Microsoft Forms responses missing from the Excel sheet

Your answers are still in Microsoft Forms. The Excel link is what broke. On the Responses tab, select More options, then Sync all responses to a new workbook, which opens a new workbook with your most up-to-date responses. If you do not see that option, the form has no live data connection to Excel, or your account is not a work or school account.

Microsoft's support pages describe two main causes: the workbook has no live connection to the form, or the live connection was lost. The sturdier fix is to stop depending on one workbook and send each response into a SharePoint list. Exact names may differ on your screen.

Where Forms really keeps your answers

Microsoft Forms keeps the responses inside the form. The Excel workbook is a second copy that Forms creates for you. Microsoft's page on Forms and Excel workbooks says the workbook is stored in OneDrive or SharePoint Online. A personal form saves its workbook to OneDrive for work or school. A group form saves its workbook to SharePoint Online.

This matters for one reason. If the workbook looks wrong, your data is probably fine. Check the Responses tab in the form first. If the count there is right, you have a workbook problem, not a data problem.

Why rows go missing

Microsoft's support pages name these causes.

The workbook never had a live connection. Microsoft's page "How to get missing data in Forms" says a workbook made with the "Open in Excel" button inside Forms can have no relationship to your form. New answers will not appear in it.
The live connection was lost. The same page says that if the connection is lost, you can still get your latest responses by syncing them to a new workbook.
You have an old button. Microsoft's page "Check and share your form results" says that if you still see the old "Open in Excel" button, the live connection has been disconnected and you need to set up a new one.
You opened a downloaded copy. The same page says "Download a copy" gives you an offline workbook with no connection to the form. It will never update.
The wrong person tried to refresh it. Microsoft says only the form owner and people in your organization with edit permission can trigger the update in Excel. External users cannot.
Someone deleted the answers. The results page has a "Delete all responses" option under "More options for responses". Microsoft's pages do not describe how to bring deleted responses back, so treat that action as final.

Microsoft's pages do not describe what happens when someone deletes, moves or renames the workbook file. If that happened, treat the workbook as broken and use the new workbook fix below.

Diagnosis checklist

Go through these in order. Stop at the first one that explains the problem.

Open the form, select the Responses tab, and read the response count. Write the number down.
Open the workbook and count the rows. If the workbook has fewer rows than the form, the link is the problem.
Look at how you opened the workbook. A file you downloaded is a copy with no connection.
Look at the button on the Responses tab. If it says "Open in Excel" and not "Open results in Excel", the live connection was disconnected.
Ask who made the workbook. If the owner left, or you are not the owner or an editor, you may not be able to refresh it.
Check whether the file is still in the OneDrive or SharePoint folder where it was saved. If it is gone, go to the fix below.

Fix 1. Sync all responses to a new workbook

This is the fix on Microsoft's page "How to get missing data in Forms".

Open your form in Microsoft Forms.
Go to the Responses tab and select "More options".
Select "Sync all responses to a new workbook".
Excel opens a new workbook with your most recent responses. Microsoft says it is saved next to your original workbook, in OneDrive for work or school or in SharePoint Online.

Microsoft says: "This feature is only available for Office 365 Education and Microsoft 365 Apps for business users." You must sign in with your work or school account. So a personal Microsoft account will not show the option. Microsoft also says that if you create a form in Microsoft Forms and select Open in Excel, "Since this form has no live data connection, you won't see the Sync all responses to a new workbook option." On the Responses tab, look for the More options menu. If Sync all responses to a new workbook is not in the list, one of these two cases applies. Check with your admin.

After this, tell everyone to use the new file. Rename the old file so nobody opens it by mistake, for example by adding "OLD" to the start of the name.

Fix 2. Open results in Excel from the results page

Microsoft's page "Check and share your form results" gives these steps.

Open your form and select "View responses", then "Responses Overview".
Select "Open results in Excel". Microsoft says this saves a workbook with a live connection to the form and opens it in Excel for the web. For a group form the workbook is saved in SharePoint.
Or open the drop-down beside it and pick the Excel Desktop option under Open results in Excel. It is the same live workbook, opened in desktop Excel. Microsoft says this needs a recent Current Channel version of Excel (version 2410 or later). Check with your admin if you are not sure which version you have.

Avoid "Download a copy" for anything you need to stay current.

Check your work

Compare the form's response count with the workbook's row count.
Submit one test answer in the form.
Reopen the workbook with "Open results in Excel" and look for the new row. Microsoft says updates appear each time you open the workbook this way.
Mark the test answer clearly, for example type TEST in the first answer, so nobody counts it as real data.

Prevention

Create the form so the workbook has a live connection. Microsoft says forms created from OneDrive for work or school, SharePoint Online, Excel for the web, Microsoft Teams or the Microsoft Forms web part make workbooks with a live data connection.
Pick one owner for each form and one backup person. Write both names on the first sheet of the workbook.
Keep the workbook in its original folder. Do not move it, rename it or download it as your working copy.
Do not type your own formulas or notes into the response sheet. Put them in a second sheet. Microsoft says changes you make in the workbook do not change the form, so the response sheet should stay as Forms wrote it.
Compare counts once a week for any form that matters. It finds a broken link early.

A sturdier option: a SharePoint list

Even a healthy workbook ties your data to one file, one owner and one connection. A SharePoint list does not have those weak points. One way to start is a Power Automate flow that copies each response into a list as a new row. The flow runs on its own, and your team works from the list: sort, filter, assign an owner and set a status.

The full steps are in "Save Microsoft Forms answers to a SharePoint list". This page does not repeat them. Some points to plan for:

Give the list a Title column that holds your best short answer. The Title column is required by default, so rename it or turn off its Require setting.
Add a Status column with numbered choices: 1 New, 2 In progress, 3 Done. Numbers make the choices sort in the right order.
Make the form's choices and the list's choices use the same words, so every row matches a choice in the list.
If you want to see only new rows, build a view where Status is "1 New". Microsoft says filters with [Today] or [Me] need the classic view editor (Edit current view, then Filters). I also use the classic view editor for blank and "is not equal to" filters. Our advice, not a Microsoft rule.
Views are not security. A hidden row or column is still visible to anyone who can open the list.

To bring your existing answers across, use the workbook you have. Microsoft's pages describe "Download a copy" as an offline workbook, and a copy is fine for a one-time move. Then follow "Add Excel rows to a SharePoint list you already have". If you are leaving spreadsheets entirely, see "Replace a spreadsheet tracker with a SharePoint list".

A flow has its own risk: it runs under the account that built it. See "The person who built your flows left: what happens and what to do".

What to avoid

Do not delete the form or its questions to "start fresh". The answers are stored in the form, so deleting them can remove the data you are trying to find.
Do not use "Delete all responses" to fix a sync problem. It removes data and does not repair the link.
Do not edit the response sheet by hand and expect the form to change. It does not.
Do not share a downloaded copy as the "live" file.
Do not let two people each make their own workbook for the same form. You will end up with two versions that disagree. See "Spreadsheet versions out of sync: why it happens and how to fix it".
Do not collect sensitive answers until your admin has said where that data may be stored.

When to get help

You can build all of this yourself in Microsoft 365. If you would rather have it built and tested for your team, I do that. A tracker like this is a fixed price: $5,000 for one, built in 2 weeks. See "What a SharePoint tracker costs to build". Bring one example of the problem to a free call.

Tell me what's still manual

I am Al Davies. I run 250 High Street LLC and build SharePoint trackers and Power Automate flows for operations teams. I work remotely. The first call is free, and I will not try to sell you anything.

See trackers I built: Tools I built

FAQ

Are my Microsoft Forms responses lost if they do not show in Excel?

No, not by default. The responses are stored in the form. The workbook is a copy, so compare the Responses tab count with the workbook rows.

Why is Forms not updating Excel automatically?

Microsoft says a workbook with no live data connection to the form will not get new answers. Open it with Open results in Excel, or sync to a new workbook.

Why is Forms not syncing to Excel?

The live connection may be lost. On the Responses tab, select More options, then Sync all responses to a new workbook.

Why is Forms not showing all responses in Excel?

The workbook may be an old or downloaded copy. Syncing to a new workbook opens one with your most up-to-date responses.

I do not see "Sync all responses to a new workbook". Why?

Microsoft says the option is only for Office 365 Education and Microsoft 365 Apps for business users with a work or school account. Check with your admin.