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Use Polls in MS Teams

Last updated on November 13, 2026

Polls is a tool in Microsoft Teams that can help you gather instant data and increase student engagement in your virtual class meetings. You can use polls to help gauge students’ background knowledge, check students’ understanding before moving on, gather opinions on a topic, or to allow for students to submit feedback. You can create polls ahead of time or from within the meeting and launch them during your Teams Meeting to get in-the-moment data that you can choose to share with your students.

This tutorial will walk through how to create and launch Polls in Microsoft Teams. You will need to already have a Teams Meeting scheduled to follow the steps in this tutorial. For guidance on scheduling a Teams Meeting, view our tutorial, Start a Meeting with Students in Microsoft Teams.

Directions

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    Create a Poll Before a Teams Meeting

    1. Go to MSU Denver’s Faculty and Staff Hub.
    2. Click Quick Links on the top right of the page.
    3. Click Office 365 (Email and more) from the menu options that appear.
    4. Log in using your MSU Denver Credentials.
    5. Click the More Options Menu (9-dot array) at the top left of the screen.
    6. Select Teams from the drop-down menu.
    7. Click Calendar from the left-hand navigation menu.
    8. Locate the Teams Meeting you wish to create a poll for.
    9. Click the Teams Meeting from the calendar.
    10. Click the Chat button at the top right of the pop-up window, next to Join.
    11. Click the + icon to the right of the meeting tabs at the top of the Chat page.
    12. Enter Polls in the Search for apps text field at the top of the pop-up window.
    13. Click on the Polls icon that appears directly under the search bar.
      • A Polls tab will open to the right of the meeting tabs.

    Create New Poll

    1. Click the Polls tab from the tabs at the top of the Meeting Chat page.
    2. Click + New poll at the top left of the Polls tab.
    3. Select the Question Type you wish to start with for your poll, and follow the steps below to create your question.
      • Multiple Choice: An ungraded survey question with multiple answer choices.
        • Enter the Question in the text field at the top of the pop-up window.
        • Enter the answer choices in the Option fields below the question.
        • Click + Add option to add another answer choice.
        • Click the Multiple selections toggle to turn on the ability to select more than one option.
      • Quiz: A graded Multiple Choice question.
        • Enter the Question in the text field at the top of the pop-up window.
        • Enter the answer choices in the Option fields below the question.
        • Click + Add option to add another answer choice.
        • Click the checkmark to the left of an answer choice to mark the answer as correct.
        • Click the Multiple selections toggle to turn on the ability to select more than one option.
      • Word Cloud: A word cloud built from student answers to an open-ended question.
        • Enter the Question in the text field at the top of the pop-up window.
          • Students should be able to answer the question in 1-2 words for the word cloud to generate correctly.
      • Rating: A 1-5 scale for students to rate something.
        • Enter the Question in the text field at the top of the pop-up window.
        • Select the Levels and Symbol from the drop-down menus under the question.
        • Optionally, enter a label for the lowest and the highest level.
      • Ranking: A drag-and-drop list that students put in order based on a metric.
        • Enter the Question in the text field at the top of the pop-up window.
        • Enter the list items in the Option fields below the question.
        • Click + Add option to add a list item.
        • Click the Shuffle options toggle to have the list items appear in a random order for students.
    4. Click  + Add question at the bottom left of the question to add another question to the poll.
    5. Click the Settings Gear at the bottom left of the pop-up window to adjust your poll settings.
    6. Select the boxes next to the setting options you wish to use for your poll.
      • You can choose to record the names of respondents, share the aggregated results with respondents, or allow co-prenters to edit your poll.
      • Click the X at the top right corner of the settings pop-up menu to close it.
    7. Click Save as draft to save your poll to use during the Teams Meeting.
      • Alternatively, click Launch now to share the poll with your students to complete before the meeting. This will send the poll through the Meeting Chat.

    Launch a Poll during a Teams Meeting

    1. Start your Teams Meeting.
    2. Click the Polls icon from the toolbar at the top of the meeting screen.
      • Note: If the Polls icon is not on the toolbar, click the Apps icon, enter Polls in the search bar, and select the Polls icon when it appears.
    3. Locate the Poll you wish to launch from the list of polls in the right-side panel. It should say Draft in the upper left corner.
      • Alternatively, click + New poll at the top left of the right-side panel and follow the steps in the Create New Poll section above to create a new poll during the meeting.
    4. ClickLaunch in the bottom left corner of the poll to send the poll to all people in the meeting.
      • Note: Depending on the size of your screen, you may need to click the three dots in the bottom left corner, then select Launch.
      • The poll will appear as a pop-up for all members in the meeting, including you. Click Submit at the bottom right of the pop-up window once you have finished answering the Poll questions, or click the X in the top right corner of the pop-up to leave the poll without submitting.
    5. View the Live Poll Results in either the pop-up window after submitting, or in the Polls panel. The number of responses will appear in the bottom left of the Poll.
      • Click the arrows in the bottom right corner of the poll results to switch between questions.
      • Click Done at the bottom right of the pop-up window to close the live results if applicable.
    6. Click the arrow next to Back to question (this may be three dots instead) in the bottom left corner of the poll in the Polls panel.
    7. Select Close Poll to close the poll and prevent more responses.
    8. ClickResponse details in the bottom left corner of the poll in the Polls panel to view a breakdown of responses for each question (you may need to click the arrow or the three dots to view this option).
      • Click the arrows at the bottom right of the pop-up window to switch between questions.
      • Click Export at the bottom right of the pop-up window to download a copy of the results to your computer.
      • Click the X at the top right of the screen to close the Response details.
    9. Click the X in the top right corner of the Polls panel to close Polls.
      • Note: To view the poll after the meeting, click the Meeting from your calendar, then click Chat from the pop-up window. Your poll will be inside the chat thread based on when it was launched.

    For more information, view Microsoft’s support article, Get help with the Polls app for Microsoft Teams.

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