If you’ve been working with SharePoint for any length of time, you know the struggle: users uploading files without filling in metadata, documents scattered everywhere, and that constant battle to maintain any kind of organization. Well, I’ve got some exciting news. Microsoft just started rolling out a feature that we’ve been waiting for (November 2025) —the Forms button for SharePoint document libraries.
This is huge, and I’m going to walk you through exactly how to use it and why it’s going to transform the way you manage files in SharePoint.
What Is the Forms Button?
You’ll see the Forms button right at the top of your document libraries in SharePoint. It works similarly to the forms feature that’s been available on SharePoint lists for several months, but with one critical superpower: it lets users upload files while forcing them to fill out all the required metadata.
This feature actually forces users to complete metadata before they can submit a file! No more missing metadata notifications. No more incomplete information. This alone makes it worth celebrating.
Creating Your First Form
Here’s how to get started:
Starting from the Library Level
1. Click the Forms button at the top of your document library
2. Click Create new form.
3. When you start from the library level, SharePoint will prompt you to create a folder (every form must be associated with a folder).
4. Choose a folder color and give it a name—something like “Drop Files for Approval” or “Marketing Policies”.
5. Customize your form by showing or hiding fields.
6. Upload a logo if you want to make it visually appealing.
7. Configure which fields are required (any field with a red asterisk will be mandatory)
Important Limitation to Know
Each form submission allows users to upload only one file at a time. If they need to upload multiple files, they’ll need to submit the form multiple times. This is actually a feature, not a bug—it ensures that each file gets its own proper metadata.
Creating Forms on Existing Folders
What if you already have a folder structure in place? No problem. Here’s what you do:
1. Navigate to the existing folder in your library
2. Click the three dots (ellipsis) on the folder or right click.
3. Select Forms
4. Click Create new form
This lets you create forms for folders that were already there, without having to create new ones. You can even have multiple forms for the same folder.
Advanced Features That Make Forms on SharePoint Libraries Powerful
File Type Restrictions
This is something you can’t even do out-of-the-box in a regular SharePoint library. With forms, you can:
- Restrict uploads to specific file types
- Set maximum file size limits
- Enforce these rules at the form level
When a user tries to upload the wrong file type, they’ll get a clear message: “File format is not supported. Upload only Word and PDF files.” (for example)
Branching Logic
Just like with list forms, you can implement branching logic. This means if users select one option in a choice field, you can show them additional questions based on that selection. I covered this in detail in a previous blog post: Building Branching Logic in List Forms, and it works beautifully there too.
Working with Subfolders
You can absolutely create forms for subfolders. Here’s how the hierarchy works:
- When you’re at the top library level and click Forms, you’ll see all forms across all folders.
- When you navigate into a specific folder and click Forms, you’ll only see forms associated with that folder and its subfolders.
- You can create multiple forms for the same folder, each potentially with different field configurations or file type restrictions.
The Real Game-Changer: Permission Control
Here’s where this gets really exciting. You can share the form link with internal users without giving them access to the library itself.
Think about that for a moment. Your users get a clean form to fill out. They upload their file with all the proper metadata. The file lands exactly where you want it. And they never see the library structure, can’t poke around in other folders, and can’t drag-and-drop files wherever they want.
This is massive for organizations that need tight control over document management while still making it easy for users to submit files.
How to Share Forms with Users
Each form generates a unique link that you can share. Here’s a smart way to organize this:
- Create a SharePoint page (like a “Submit Documents” page)
- Add a Quick Links web part
- For each form, add the link using the “From a link” option
- Give each link a descriptive name like “Upload Marketing Files” or “Submit HR Documents”
- Publish the page and add it to your site navigation
Users simply click the link, fill out the form, upload their file, and submit. They don’t need to understand your folder structure or navigate the library at all.
Forms in Microsoft Teams
Since each Teams channel creates a folder in your SharePoint library, you can create forms for those channel folders too. The Forms button is available directly in Teams, and any files submitted through the form will land in that channel’s folder.
This creates a seamless experience for Teams users who need to submit documents to specific channels with proper metadata.
What Doesn’t Work (Yet)
I’m all about transparency, so let me tell you what I’ve tested that doesn’t work:
Document Sets
I tried creating forms for document sets, and it doesn’t work. I can see why—document sets automatically apply metadata to files, and forms have users fill out metadata for each file. These two approaches conflict with each other.
Moving or Renaming Folders
This is important: don’t rename folders after you’ve created forms for them. The form is tied directly to the folder name. If you rename the folder, the form link breaks and becomes a 404 error.
I also tested moving folders. When you move a folder to a different library, the form doesn’t move with it. The old form link still exists but points to a non-existent location. Interestingly, if you create a new folder with the exact same name as the old one, the form starts working again.
Making Different Fields Required on Different Forms
You can hide different fields on different forms in the same library, but if you make a field required on any form, it becomes required across the entire library. So you can’t have one form require Field A and another form require Field B in the same library.
Permissions and External Users for Forms on SharePoint Libraries
These forms are only available to internal users—people within your Microsoft 365 tenant. External users cannot access these forms, even if you share the link with them.
This is different from Microsoft Forms, where you have more control over external access. However, even with Microsoft Forms, if you’re accepting file uploads, users need to be authenticated anyway. The main difference and benefit to Microsoft Forms (over these new forms), is that they can accept multiple attachments.
The trade-off is worth it: you get tighter integration with SharePoint, automatic metadata capture, and direct file placement in your library structure. No need for Power Automate or anything complex.
Best Practices and Use Cases
Here are some scenarios ideas, to use Forms on SharePoint Libraries:
Invoice Submissions: Create a form that only accepts PDF files under 5MB, requires vendor name and due date, and drops everything into an Invoices folder that your finance team can process.
HR Document Collection: Set up forms for different document types (W-4s, I-9s, performance reviews) with appropriate metadata fields, without giving employees access to browse the entire HR file structure.
Marketing Asset Submissions: Have different forms for different file types—one for PowerPoints, one for Word documents, one for images—each going into the appropriate folder with the right metadata attached.
Department-Specific Uploads: If you have multiple departments sharing a library, create separate forms for each department that guide users to submit files to their designated folders with department-specific metadata. You could even use this in conjunction with SharePoint’s Default column values feature, so that if you had a structure with a folder for each Department, and also a column for Department, you could set the Department column to automatically have the name of that department in the metadata, so that you wouldn’t have to ask that as a question in the form.
Wrapping Up
This Forms button feature is something we’ve been waiting for! The ability to use Forms on SharePoint libraries to force metadata completion, restrict file types, control file placement, and do all of this without giving users access to the underlying library structure is transformative.
Yes, it’s limited to one file per submission. It only works for internal users. Yes, you need to be careful about renaming or moving folders. But even with these limitations, this feature solves so many real-world problems that SharePoint administrators and power users face every single day.
If you’re responsible for managing SharePoint libraries in your organization, start experimenting with this feature now. Create a test library, set up a few forms, and see how it might streamline your document collection processes.
The forms are easy to create, easy to share, and most importantly, easy for end users to fill out. That’s the trifecta we’ve all been looking for. Here is the associated video:
Need More Help?
We cover features like this every week on Power Hour, our live training show for Microsoft 365 business users and power users. We meet Wednesdays at 11 Central to explore SharePoint, Power Apps, Power Automate, and other business user tools in the Microsoft 365 ecosystem.