You build forms in the block editor. Everything that happens after a submission is managed under Forming in your admin menu:
| Screen | What it’s for |
|---|---|
| Dashboard | How your forms are doing, at a glance |
| Forms | Every form on your site in one list |
| Entries | The inbox for submissions. See Entries & Storage |
| Settings | Defaults for every form, spam protection and privacy |
| Tools | System status, import and export, logs and maintenance |
The Settings and Tools screens have a sidebar with links to the documentation and support. Without Forming Pro, the header, sidebar and menu also include an Upgrade to Pro link.
All screens require the manage_options capability by default. Developers can change that with the forming_capability filter.
Dashboard
- Summary cards: total entries, entries today, in the last 7 days and in the last 30 days (with the change from the previous period), unread entries and Spam blocked (30 days).
- Submissions chart: entries per day for the last 7, 30 or 90 days, for all forms or one form.
- Latest entries: the most recent submissions, linking to each entry.
- Top forms: forms ranked by submissions in the selected period.
- Get set up: a short checklist: publish your first form, choose who receives notifications, send a test email and use an SMTP plugin for reliable delivery. Each item links to where you fix it. Dismiss it when you’re done, and bring it back with Show the setup checklist.
- Quick actions: add a new form, view all entries, open settings and the documentation.
WordPress dashboard widget: Forming: latest entries shows recent submissions on the main WordPress dashboard. Turn it off under Settings → General.
Forms
There’s no separate “form” post type, because a form is a block. Forming keeps an index of every Form block on your site, including forms in synced patterns, templates and template parts, and updates it whenever content is saved.
Each row shows the form’s name, where it’s used, its status (published, draft, scheduled, private), the number of entries and the date of the last entry. Search, filter and sort the list, and use the row actions:
- Edit: open the content the form lives in, in the block editor.
- View: open the page on the front end.
- View entries: the Entries inbox filtered to this form.
- Export entries (CSV): see CSV export.
Add new form opens a new page with a Form block ready to edit.
Two forms with the same form ID (usually a form copied between pages by hand) are marked Duplicate ID. Their entries would be mixed together, so duplicate the block in the editor instead, which gives the copy a new ID.
Settings
Settings are defaults. A setting on a Form block always overrides them.
General
| Setting | Notes |
|---|---|
| Default recipient(s) | Used by forms with no recipients. Separate several with commas. |
| From name, From email | Used by forms that leave them blank. |
| Default success message | Shown by forms that leave their message blank. |
| Show the latest entries on the WordPress dashboard | The dashboard widget. On by default. |
Send a test email to an address to check that your site can deliver mail. See Email Notifications.
Spam protection
| Setting | Notes |
|---|---|
| Submissions allowed per visitor per hour | Default 20. 0 turns the limit off. |
| Check submissions with Akismet | Available when Akismet is active and connected. |
| CAPTCHA provider | None, Google reCAPTCHA, hCaptcha or Cloudflare Turnstile, with the provider’s site key, secret key and mode. Then turn on CAPTCHA per form. |
See Spam Protection & CAPTCHA.
Data & privacy
| Setting | Notes |
|---|---|
| Store IP address and browser with each entry | Off by default. |
| Delete entries after (days) | 0 keeps entries forever. |
| Delete all entries and settings when the plugin is deleted | Off by default, so deleting the plugin keeps your data. |
License (Forming Pro)
With Forming Pro active, a License tab appears here. See Forming Pro.
Tools
- System status: WordPress and PHP versions, REST API and cron checks, mail and SMTP plugin, the database table and more. Copy for support puts the whole report on your clipboard to share when you ask for help.
- Import / Export: Download settings saves your Forming settings as a JSON file. Import settings loads such a file on another site and replaces the current settings. Forms are blocks, so they move with your content or as patterns.
- Logs: email failures and other problems, newest first. The last 100 are kept. Clear log empties it.
- Maintenance: Rebuild forms index scans your content for Form blocks and recounts their entries. Use it if the Forms screen looks out of date.
WP-CLI
wp forming forms list # List indexed forms
wp forming forms reindex # Rebuild the forms index