Share via

Preventing participants from sharing a prize link in Forms?

Mary-3994 20 Reputation points
2026-03-06T04:18:14.0366667+00:00

I created a survey where participants can click on a link that redirects them to a second Form if they want to enter the prize draw. I’m noticing more responses for the prize link Form than the survey, so I’m assuming participants are sharing the link or entering more than once. Because the survey is supposed to be anonymous and doesn’t include identifiers, I can’t cross check it with the information participants are providing for the prize draw to see who actually completed the survey and who didn’t?

Is there any way to mitigate this?

Microsoft 365 and Office | Microsoft Forms | For education
0 comments

2 answers

Sort by: Most helpful
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Vivian-HT 16,345 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator
    2026-03-06T05:02:05.5133333+00:00

    Dear @Mani,

    Thank you for posting your question in the Microsoft Q&A forum.

    I completely understand why this is concerning. You’ve designed the survey to be anonymous for good reasons, but that same anonymity makes it very hard to verify whether prize entries came from people who actually completed the survey. ​‌

    At the moment, Microsoft Forms doesn’t provide a built‑in way to “lock” a second form so only people who completed the anonymous survey can access it. If the prize draw form link is visible or shareable, respondents can forward it and others can submit it without ever completing the survey. If both forms are shared via public links and the survey is anonymous, the prize‑draw link can be shared and used by others, and there’s no supported way to cross‑check entries afterward.

    In this case, your use case is absolutely valid, and it’s one that many customers raise, particularly for research surveys, feedback programs, and prize draws where anonymity must be preserved. Microsoft does rely heavily on customer input to prioritize improvements to Forms, and feedback like this genuinely helps shape future enhancements.

    I highly recommend submitting your feedback directly to Microsoft Ideas · Community, where our product development team can know your requirements and ideas for product improvements. If enough users raise ticket for the same idea, Microsoft may consider adding this feature in the future. 

    Note: As Microsoft Community moderators, please note that we are not involved in product design decisions and do not have direct access to the development roadmap, we want to assure you that your feedback has been acknowledged and is valued.  

    I hope this information is helpful. If you have any other questions please feel free to reach out

    Thank you for your patience and understanding. I'm looking forward for your reply.

    If the answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and kindly upvote it. If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment".   

    Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments

  2. AI answer

    2026-03-06T04:18:22.05+00:00

    Microsoft Forms cannot fully prevent participants from sharing a prize-draw form link or submitting multiple entries when responses are anonymous and the form is open to anyone.

    Available mitigations within Forms are limited:

    1. Allow only people in the organization
      • If the scenario allows restricting to an organization or school, configure the form so that only people in that tenant can respond and require sign-in. This ties responses to accounts and makes multiple submissions harder, but it removes full anonymity.
    2. Collect identifiers explicitly
      • To verify eligibility for the prize draw, add required fields (for example, name or email) to the main survey form itself and state that only those who complete the survey are eligible. This breaks strict anonymity but allows cross-checking against the prize-draw form.
    3. Separate internal vs external scenarios
      • For internal events or feedback, configure participation so that only people in the organization can respond and optionally disable anonymous responses. For external audiences, accept that links can be shared and treat the prize draw as lower-assurance.
    4. Design the process outside Forms
      • Instead of linking directly to a second prize-draw form, export survey results and manage the prize draw manually (for example, randomly select from valid survey responses) without exposing a public prize-entry link.

    Forms does not provide a built-in way to cryptographically bind completion of one anonymous form to access to another, nor to block link forwarding.

    References:

    AI-generated content may be incorrect. Read our transparency notes for more information.

    Was this answer helpful?

Your answer

Answers can be marked as 'Accepted' by the question author and 'Recommended' by moderators, which helps users know the answer solved the author's problem.