A Complete Guide to Using Ninja Forms in WordPress

Are you looking for a flexible and beginner-friendly form builder for your WordPress website?

Ninja Forms is a powerful drag-and-drop form builder that allows you to create contact forms, registration forms, surveys, and more without writing code. It offers ready-made templates, customizable form settings, built-in submission management, and expandable features through add-ons.

Whether you need a simple contact form or a more advanced multi-step form with email workflows and redirects, Ninja Forms provides the tools to build and manage forms efficiently.

In this guide, we’ll walk through:

• Creating forms using templates
• Configuring form settings
• Managing and exporting submissions
• Importing and exporting forms
• Exploring Ninja Forms Pro features

Let’s get started.

What is Ninja Forms?

Ninja Forms is a popular WordPress form builder that lets users to create fully functional forms using a drag-and-drop interface. It is designed to be easy for beginners while still offering advanced features for developers and businesses.

With Ninja Forms, you can build:

• Contact forms
• Feedback forms
• Registration forms
• Survey forms
• Lead generation forms

The plugin provides a visual form builder where you can add, arrange, and customize fields without writing code. It also includes built-in submission handling, email notifications, and form actions that define what happens after a user submits a form.

Now, let’s move on to creating your first form using Ninja Forms.

Steps to Create a Form Using Ninja Form

Creating a form with Ninja Forms is simple using its visual drag-and-drop builder and ready-made templates.

Step 1: Install & Activate Ninja Form

• Go to WordPress Dashboard → Plugins → Add New
• Search for Ninja Form
• Click Install Now, then Activate

Once activated, you’ll see a new Ninja Form menu added to your WordPress dashboard.

Step 2: Navigate to Add New Form

• Click on Ninja Forms → Add New, and you’ll be taken to the form template selection screen.

Ninja Forms provides several built-in templates to help you get started quickly, such as Contact, Request a Quote, Registration Form, and more.

Templates save time by preloading commonly used fields and basic settings. If you prefer full control, you can choose the Blank Form option and build your form from scratch.

Step 3: Customize the Form

Once inside the form builder, you can:

• Add new fields from the field panel.
• Drag and drop fields to rearrange them.
• Click on any field to edit its label, placeholder, required settings, and validation rules.

The builder updates in real time, allowing you to design and adjust your form easily.

After creating your form structure, the next step is configuring important form settings.

Configure Form Settings in Ninja Forms

After creating your form, the next step is configuring what happens when a user submits it.
In Ninja Forms, this is managed inside the Emails & Actions tab of the form builder.

Here, you can control confirmation messages, email notifications, submission recording, and other core actions.

You can configure the following actions:

• Success Message: Display a confirmation message after successful submission.
• User Email Confirmation: Send an email to the user who submitted the form.
• Admin Email Notification: Send submission details to the site administrator.
• Record Submission: Save form entries in the WordPress database.
• Redirect: Redirect users to a specific page or external URL after submission.
• Export Data Request: Allow users to request a copy of their submitted data.

You can enable, disable, or customize each action according to your requirements by clicking on settings icon.

Additionally, Ninja Forms lets you add more actions via the “Add New Action” (+) button, giving you the flexibility to create custom workflows tailored to your needs.

Managing Form Submissions in Ninja Forms

Once your form starts collecting entries, Ninja Forms allows you to manage submissions directly from the WordPress dashboard.

To view submissions:

• Go to Ninja Forms → Submissions.

Here’s what you can do inside the Submissions section:

View & Edit Form Submissions

You can open any individual submission to view its complete details.

Ninja Forms also allows you to edit submission data directly from the dashboard. Just click on edit button.

Then a popup will appear where you can edit the submission and click on update button.

Filter Submissions by Date Range

If you receive a large number of entries, you can filter submissions based on a selected date range.
This helps you:

• Review recent entries
• Check submissions from a specific campaign
• Analyze form activity over a time period

Download All Submissions

You can download all submissions for a specific form at once. At the bottom, you’ll find the Download All Submissions button, click on it.

This is helpful when:

• Creating backups
• Preparing reports
• Sharing data with your team

Export Bulk Multiple Form Submissions

Ninja Forms provides a bulk export tool that allows you to export submissions from multiple forms at once.

With this feature, you can:

• Select multiple forms
• Choose a specific date range
• Export all submissions from the selected forms within that date range

Just click on the Bulk Form Export option, select the forms whose data you want to export, choose the date range, and then click the Export button.

Trigger Email Action

If a form contains one or more email actions, Ninja Forms allows you to re-trigger those email notifications directly from the submissions section.

To resend an email:

• Go to Ninja Forms → Submissions
• Select the submission(s) you want to resend email from
• Choose Trigger Email Action from the Bulk Actions dropdown
• Click Resend 1 emails button.

Now the behavior depends on how many email actions are configured in the form:

• If the form has only one email action
  A confirmation window will appear. After confirming, the email will be resent.
  
• If the form has multiple email actions
  A selection window will appear, allowing you to choose which email action you want to re-trigger. After selecting and confirming, the chosen email will be resent.

Display / Hide Form Columns

Using the Display Column Controls settings, you can show or hide specific fields in the submissions table.

This helps you:

• Reduce clutter in the entries view
• Focus only on important fields
• Customize how submission data is displayed

Import & Export in Ninja Forms

Ninja Forms provides built-in import and export tools that help you move forms between websites, create backups, or reuse form structures.

Import Forms

If you have previously exported a Ninja Form, you can import it into another WordPress site. 

To import a form:

• Go to Ninja Forms → Import / Export
• Upload the exported file
• Complete the import process

The imported form will appear in your Forms list and can be edited as needed.

Export Forms

You can export any form created in Ninja Forms as a file and reuse it on another website.

• Under the export form tab, choose the form that you want to export.
• Click on Export form button, and the file will be downloaded.

Import & Export Form Fields

Ninja Forms also allows you to import and export individual form fields. To do this navigate to Favorite fields tab and start importing or exporting the form fields.

How to Display Ninja Forms on the Frontend

After creating and configuring your form, the next step is to display it on your website so users can start submitting entries.

Ninja Forms provides multiple ways to embed forms on your pages or posts.

Display Using Shortcode

Each form created in Ninja Forms comes with a unique shortcode.

To display a form using a shortcode:

• Go to Ninja Forms → Dashboard
• Copy the shortcode of the form you want to display

• Next, open the page on which you want to display the forms.
• Add the shortcode block, and paste that you copied.
• After publishing or updating the page, the form will appear on the frontend.

Display Using Gutenberg Block

If you are using the WordPress block editor, Ninja Forms provides a dedicated block.

To display a form using the block:

• Open the page or post where you want to add the form
• Click Add Block (+)
• Search for Ninja Forms

• Select the form from the dropdown
• Update or publish the page

This method is beginner-friendly and does not require using shortcodes manually.

Final Thoughts

Ninja Forms provides a flexible and user-friendly solution for building and managing forms in WordPress. From templates and customizable form settings to submission management and import/export tools, it offers everything needed for most websites. For more advanced use cases, the Pro version adds features like multi-step forms, enhanced layouts, user analytics, and additional integrations.

As your form data grows, you may also want more structured submission management, advanced filtering, and centralized analytics. In such cases, integrating Ninja Forms with Form Vibes can help you manage submissions more efficiently. Form Vibes serves as a submission manager, storing Ninja Form entries in the WordPress database and providing a dedicated dashboard to manage form data more efficiently.

FAQs on Ninja Form in WordPress