How to update to the new solution for syncing forms responses to Excel

We’ve fully upgraded Forms’ Excel data sync to the new solution in February 2025, and the old sync solution has now been completely disabled. If some of your forms haven’t updated yet, you can still update them following the process below. Here’s a guide on updating to the new solution, along with answers to some common questions.

What should I do for forms that haven’t been updated to the new solution?

Open the workbook that uses the older syncing solution in Excel for the web, and you will see a pane on the right-side reminding you to update the workbook to continue syncing new responses. Click the "Update sync" button to begin the updating process. Please note that this process is not reversible.

Upgrading to the new Forms data sync via the web

Once the update is complete, a green success bar will appear near the top of the page. The right-side pane will also change to confirm that the update has been successfully completed. And you should see that new responses continue syncing to the same table, appended to your previous responses.

Updated to the new solution

How can I upgrade to the new version of data sync via the Forms website?

Open a form using the older syncing solution, and you’ll see a pop-up reminding you to update your workbook. Simply click the “Open existing Excel workbook” button to open your workbook and initiate the syncing process. 

Upgrading to the new Forms data sync

What should I do if I still see the "Forms is no longer syncing" message?

With the retirement of the old solution, if you still see a "Forms is no longer syncing" message at top your form, you can follow the “Update sync in Excel” hyperlink to update to the new solution in Excel.

Update sync in Excel

Common migration failures and workarounds

What should I do if I see "Owner of the form must migrate the workbook" message?

• For a group form, the person attempting migration must be a member of the group (Guests are not permitted). External users added as guests are also not allowed.
• If the workbook title contains special characters (like #, @, {, }, or %), try renaming it to remove those characters, save the changes, and then attempt the migration again. (Tip: Rename the workbook to something simple, like "Update Workbook," save it, complete the migration, and then rename it as needed afterward.)

Migration is still failing after turning off legacy data sync

• If the migration is still failing after turning off legacy data sync, you can go to the Forms design page, open the responses page, and sync to a new SDX workbook. This will update the sync to the new solution, requiring no further action from you.

Sync all responses to a new workbook

FAQ

Q: What will happen if I don't update to the new solution?
A: The old data sync service has been totally stopped on February 2025. After this point, any new form responses will still be saved in your form, but they will no longer sync to your Excel workbook. As soon as you update your workbook to the new data sync solution, these new responses (and the older ones) will sync to a new sheet in your workbook.

Q: What’s the difference between the old version and new version?
A:

• The new syncing solution is more reliable and has improved performance.
• Currently the new solution has been supported in Excel for the web and in Windows.
• With the new syncing solution, you must open the Excel application either on Web or Windows to receive new responses. Otherwise, they will not sync to the workbook.

Q: Can I receive new responses without opening my workbook? What if I have a Power Automate Flow or a Power BI dashboard dependent on data in the workbook?

A: With the new syncing solution, new form responses will only sync to the workbook when it is opened in Excel for the web or Windows. If you use Power Automate, Power BI, or Power Query to retrieve data from the workbook, it will no longer receive new responses until you manually open it. In this case, we recommend updating your workflow to use the Forms Connector. Check more details in this article: Setting Up an Automated Workflow Between Microsoft Forms and Excel Through Power Automate - Microsoft Support

Q: How do I know if the form is using the older version or the new one?

A: In the new solution, we also updated the Forms webpage UI to open responses in Excel in Forms “responses” tab. You can check more details in this article Check and share your form results - Microsoft Support.

Open responses in Excel button in the old experience

Open responses in Excel button in the new solution – Excel file is not created

Open Excel button in the new solution – Excel file is created

Q: I’m not the form owner, should I do anything?
A: Contact the form owner if you know who that is and ask them to update the workbook. If you don't know who the form owner is, contact your IT admin.

Q: If the upgrade fails, what should I do?
A: If the update fails, then restart the Excel app. You should see the option to try updating the workbook again. We only disconnect the older syncing solution once the new syncing solution has been successfully connected.

Also, from the result page, you can try to “disconnect and sync to a new workbook”.

Disconnect and sync to a new workbook

Q: Could I revert back after the update?
A: No. Once your workbook has been updated to the new syncing solution, it cannot be reverted back to the old syncing solution.

Q: How could I find the forms which need to be updated?
A: You can check the forms or Excel file from Excel for the web which are created before 2024 November and still actively receiving responses. If there are notification shows, please follow the guidance to update.

Q: I have a form which has more than 50K responses, can I use the new data sync for it?
A: The new syncing solution should sync all responses your form has ever received. But if you have over 50,000 responses, then the new syncing solution will only sync the most recent 50,000. In this case, you can copy the missing responses from your original data and paste them into the table in the new sheet in the appropriate place. Please make sure to insert the appropriate number of blank rows before pasting the missing data. The table will continue adding new form responses as they are received.