increases the confusion: "...will not automatically collect your details...unless you provide it yourself" is a phrase you'd expect to read in a phishing email.

How about rephrasing the note as "Your entries on this form are anonymous. The form does not collect identifying information like your name or email address unless you specifically provide it." ?
John Wood 0 Reputation points

2026-07-30T10:58:19.9833333+00:00

This is just another of the unnecessary design quirks in MS Forms that damages its usability and means we're getting confused and obstructued users and probably worse response rates to any survey. Why is this not removable? It adds confusion whenever I add mandatory contact fields to a form, which is most of the time. And even when it is useful to mention, it looks inelegant and would be much better included in the intro appropriately or styled separately. I'd like to make more use of Forms, but right now for anything important I still need to maintain a Typeform account as well.

Answer 1

JCMaedl 35

Having the solution be to make the form internal to the org only is crazy. We want anonymous people to be able to fill in the form. The statement should be "this form will not automatically collect any personal details."

0 comments

Answer 2

ITMIS 0

So , what is the solution?

Ryan Leahy 0 Reputation points

2026-03-26T21:15:35.5833333+00:00

Good question but unfortunately only one Microsoft can answer—the functionality to remove the text simply does not exist in Forms currently & consequently no workaround possible (save for adding your own text to try to explain the situation to users... clunky & probably more likely to just cause even more confusion).

My work is experiencing the same issue with this as everyone who's commented here (i.e. trying to collect form submissions from users outside our company). It'd be nice if Microsoft provided another option to "Allow anyone to respond" that would require a regular Microsoft account login when the form creator wants to collect contact info such as name/email but at the very least they need to either remove the current verbiage altogether or provide better clarification to avoid the current confusion (something like "This is an anonymous form that does not require login in order to submit. Identifiable information such as your name or email address will not be automatically collected/sent unless you provide it in your answers below."). I understand why Microsoft added the text but the way it's currently worded simply isn't helpful for most users & rather defeats the purpose of adding it to begin with.

That all said, I wouldn't hold your breath waiting for Microsoft to provide any resolution to this. Forms isn't a revenue-generating product so there's simply zero initiative from them to dedicate the resources necessary to provide any meaningful improvements or expand its functionality. It's an afterthought of a product to Microsoft & they're just keeping the lights on more or less—at least that's been my experience for all the years I've known Forms FWIW. Heck prior to the Copilot changes in the last 12-18mo I honestly don't think Forms had any real updates for 10-15+ years.

tl;dr if this is a serious issue for your company I'd recommend another (likely paid) solution for your form needs

Answer 3

Grant N 0

I agree with the statement by others....We're trying to use this as a way for staff to submit feedback.

But not all staff have a company account, so we have to choose the "Anonymous" option which adds the confusing "When you submit this form, it will not automatically collect your details like name and email address unless you provide it yourself." statement.

We want people to add their name and contact details, so we can contact them about their feedback.

It would be great if this statement can be optional.

0 comments

Answer 4

Jessica Poe 0

Please take this statement out so that our organization can use this anonymous quiz without confusing everyone that we would like to share the form/quiz with, it is very unncessary!

0 comments

Answer 5

Rich S 15

It seems the issue being conveyed by users in this post is that the statement is not needed when the form is being used internally to those within the organization. It's confusing when it states "unless you provide it yourself" -- given that unless there is a form field where voluntary input is required, there is not a way for a person who is responding to the form (anonymously) to input their information. The point of an anonymous form, in most instances, is to garner open, honest feedback from users. In some cases, I've had an anonymous survey, but offered a open ended text at the end for a user to include their contact information if they wished to be receive direct feedback about their comemnts/query. At the very least, it would be helpful if Microsoft would enable end users who are designing the form to customize this statement or turn off completely, depending on the audience.

Jessica Poe 0 Reputation points

2026-02-26T20:33:24.5766667+00:00

I agree with this, we would like to use the Microsoft forms / quizzes with an external audience, but the fact that it has this unnecessary/confusing statement right at the beginning, which requires a verbal explanation of how it doesn't make sense, will likely mean that we will continue having to use Survey Monkey or Qualtrics for our surveys.