How to Create a Poll in Microsoft Teams

To create a poll in Microsoft Teams, open a chat or channel, choose Polls from the message composer’s apps menu, enter your question and choices, then preview and send it. For scheduled meetings, add the Polls app to the meeting chat and prepare a poll to launch when needed.

Before you start

These instructions cover Teams for work or school with the relevant apps enabled. Microsoft lists polls among discontinued features in Teams for personal use, so do not assume the same feature is available in a personal account.

Polls is powered by Microsoft Forms. Older tutorials may show Forms for meeting polling; current instructions use Polls. See Microsoft’s Polls app guide. The illustrations below show example interfaces; layouts can vary by Teams version.

Create a poll in a Teams chat or channel

1. Open Polls. In your chat or channel composer, select Actions and apps, then Polls. If missing, choose Find more apps or search under Apps.

   

2. Enter the question. Add at least two answer choices. Use Options to add more.

   

3. Choose response settings. Enable Multiple selections if appropriate. Decide whether to Record names of respondents and Share aggregated results with respondents.

   

4. Preview and publish. Select Preview, use Edit for corrections, then select Send.

   

People choose an answer and select Submit Vote. The response summary updates as votes arrive. See Microsoft’s chat and channel polling instructions.

Create and launch a poll in a Teams meeting

Use the organizer or presenter role for this prepared-poll workflow. For a workshop, draft the question beforehand so you can launch it without interrupting the discussion.

1. Add the meeting app. Open Calendar, select your scheduled meeting, and choose Chat with participants. Select Add a tab, search for Polls, choose Add, then Save.
2. Prepare a question. In the Polls tab, select Create New Poll. Choose an available question type, enter the content, review response settings, and select Save as draft.

   

3. Launch when ready. Select Launch from the Polls tab or the meeting’s Polls pane. Attendees can answer through the meeting notification or chat; notification availability can vary for guests.

   

4. Finish voting. Use the menu beside View results to choose Close poll or Export results. Closed polls can be reopened from the available poll menu.

   

Meeting polls can be launched before, during, or after the meeting. Available question types include multiple choice, quizzes, ratings, ranking, and word clouds, with restrictions in some government environments. Consult Microsoft’s meeting polling guide for availability.

Review results and protect respondent information

For a chat or channel poll, select More on its card to open the results in Forms. In Forms, use the response overview to review answers and open results in Excel for analysis. Anonymous responses do not display names or email addresses.

Be careful with summary links: anyone who obtains one can view its response summary. Share only with the intended audience, and remove an existing summary link if access should end. See Microsoft’s results and sharing guidance.

Need a longer survey or a response deadline?

Use a Forms tab for a fuller survey. In the channel, select Add a tab > Forms. Create a shared form, or add an existing form and choose Collect responses for participants. Choose Collaborate only when teammates should help edit the form. Review Microsoft’s Forms tab instructions for setup details.

You can limit response collection. In Microsoft Forms settings, use Start date and End date to define an opening and closing time, or clear Accept responses to stop submissions. A response window is different from a timer that limits how long each person has to complete a form.

Why is Polls missing or unavailable?

• App access: your organization controls which apps you can install and use. A locked app requires administrator approval; ask IT to check Teams app permissions.
• Meeting role: ask the organizer to check your presenter role if you need to prepare or manage meeting polls.
• External participants: Microsoft documents limitations for Forms polls in private external chats. Do not assume a poll that works internally will work in every guest or cross-organization conversation.