Whether you are a student or run your business independently, at some point you may need to collect data. For that, you should look into using online tools to create Surveys or Surveys as the best alternatives. Today, surveys no longer need to be taken on physical paper or manually edited, as there are few tools that can do this. One of these tools would be Microsoft Outlook.
With the voting buttons in Microsoft Outlook, users can create a poll. When this poll is submitted, recipients can click the buttons to vote. Of course, the recipients of the survey must be using Microsoft Outlook. Here’s how it works:
Adding Voting Buttons to Outlook Mail
Voting buttons in Microsoft Outlook make it easy to create polls. Users can choose to use default voting button names or create custom names.
Using Default Button Names to Create Polls
Microsoft Outlook comes with three types of default voting button names. These default buttons are available when a survey requires a simple Yes or No response or an Accept or Decline response. Here’s how to create a poll using these default button names:
Stage 1: Start Microsoft Outlook on our computer by clicking the start button and typing Outlook in the search box.
Step 2: To draft your survey question, click Home and then select New Email.
Stage 3: Click Options in the new message window.
Step 4: Select Use Vote Buttons.
Step 5: From the options listed, you can choose from the following to use the default button names:
- To approve; Reject.
- Yup; Number.
- Yup; Number; Maybe.
Step 6: Once you’re done choosing your voting button and preparing the poll question, enter the recipients’ address and click Submit.
Note: Recipients of an email with a vote button will see it in the message bar ‘This message contains voting buttons. Click here to vote.’
Creating Custom Button Names for a Survey
If you want to use a wider variety of button names in your survey, Microsoft Outlook offers a more flexible option. Here’s how to create custom button names for your survey:
Stage 1: Start Microsoft Outlook on our computer by clicking the start button and typing Outlook in the search box.
Step 2: To draft your survey question, click Home and then select New Email.
Stage 3: Click Options in the new message window.
Step 4: Select Use Vote Buttons.
Step 5: From the options listed, choose Custom to launch the Properties dialog.
Step 6: Under the group called Voting and Tracking options, select the Use Vote Buttons check box.
Step 7: Delete the default button names next to the Use Voting Buttons field and enter your preferred names.
Note: When typing in your custom button names, be sure to separate each different name with a semicolon (;).
Step 8: Click Close to close the Properties dialog.
Step 9: Compose and send your email in the message box.
Monitoring and Exporting Survey Results
After submitting the survey, you are required to receive a response. If you have multiple recipients, you don’t need to wait for their individual mail to see their reply. Microsoft Outlook provides a watch button that helps save votes.
The tracker can also be exported or printed to a data analysis tool. Here’s how to do it.
Stage 1: Select the Sent Items box in Outlook.
Step 2: Select the original message containing the voting buttons.
Stage 3: Open this message and go to the Message tab.
Step 4: Click Follow Up in the Show group to see the people who responded and their Replies.
Note: The Follow option will not appear until someone responds with a vote.
Step 5: Select voting answers by pressing the CTRL + A shortcut. Copy them using the CTRL + C shortcut and paste them into any data analysis tool to analyze the results.
Best Apps for Creating Surveys on iOS and Android
Creating a poll in Microsoft Outlook using the voting buttons is pretty simple. However, this method has a downside because only one survey can be used per email. Therefore, if you want to send a few questions, you may need to send several emails.
If you want to create more diverse surveys outside of Microsoft Outlook, you may want to consider using other third-party apps on iOS and Android devices.
