Draft a whole survey from a plain-English prompt

Step 1: Describe the survey's purpose and audienceForms

State what decision this survey is meant to inform — that shapes which questions actually matter.

Step 2: Ask Copilot to draft itCopilotForms

Ask specifically for branching logic where it makes sense, so respondents aren't answering irrelevant follow-ups.

Prompt idea:

Draft a post-event feedback survey for a 1-day internal training. Include branching logic so anyone who rates the event below 3 stars gets an open-text follow-up asking what to improve.

Step 3: Trim for lengthForms

Go question by question and ask "would a different answer here actually change what I do next?" — if not, delete it. A drafted survey routinely comes back longer than needed, and every extra question past what respondents expect lowers completion rates on the ones that actually matter.

Step 4: Test the branching logic before sendingForms

Walk through the survey yourself, choosing different answers, to confirm the branches actually trigger correctly.

Check the work

• Walk through the survey with a few different response paths to confirm branching logic works as intended.
• Cut any question that doesn't map back to a decision you'll actually make with the answer.
• Check question wording for leading or biased phrasing before publishing.

Source: Office Watch, "Microsoft Forms: Old and New Tools to Draft and Fix Your Surveys" (2026)