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Microsoft Teams has two poll workflows: a quick poll posted directly in a chat or channel, and a scheduled poll prepared for a Teams meeting. The controls are similar, but they are not in the same place.
Use a chat or channel poll when you want people to vote asynchronously. Use a meeting poll when you need to ask a question during a live meeting, quiz attendees, or queue several polls before the meeting begins.
Create a quick poll in a Teams chat or channel
This method uses the Polls app from the message compose box.
- Open the Teams chat or channel where you want to post the poll.
- In the compose box, select Actions and apps (the plus or app-style button near the message field).
- Select Polls.
- If Polls is not shown, select Find more apps. You can also select Apps on the left side of Teams, search for Polls, and add or open the app.
- Enter your question and at least two answer choices. Teams may suggest possible answers; select one of the suggestions or type your own text in the Option fields.
- Select Options if you need to add more choices.
Choose the poll settings
Before publishing, decide how responses should work:
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| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Multiple selections | Allows each respondent to choose more than one answer. |
| Record names of respondents | Associates votes with participants. Microsoft says that, when this is enabled, only the poll creator sees the responses. |
| Share aggregated results with respondents | Lets respondents see combined voting results rather than only submitting their own vote. |
- Select Preview to check the wording and choices.
- Select Edit to make changes, or select Send to publish the poll.
Respondents select an answer on the poll card and then select Submit Vote. The summary on the card updates as votes arrive.
View and manage quick-poll results
- Find the poll card in the chat or channel.
- Select More on the card.
- Open the results or choose the result-management command you need.
The Microsoft Forms Responses Overview page can show the poll status, number of responses, average completion time, availability duration, and totals for each answer. If names were recorded, select More details to view participant names and their answers.
Depending on your permissions and the poll state, the available commands can include:
- Open results in Excel to work with the response data in a spreadsheet.
- Check individual results to inspect responses.
- More options for responses to delete results, print a summary, or share a results link.
To change the underlying form settings, select More on the poll card, choose Back to questions, and then select Settings. Those settings control who can fill out the form, the response types, and response-notification behavior.
Create a poll for a scheduled Teams meeting
Meeting polls are set up in the meeting’s participant chat and can be launched before or during the meeting. On Teams desktop or the web app:
- Open Calendar.
- Open the scheduled meeting.
- Select Chat with participants.
- Select Add a tab.
- Search for and select Polls.
- Select Add, then select Save.
- Open the new Polls tab and select Create New Poll.
You can create one of these poll types:
| Poll type | Use it for | Important detail |
|---|---|---|
| Multiple Choice Poll | Voting on a decision or collecting a preference. | Supports a question or statement with up to 12 answer options. |
| Multiple Choice Quiz | Knowledge checks and training. | Lets you designate one correct answer, or multiple correct answers when Multiple answers is enabled. |
| Word Cloud Poll | Collecting short, open-ended responses. | Displays responses as a word cloud. Microsoft says this feature is rolling out gradually to Microsoft 365 subscribers. |
Complete the question and answer choices for the selected type. You can save a poll without launching it. An unlaunched poll is marked DRAFT in green in the upper-left corner.
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To change the order of several draft polls, click and hold a poll—or tap and hold it on a touch device—and drag it to the required position.
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Launch a meeting poll
You can launch a prepared poll from the meeting’s Polls tab or while the meeting is running:
- Before or during the meeting, open the Polls tab and select Launch on the poll.
- During the meeting, select the Polls icon in the meeting window, find the poll in the Polls pane, and select Launch.
Attendees receive a notification in the middle of the meeting screen. They can also open the poll from the meeting chat, choose an answer, and select Submit. A live poll is marked LIVE in red. After it is closed, its status changes to CLOSED in dark gray.
Close, reopen, export, or delete a meeting poll
Use the drop-down menu beside View results to choose Close poll, Export results, or Delete poll.
To reopen a closed poll, use the drop-down menu beside Export results and select Reopen poll.
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Only meeting owners and presenters can create, edit, manage, and launch meeting polls. Attendees can vote, but they cannot modify the poll.
Use Teams polls on a phone
Quick poll in a chat or channel
- Open the target chat or channel in the Teams mobile app.
- Select Menu (…) below the message box.
- Select the Poll app.
- If the app is not listed, install or add it from Teams desktop or the browser first.
- Enter the question and answer choices, then configure the available settings.
- Set a due date and choose who can see results in Settings, if those controls are available for your poll.
- Select Next to preview the poll, then select Send.
Mobile quick polls support up to 10 answer choices. To check the outcome, open the poll and select View Result. Participation Summary shows participant choices; the adjacent tab lists people who have not voted.
Meeting poll on a phone
A meeting poll must first be initialized from Teams desktop or the web app by adding the poll tab to the meeting. After that:
- Open the meeting chat.
- Open the More tab.
- Select Polls.
- To create one, select Create New, then Create New Poll.
- To launch an existing poll, open the poll from the same meeting-poll area.
Microsoft’s mobile instructions still refer to the meeting tab as Forms, while the current desktop and web procedure calls it Polls. If you cannot find Polls on mobile, add the tab from desktop or the web version first.
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Polls is missing from the compose box
Open Actions and apps and choose Find more apps. If it still does not appear, search for Polls under Apps and add it. Your organization may also restrict which apps users can install.
The meeting Polls tab is missing
Add it from the scheduled meeting: Calendar → meeting → Chat with participants → Add a tab → Polls → Add → Save. The meeting owner or a presenter should perform this setup.
Attendees cannot create or edit a meeting poll
That is expected. Meeting owners and presenters manage meeting polls; attendees can only respond.
An external attendee does not see the poll notification
A forwarded external attendee may not receive the in-meeting notification and cannot create or edit polls. They may still be able to open the poll from meeting Chat while using Teams on the web and signed in.
The old Forms and Polls instructions do not match
Microsoft began gradually replacing the Forms-based polling experience in Teams meetings with the Polls app in August 2024. Existing polls created through the former experience remain available as previous poll cards, and respondents can still answer them. Download their results as a backup before making broader changes.
Poll types are unavailable in a government cloud
Microsoft states that Multiple Choice Poll and Multiple Choice Quiz are not available in GCC High or DoD environments. Available features can also depend on your organization’s Teams and Microsoft 365 policies.
Polls in Teams town halls
For a Teams town hall, add the Polls app before the event starts. Town-hall polls support events with up to 20,000 attendees, and poll data remains accessible for up to 36 hours after the event ends. Word Cloud Polls are not supported in town halls.
Design a poll people can answer quickly
- Ask one question at a time. Combine related questions into separate polls instead of writing a long, ambiguous prompt.
- Make answer choices mutually exclusive unless you deliberately enable multiple selections.
- Include an “Other” choice when the listed answers may not cover every situation.
- Say whether the poll is anonymous. Recording names changes the privacy expectations even if results are only shown in aggregate.
- For meetings, launch the poll at the point where the answer matters. A poll buried in chat is easy to miss during a presentation.
- Export results before deleting a poll or ending an event if the vote will be used as a record of the decision.
Teams’ standard poll workflows are UI-based. There is no normal command-line or chat command syntax for creating these polls.
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FAQ
Can I create a Teams poll without a meeting?
Yes. Open a chat or channel, select Actions and apps in the compose box, choose Polls, enter at least two choices, and send the poll.
How many choices can a Teams mobile poll have?
The mobile quick-poll workflow supports up to 10 answer choices. Meeting multiple-choice polls created through the desktop or web workflow support up to 12 choices.
Can Teams poll respondents choose more than one answer?
Yes. Enable Multiple selections for a quick poll. For a meeting quiz, enable Multiple answers when more than one option should be correct.
Who can launch a poll in a Teams meeting?
Only meeting owners and presenters can create, manage, edit, and launch meeting polls. Attendees can submit responses.
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For a quick poll, enable Record names of respondents before sending it. The creator can then inspect participant names and answers in the response details. If names are not recorded, do not assume the results identify voters.
Why do Microsoft Teams poll instructions mention both Forms and Polls?
Microsoft has been moving Teams meeting polling from the older Forms-based experience to the Polls app. Current desktop and web instructions use Polls, while some mobile instructions still refer to Forms.
The Bottom Line
For a fast vote, use Actions and apps → Polls in the target chat or channel. For a scheduled meeting, add a Polls tab through the meeting participant chat, create the poll, and launch it from the tab or meeting controls. Check privacy, multiple-answer, and result-sharing settings before publishing, because those choices affect what respondents can select and who can see the outcome.
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