--- title: "Archive form submissions as OneDrive text files" description: "Write every inquiry to its own dated text file in OneDrive, so there is a second copy of the response that searches and backs up like any other file." url: "https://www.formformform.com/automations/onedrive-inquiry-text-archive" type: static generatedAt: "2026-08-23T18:56:58.727Z" --- ![OneDrive logo](/logos/integrations/onedrive.ico) # Keep a text-file archive of every business inquiry Every inquiry is written to a dated text file in OneDrive, giving you a searchable second copy of the response. When this happens New submission on any contact or request form Do this Create a new text file in OneDrive containing the full response — name, email, message and timestamp One-directional. A submission triggers the action — nothing is written back into your form. A form's own response list is the working record. An archive is the second copy — the one that still opens when an account is being migrated, a subscription lapses, or the person who owned the form has left. Operations and finance teams tend to set this up, usually after a handover went badly. Plain text has no format to go stale, OneDrive search reads the contents of a .txt file, and the folder gets backed up like anything else on the drive. The responses view stays the working record. ## Setting it up 1. 1 Publish the Business Inquiry Form template, or point the Zap at whichever inquiry form is already live on your site — the archive works the same either way. 2. 2 Create a Zap in Zapier using formformform's New Submission trigger and select that form. 3. 3 Add OneDrive as the action app, choose Create New Text File, and connect the Microsoft account whose drive is already covered by your backups. 4. 4 Set a dated folder path such as /Archive/Inquiries/2026-08, so a year of files never sits in one flat list and a finished month can be zipped off on its own. 5. 5 Start the file name with the Zapier submission timestamp and follow it with Company Name, so the folder sorts chronologically and still reads at a glance. 6. 6 Write the body as one labelled line per answer with Tell Us More last, and repeat the timestamp inside the file — a copied file keeps its contents but not always its metadata. 7. 7 Submit a test inquiry, open the file in OneDrive, and check that accented characters and line breaks survived before switching the Zap on. ## What maps where Using the [Business Inquiry Form](https://www.formformform.com/templates/business-inquiry-form) as the starting point. These are its real fields — swap in your own and the mapping works the same way. Form field OneDrive Company Name File name, after the submission timestamp Type of Inquiry First line of the body, and the phrase OneDrive search usually matches on Work Email Labelled line in the file body Industry Labelled line in the file body Timeline Labelled line, so an urgent inquiry is visible on the first screen Tell Us More Final block, below the details, being the one answer with no predictable length ## Variations worth knowing Split the archive by inquiry type Zapier paths on Type of Inquiry can send partnership approaches to /Archive/Partnerships and support questions to /Archive/Support. Worth adding once a single folder has grown large enough that opening it in the OneDrive web view has become noticeably slow. Add an index alongside the files Pair the OneDrive step with an Excel action that writes one row per submission: date, Company Name, Type of Inquiry, file name. The text files hold the detail and the sheet gives you something to sort and filter without opening any of them. ## If something isn't arriving The files open in the wrong application, or have no extension at all. Write .txt into the file name in the Zapier step rather than relying on the action to append it. OneDrive keeps whatever name it is given, and a file without an extension will not preview in the browser. The archive stopped filling and nobody noticed for a month. Zapier switches a Zap off after repeated errors, and a folder renamed or moved in OneDrive is the usual cause. Keep the archive path stable, and put a monthly reminder on someone to open the current folder and check the count. ## Frequently asked questions Is a folder of text files a real backup of my responses? It is a second copy, which covers most of what people mean. It will not restore a form, its logic or its settings — only the answers. Keep the responses view as the working record and treat the OneDrive folder as the copy that survives a migration. Can several forms archive into the same OneDrive folder? Yes. Build one Zap per form, point each OneDrive step at the same path, and put the form name at the front of the file name so the folder still reads clearly. Splitting by subfolder works too if the volumes are very different. If I edit the text file, does the submission change? No. The file is a copy, not a live view. Editing or deleting it in OneDrive leaves the original response untouched in formformform, and changing the response later will not rewrite the file. Treat each file as a snapshot taken at submission. ## Related automations - [Create a project folder when a client signs on](https://www.formformform.com/automations/onedrive-client-workspace-folders) Each new engagement gets a named OneDrive folder, the standard subfolders, and the scope written in before the kickoff call. - [File each bug report where support can find it](https://www.formformform.com/automations/onedrive-bug-report-evidence-files) Each bug report becomes a file in a OneDrive support folder, ordered by severity and carrying the screenshot link. - [File every completed waiver in one audit folder](https://www.formformform.com/automations/onedrive-waiver-record-filing) Each completed waiver lands as a dated record in a restricted OneDrive folder, ready for the day someone asks for it. - [File every contest entry for the judging panel](https://www.formformform.com/automations/onedrive-contest-entry-records) Each entry becomes a file in its category folder in OneDrive, so the judging panel opens a sorted set rather than an inbox. - [Save every job application to a hiring folder](https://www.formformform.com/automations/onedrive-candidate-application-files) Every application becomes a candidate file in a shared OneDrive folder, named by role and ready for the hiring panel. - [Append every support request to a running log](https://www.formformform.com/automations/dropbox-support-request-log) Every help desk submission appends a line to one shared Dropbox text file, so the team reads the day's requests in order. - [All OneDrive integration details →](https://www.formformform.com/integrations/onedrive) - [Start from the Business Inquiry Form →](https://www.formformform.com/templates/business-inquiry-form) - [Browse every automation →](https://www.formformform.com/automations) ## Build the form first The automation needs somewhere to fire from. Publish a form, connect it once, and every submission from then on runs this flow. [Start free](https://app.formformform.com/register?utm_source=landing&utm_medium=bottom&utm_campaign=automations&utm_content=onedrive-inquiry-text-archive)