Forum Discussion
Is there an API to read Microsoft forms data
Hi GideonHuang,
Thank you for your reply.
In reply to your email/message: “ https://forms.office.com/formapi/api/forms/... are not designed for programmed retrieving data “
An API (Application Programming Interface) from Microsoft is not designed for programmed retrieving data?
Please can you help me understand why a Microsoft link that contains the word API in the URL above, isn’t an API?
It was a working API according to people in this thread - they posted it as a solution.
We programmers want to work with Microsoft to achieve our goals. Sometimes, we don’t understand why Microsoft develops cost effective solutions which work, only to subsequently replace them with either very expensive Microsoft solutions that don’t work well at all, or we have to wait 5 years for the basics. I’m sure the vast majority of developers and engineers at Microsoft are great and really want to develop the best they can.
It’s the erratic management of the Microsoft products, the illogicality and the bugs that really are hard to understand and deal with.
An API that’s now not an API, is a completely new one on me. I can only assume the development on this Forms API has been deliberately stopped by Microsoft to ensure that PowerAutomate is used as a tie-in to extract data?
Thanks for letting us know about forthcoming developments. However, how long will it be before we can interrogate MS Graph? You mention months –this could be 60 months which is 5 years.
Does extracting batches of 100 records every 5 seconds from MS Graph ultimately sound an efficient method for data retrieval compared to your original simple JSON API? Is this scalable as a data pipeline?
I thought I should express my concerns on behalf of organisations who are genuinely confused with Microsoft’s management of this data pipeline.
Assuming I'm utterly misguided - Please can you help suggest a straight-forward and efficient solution to extract Microsoft Forms data automatically via an online call to an API? (A simple method that has a persistent secret tokens so it doesn't require a manual authentication every time?)
Such as:
https://forms.office.com/formapi/api/forms/
So many other non-Microsoft Forms solutions providers have such easy to digest web APIs. I've done it in about 15 minutes with non-Microsoft solutions it's so very very easy!
After hours and hours of investigations and trying, I wonder why automated data extraction from Microsoft Forms is so oddly challenging and requires so much infrastructure and workarounds? Why prohibit easy automated extraction to a data science application?
I'm sure a simple API solution would be very useful for 100% of people who have tried to work this out within this thread who utilise Python, R, Java, MATLAB or C++ for their data science.
Many thanks
Oh_No_Its_Microsoft Hi Dan, let me to introduce the things be clearer. Web requests "https://forms.office.com/formapi/api/forms/..." were designed for Forms Web application, they're not published as APIs for other applications. You can use https://forms.office.com/formapi/api/{tenantid}/users/{userid}/light/forms; https://forms.office.com/formapi/api/{tenantid}/users/{userid}/light/forms(formid)/responses; web requests to retrieve data as Forms web application is doing. But these web requests are not promised not be changed. For APIs published for all developers, they need object model stabling, backward versions compatible, throttled and continues, easily authentication for different applications, administrator/data owner consenting etc. The upcoming Microsoft Graph APIs for Forms are aiming for it. These APIs will make sure integration applications/solutions be stable and effective. These APIs will be published via Microsoft Graph endpoint, and the 1st wave of APIs will be published in 3 months.
- GideonHuangFeb 28, 2025
Microsoft
hi Sveto, the API document will be published in Microsoft Graph overview - Microsoft Graph | Microsoft Learn . cc Ruoying Liang provide the announcement place which will be used when API is ready.
- SvetoFeb 27, 2025Copper Contributor
Hi Gideon, I was wondering how can I get notified about this new API? Or where will the info be published?
- SarWizJan 06, 2025Brass Contributor
Yes I also looked into google forms and I was able to easily get everything I needed from it. Just set up a webhook to post the info to power automate...
- SvetoNov 03, 2024Copper Contributor
GideonHuang Thanks for the info!
- GideonHuangNov 03, 2024
Microsoft
Sveto the Forms Graph APIs is not finally published yet. It will be released in CY25H1 and we will publish the document before the release.
- SvetoOct 31, 2024Copper ContributorHi Gideon, where can I find these Microsoft Graph APIs for Forms?
- Oh_No_Its_MicrosoftJan 08, 2024Brass Contributor
AndreaMXT - I'm no fan of Google, but simply use Google Forms instead of Microsoft Forms. Google Forms have great APIs that connect to the data seamlessly through R and Python. They work well. I was up and running in 15 minutes compared to hours of head scratching with Microsoft Forms. Crucial for your workflow is the ability to pass variables - this is possible using Google Forms unlike Microsoft Forms. You can of course "upgrade" to Microsoft Dynamics Customer Voice but this is stupidly expensive for what you can get for free elsewhere. After my investigations, for robust solutions, Google Forms are simply easier to setup, straightforward to make secure, a doddle to extract data from, flexible and powerful. I can secure personal data with hashes unlike Microsoft Forms. I'm sorry to say I've ditched Microsoft Forms as a solution because they are just management toys in comparison.
Microsoft! Listen to your customers - Microsoft Forms needs to catch-up - it's about 10 years behind the competition.
1. Allow passing of variables into Forms - it's essential for scalability, low admin, robust workflows and security.
2. Develop an API that works like the competition! (eg employ someone to write a decent API so we can extract the data automatically for once! - and I'm not talking about the incredibly slow and low featured "Power"Automate! I'm talking about Python or R interfaces for Data Scientists.
Thank you
- AndreaMXTJan 05, 2024Copper Contributor
GideonHuang Is there an update for this APIs for Microsoft Forms you mentioned here? You said three months, but I haven t seen anything new as for today.
Thank you