How does Microsoft Forms calculate percentages of responses on multiple choice questions

Deb Rowles 20 Reputation points
2026-08-20T09:55:06.15+00:00

I created a survey form. It has 9 possible answers to choose from. Respondents can select up to three. Now that the survey is closed the percentages returned do not correspond to what I expected.

For example, out of 204 respondents 93 respondents selected option 1. That returned a percentage of 23% according to the survey results from Microsoft Forms.

BUT 93 is NOT 23% of 204. That would be 46%.

I am currently having to manually calculate the percentage returns for each of the 9 options. It would help tremendously to know how Microsoft Forms is calculating them.

Microsoft 365 and Office | Microsoft Forms | Other
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Answer accepted by question author
Marcin Policht 107.2K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
2026-08-20T11:03:38.4233333+00:00

Microsoft Forms is not calculating that 23% as 93 ÷ 204. Because your question allows respondents to select up to three answers, Forms is calculating the percentage based on the total number of selections/responses to that question, rather than the total number of respondents.

In your example, there were 204 respondents, but if respondents could select up to three options, there could be considerably more than 204 total selections. If there were approximately 404 total selections, Forms would calculate:

93 ÷ 404 × 100 = 23.0%

That is why the percentages you see do not add up to 100% in the way you expected.

If you want the percentage of respondents who selected each option, your calculation is exactly what you thought it should be:

Percentage = Number of respondents selecting the option ÷ Total respondents × 100

For Option 1:

93 ÷ 204 × 100 = 45.59%

So you would report that as 45.6% (or 46% rounded) of respondents selected Option 1.

The important distinction is "percentage of all selections" versus "percentage of respondents." For a question allowing multiple selections, the Microsoft Forms percentage is based on the former.

If the above response helps answer your question, remember to "Accept Answer" so that others in the community facing similar issues can easily find the solution. Your contribution is highly appreciated.

hth

Marcin

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