File upload in Microsoft Forms is only available when the form is set so that only people in your organization, or specific people in it, can respond. Switch the form to "Anyone can respond" and the Upload file question is off the table, and there is no setting, for you or your admin, that lets people outside your organization upload through a form. Checked against Microsoft's support pages on 29 October 2026.
Why the Upload file option is greyed out
Microsoft's support page puts it in one line: file upload is only available when "Only people in my organization can respond" or "Specific people in my organization can respond" is selected. Uploaded files are written into the form owner's OneDrive for work or school, or a group's SharePoint site, and Forms only lets signed-in people from your own tenant write there. The causes, in the order worth checking:
- You are looking at the question as its author. Microsoft notes that the Upload file button is inactive for the author on purpose; it works for responders and in Preview.
- The form is set to Anyone can respond. The two settings cannot coexist, so choose one: external respondents, or uploads.
- Information barriers are on. File upload questions are not available on personal forms then, but you can still add one to a group form.
- Your SharePoint site moved to a different domain. Existing upload questions stop working and have to be recreated.
- OneDrive or SharePoint sharing is locked down. With "People in your organization" links disabled, or limited-access lockdown mode on, Forms cannot create its upload folder and shows "We weren't able to create an upload file folder in OneDrive for Business." Your admin fixes this.
- The account cannot create the folder. "You do not have access to create this folder or you do not have a valid license" points at the account or its licence, not the form.
Why external users can't upload files to Microsoft Forms
Because the upload question requires the form to be internal, someone outside your organization never gets as far as the question: an internal-only form asks them to sign in with an account from your organization, and theirs is not one. Microsoft documents the restriction but offers no switch to lift it. On its Q&A forum in November 2025, the answer to an admin asking for one was that there is no admin policy or setting for it, and that the limit is there for security.
The usual workaround, and the one suggested in that thread, is to keep the form for the answers and give external people a separate upload link for the files.
Collecting from people outside your organization into Google Drive? One upload link takes their files with no account and no tenant check.
Create an upload linkMicrosoft Forms file upload limits
| Limit | Value |
|---|---|
| Who can upload | People in your organization, or specific people in it, signed in |
| Files per question | Up to 10 |
| Size per file | 10 MB, 100 MB or 1 GB, chosen per question |
| File types | Any, or limited to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF, image, video, audio |
| Personal form storage | OneDrive for work or school: Apps > Microsoft Forms > form name > question |
| Group form storage | The Microsoft 365 group's SharePoint document library |
How to collect files from external users instead
- 01A OneDrive or SharePoint file request. Create Request files on a folder and put the link in the form's description. Anyone with the link can upload without signing in, but your admin has to allow Anyone links, and senders who are not signed in just type a name, which is not verified. How it works in full: OneDrive and SharePoint request files.
- 02A third-party form builder with its own file storage. External people can upload, but the files land in that vendor's storage and you move them to where you work.
- 03An upload link into the storage you actually use. If your files belong in Google Drive, Drive File Request gives senders one page with your questions and an upload button, no account, and saves each file into a folder in your Drive.
Microsoft Forms vs a file request vs an upload link
| Microsoft Forms upload | OneDrive or SharePoint Request files | Drive File Request linkNative | |
|---|---|---|---|
| External senders can upload | No | Yes | Yes |
| Sender signs in | Yes, with an account in your organization | No, types a name | No |
| Questions before the upload | A full form | No, a name only | Name, email, and your own questions |
| Files land in | OneDrive for work or school, or SharePoint | The OneDrive or SharePoint folder you chose | A folder in your Google Drive |
| Size per file | Up to 1 GB | Not set per request | Up to 5 GB |
| Restrict who can send | Your organization | Anyone with the link | Password, or listed emails and domains |
| Needs an admin setting | No | Anyone links and file requests enabled | No |
Google Forms has the mirror image of this problem: anyone can be sent the form, but uploading requires a Google sign-in. That one is covered in Google Forms file upload requires a sign-in and the Google Forms file upload alternative.