A Complete Guide to WPForms

WPForms is a popular WordPress form builder that helps you create contact forms, inquiry forms, feedback forms, and other simple website forms. It uses a drag-and-drop builder, so you do not need coding knowledge to get started.

In this guide, you will learn how to install WPForms, create your first form, adjust the main settings, publish the form on your site, and test it before going live. This article focuses on the basics first, then briefly covers extra features and common setup issues.

What is WPForms

WPForms is a form plugin for WordPress. It lets you create forms with a visual builder instead of writing code. You can build simple contact forms, feedback forms, support forms, and many other types of forms depending on your needs.

For beginners, the main advantage is ease of use. You can start with a blank form or use a template, then drag fields into place and adjust the settings from the builder.

How to Create a Form in WPForms

Before building your form, make sure WPForms is installed and activated on your WordPress site.

It also helps to decide what kind of form you want to create. For example, you may need a contact form, a support form, a feedback form, or a lead or inquiry form.

Starting with a clear goal makes the setup easier.

Step 1: Create a Contact Form in WordPress 

After activating WPForms, open your WordPress dashboard and go to WPForms → Add New. This opens the form builder, where you can start creating your form.

Next, give your form a name. Then choose whether you want to start with a blank form, use a template or generate with AI.

Step 2. Add and Arrange Form Fields

WPForms uses a drag-and-drop builder. You can drag fields into your form and move them around as needed.

For a basic contact form, you may want fields like: name, email, and message. Depending on your use case, you can add other fields too.

Step 3: Customize Field Labels and Settings

Click any field in the builder to edit it. You can change the label, placeholder text, description, and other field options.

This is where you make the form clear and easy for users to fill out.

Step 4: Save the form

Once your form looks right, click Save.

This is an important step. Save your changes before leaving the builder or moving on to publishing.

Step 5: Viewing Form Entries in WPForms

Once your form is live, you can view all submitted entries directly from your WordPress dashboard. Go to WPForms → Entries and select your form to see the collected responses.

The WPForms Entries dashboard gives you a complete overview of all form submissions in one place. You can view details like name, email, message, and submission date for each entry.

You can also perform actions such as viewing, editing, marking entries as spam, or deleting them. The dashboard allows you to filter entries by date range, search specific submissions, and apply bulk actions for better management.

Additionally, you can export entries, mark them as read, or organize them based on different statuses like unread, starred, or spam, making it easier to manage your form data efficiently.

If you need more advanced filtering, detailed insights, or better data management, you can use the Form Vibes plugin for enhanced control over your form submissions.

Important WPForms Settings to Check

After creating the form, review the main form settings before publishing it.

General    

In the General settings area, you can manage the form name and some basic display settings. You may also be able to adjust the submit button text and other form-level options.

Keep these settings simple at first. You can always refine them later.

In the Advanced Settings, you can enable or disable AJAX form submission. You can also set up automatic purging of entries, which deletes submissions older than a specified number of days along with any associated files, notes, and logs. Additionally, you have the option to enable or disable submission storage.

Spam Protection and Security

It helps you protect your forms from spam and unwanted submissions. You can enable anti-spam protection, set a minimum time to submit to block bots, and choose whether to store spam entries. Additionally, you can apply filters like country or keyword restrictions for better control.

For extra security, you can also use CAPTCHA options like reCAPTCHA or hCaptcha.

If you want to explore more advanced methods, check out our detailed guide on stopping form spam in WordPress.

Confirmations   

Confirmation settings control what the user sees after submitting the form.

For example, you can show:

• a success message
• a different page
• a redirect to another URL

This helps users know their form was submitted successfully.

Notifications

Notifications are emails sent after someone submits the form. These are useful if you want to receive submissions by email.

Make sure the notification email address is correct. If notifications are not set properly, you may miss new submissions.

Themes

The Theme Settings allow you to customize the look and feel of your form using pre-designed themes and style options. You can easily adjust colors, fields, labels, buttons, and more to match your brand.

For further customization, you can use the Advanced section to add custom CSS or paste styles from another form, giving you more flexibility and control over your design.

How to Display Your WPForm in WordPress

Using Block Editor

If you want to add the WSForm to the page, follow these steps to achieve this,

• Go to Pages -> Add New and then give your page a name. 
• Click on the ‘Plus‘ icon to add a block and search for the WPForms Block.

• Click on the WPForms block.
• You need to click on the drop-down menu to choose the form you created earlier.
• Select the contact form from the drop-down. 
• WPForms will load your contact form preview inside the editor. 
• Now you can click the Publish or Update button to save your form.

Using ShortCode

WPForms also provides a shortcode for each form. This can be useful if you want to place the form in an area that supports shortcodes

• Go to WPForms -> All Forms and copy the form’s shortcode that will appear after the form name. 

• Open the page where you want to add it, click the Plus icon and search for the Shortcode block.
• Next, click the Shortcode block and add it to your page.
• Paste the shortcode that you have copied.
• Click Update or Publish, and your contact form will be live on your website.

Using the Embed Option

You can directly embed the form from the WPForms dashboard. This allows you to either add the form to an existing page or create a new page and insert the form automatically.

How Form Vibes Can Help After Your Form Is Live

Once your WPForms form is collecting submissions, Form Vibes can help you manage those entries inside WordPress. Form Vibes supports WPForms and automatically captures submissions from supported form builders after installation. It provides a submissions dashboard, filtering options, CSV exports, analytics, field visibility controls, and a dashboard widget.

This means WPForms can handle form creation, while Form Vibes can help with submission management after the form is already live.

Conclusion

WPForms gives you complete freedom to create and customize forms on your WordPress website. Whether you need a simple contact form or a complex survey, WPForms has you covered.

So we’ve covered the key features and benefits of WPForms, as well as how to set up and customize your forms. We’ve also covered advanced form features such as multipage forms and discussed common troubleshooting issues and how to resolve them.

FAQs on WPForms in WordPress