Microsoft Forms can remind people who have not responded, but only by hand. About 16 hours after an invited person does not respond, the form owner gets a status email and clicks "Send Reminder". Forms does not send reminders on a schedule.
How Microsoft Forms reminders work
- In the form settings, turn on "Get smart notification emails to track the response status".
- Send the form by email from Forms or Outlook, so Forms knows whom you invited.
- If an invited person does not submit, you get a status email after about 16 hours.
- Click "Send Reminder" in that email.
The limits
- Only for forms sent by email. A form shared as a link has no list of recipients, so there is nobody to remind.
- Manual. Each reminder needs your click. There is no schedule, and no reminder before a due date.
- No list of who is missing. Forms has no view of each person with their status. People compare the responses with their list in Excel.
- Recent change. In June 2025, the one-click "Remind them" button became "Send reminders to boost response", which asks for the emails again.
Automatic options
- Power Automate: a flow can compare the responses with a list and send emails. You build and maintain it yourself.
- Personal links with automatic reminders: AllBack starts from your list of people. Each person gets a personal, prefilled link. AllBack reminds only the people who are not done, on a plan before the due date, and shows who is still missing by name.
To move a form, paste its questions into your AI, or say them, and AllBack builds the same form. Then paste your list. It is free to start: forms and answers are unlimited, and AllBack reminds up to 50 people a month. See AllBack vs Microsoft Forms for the full comparison.
Sources
- Smart notifications: Microsoft Support
- Forms shared as a link: Microsoft Q&A
- The June 2025 change: Microsoft Q&A
- Sending a form: Microsoft Support
More guides
How to send a form to a list of peopleSend a form to a list of people in five minutes. Build it, check the preview, add people, and let AllBack remind the ones who forget.How to prefill a form from a spreadsheetPrefill a form for each person from a spreadsheet. People only confirm or fix what you already know. Step by step, with a CSV file.How to send form reminders only to people who have not answeredRemind only the people who have not answered. When to send reminders, how many, and what to write, with the automatic reminders in AllBack.