May 27, 2022

Visual Form Builder Plugin

Build beautiful, fully functional contact forms in only a few minutes without writing PHP, CSS, or HTML.

Visual Form Builder is a plugin that allows you to build and manage all kinds of forms for your website in a single place. Building a fully functional contact form takes only a few minutes and you don’t have to write one bit of PHP, CSS, or HTML!

Upgrade to VFB Pro

If you are a fan of Visual Form Builder and want extra features and functionality, VFB Pro is available.

Features

Add fields with one click
Drag-and-drop reordering
Simple, yet effective, logic-based anti-SPAM system
Automatically stores form entries in your WordPress database
Manage form entries in the WordPress dashboard
Export entries to a CSV file
Send form submissions to multiple emails
jQuery Form Validation
Customized Confirmation Messages
Redirect to a WordPress Page or a URL
Confirmation Email Receipt to User
Standard Fields
Required Fields
Shortcode works on any Post or Page
Embed Multiple Forms on a Post/Page
One-click form duplication. Copy a form you’ve already built to save time
Use your own CSS (if you want)
Multiple field layout options. Arrange your fields in two, three, or a mixture of columns.

Field Types

Fieldset
Section (group fields within a fieldset)
Text input (single line)
Textarea (multiple lines)
Checkbox
Radio (multiple choice)
Select dropdown
Address (street, city, state, zip, country)
Date (uses jQuery UI Date Picker)
Email
URL
Currency
Number
Time (12 or 24 hour format)
Phone (US and International formats)
HTML
File Upload
Instructions (plain or HTML-formatted text)

Entries

Manage submitted entries in WordPress dashboard
Bulk Export to CSV
Bulk Delete
Advanced Filtering
Search across all entries
Collect submitted data as well as date submitted and IP Address
Disable saving of all entries (GDPR)

Customized Confirmation Messages

Control what is displayed after a user submits a form
Display HTML-formatted text
Redirect to a WordPress Page
Redirect to a custom URL

Notification Emails

Send a customized email to the user after a user submits a form
Additional HTML-formatted text to be included in the body of the email
Automatically include a copy of the user’s entry

SPAM Protection

Automatically included on every form
Uses a simple and accessible, yet effective, text CAPTCHA verification system

Installation

Go to Plugins > Add New
Click the Upload link
Click Browse and locate the visual-form-builder.x.x.zip file
Click Install Now
After WordPress installs, click on the Activate Plugin link

Screenshots

Visual Form Builder page
Configuring field item options
Entries management screen
Rendered form on a page

FAQ

How do I create a form?

Click on the Visual Form Builder > Add New link and enter a few form details
Click the form fields from the box on the left to add it to your form.
Edit the information for each form field by clicking on the down arrow.
Drag and drop the elements to sort them.
Click Save Form to save your changes.

Can I use my own verification system such as a CAPTCHA?

reCAPTCHA is available with Visual Form Builder Pro.

Visual Form Builder uses a text CAPTCHA. If you decide to upgrade to Visual Form Builder Pro, you will gain Akismet support.

Emails are not being sent

Note: Form submissions will always be saved in the database whether or not the email was sent.

Check SPAM folder

A quick look in the SPAM folder will tell you if the emails are being routed into the folder. If so, simply train your email client to not treat those emails as SPAM

Configure your site to use SMTP

Some people have reported that after the form is submitted, no email is received. If this is the case for you, it typically means that your server or web host has not properly configured their SMTP settings.

Try using a plugin such as WP Mail SMTP to correct the issue.

Set the Reply-To email to a same domain email

Setting up SMTP will get you part of the way there. For most, it solves the problem. For others, it requires additional configuration

If you find that emails are not being sent, you should first confirm that you have completed all of the details in the Form Settings > Email section. Next, be sure to set the Reply-To option to an email that exists on the same domain as your WordPress site.

Set the Sender email to an email that exists on the domain

In addition to the Reply-To header, some hosts require that the Sender header is also set to an email that exists on the domain. By default, the Sender email is automatically set to either your admin email if the domain matches. If it does not match, then a local email address is created ([email protected]).

To change this behavior to use an email that exists on the domain, you will need to set the Sender Mail Header option on the Visual Form Builder > Settings page.

Possible mod_security conflict

Some servers are overzealous in their restrictions on the $_POST object and will block anything with certain keywords. Check your server logs and look for any 403 Forbidden or 500 Internal Server errors. If you notice these errors when submitting a form, contact your host and find out if there are any restrictions.

Enable local mail for your domain

Be sure to enable local mail delivery for your domain. Disabling local mail delivery is common if you are using an external mail server, but can cause bounce-backs saying the email user does not exist.

Also, if possible, check your server’s email logs or have your host check them for you and see if it’s refusing to send an email. It’s possible your email server is attempting to send the emails but can’t for missing mail resources, security, SPAM filtering, or other technical problems.

Resolving Theme or Plugin Conflicts

Visual Form Builder is built using preferred WordPress coding standards. In many cases, some theme authors or plugin developers do not follow these standards and it causes conflicts with those that do follow the standards. The two most common issues have to do with either jQuery or CSS.

jQuery conflicts

Visual Form Builder requires at least jQuery version 1.7. Please make sure your theme is updated to use the latest version of jQuery.

CSS conflicts

If your forms do not look as expected, chances are there’s some CSS in your theme conflicting with the built-in CSS of Visual Form Builder.

Theme conflicts

If you have confirmed that you are using the latest version of jQuery and can rule out CSS conflicts, there’s probably something in your theme still causing problems.

Activate the default “Twenty” theme
Test your site to see if the issue still occurs

Still having problems even with the default theme running? If not, it’s a conflict with your theme. Otherwise, it’s probably a plugin conflict.

Plugin conflicts

Before following this process, make sure you have updated all plugins to their latest version (yes, even Visual Form Builder).

Deactivate ALL plugins
Activate Visual Form Builder
Test your site to see if the issue still occurs

If everything works with only Visual Form Builder activated, you have a plugin conflict. Re-activate the plugins one by one until you find the problematic plugin(s).

If, after following the above procedures, you are still having problems please report this issue on the Support Forum.

Customizing the form design

By upgrading to VFB Pro, you be able to purchase the Form Designer add-on which will let you easily customize the design.

Customizing the Date Picker

The jQuery UI Date Picker is a complex and highly configurable plugin. By default, Visual Form Builder’s date field will use the default options and configuration.

How do I translate the error messages to my language?

The validation messages (ex: ‘This field is required’ or ‘Please enter a valid email address’) are generated by the jQuery Form Validation plugin.

By default, these messages are in English. To translate them, you can either use the free add-on Custom Validation Messages or follow the manual JavaScript method.

The recommended method to translate the messages is by installing the free Custom Validation Messages add-on. This will let you easily change the messages for all forms from within the WordPress admin.

If you would rather use the manual method, you will need to follow the instructions below.

Follow these instructions:

In your theme folder, create a JavaScript file. In this example, I’m using myjs.js. Add the following code to it and customize the language to what you need:

jQuery(document).ready(function($) { $.extend($.validator.messages, { required: "Eingabe nötig", email: "Bitte eine gültige E-Mail-Adresse eingeben" }); });

Now, in your functions.php file, add the following piece of code:

add_action( 'wp_enqueue_scripts', 'my_scripts_method' ); function my_scripts_method() { wp_register_script( 'my-vfb-validation', get_template_directory_uri() . '/js/my-js.js', array( 'jquery', 'jquery-form-validation' ), '1.0', false ); wp_enqueue_script( 'my-vfb-validation' ); }

Changelog

Version 3.1 – May 27, 2022

Fix wrong function name in widget class

Version 3.0.9 – May 19, 2022

Fix various security issues

Version 3.0.8 – Apr 08, 2022

Update Entries table with CSRF protection

Version 3.0.7 – Apr 06, 2022

Fix security on Email To under Add New page

Version 3.0.6 – Nov 03, 2021

Update export code with various improvements
More security updates

Version 3.0.5 – Oct 21, 2021

Update some URLs to no longer rely on query params
Update class list wrapper
Escape additional data

Version 3.0.4 – Sep 21, 2021

Fix security vulnerability when saving Form Name

Version 3.0.3 – Jun 08, 2021

Update HTML field to use wp_editor

Version 3.0.2 – Mar 22, 2021

Update the Add Field and Shortcode boxes

Version 3.0.1 – Apr 17, 2019

Fix bug where a variable was not being declared as an array

Version 3.0 – Apr 01, 2019

Update admin CSS to use SASS for easier future updates

Version 2.9.9 – Aug 09, 2018

Update DB check to prevent extra queries when using Multisite install
Update uninstall procedure to happen through the VFB > Settings menu instead of the Plugins admin menu

Version 2.9.8 – Jul 12, 2018

Add new Disable Saving Entry feature to Settings to better assist EU users and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

Version 2.9.7 – Mar 08, 2018

Fix bug with Default Country not able to be selected
Fix bug with Address label position setting
Update display class to insure methods are declared as static

Version 2.9.6 – Feb 12, 2018

Fix bug with export

Version 2.9.5 – Feb 11, 2018

Refactor structure of plugin

Version 2.9.4 – Oct 01, 2017

Minor code updates

Version 2.9.3 – Jul 10, 2017

Update list of Countries to add a few new ones

Version 2.9.2 – Sep 08, 2016

Update Date Submitted format to save with leading zeroes to match mySQL format
Update IP Address column to store longer IPv6 addresses

Version 2.9.1 – Aug 23, 2016

Add Portuguese language translations

Version 2.9 – Jul 26, 2016

Fix regression for recent entries bug fix

Version 2.8.9 – Jul 24, 2016

Fix bug where entries could not be trashed or deleted

Version 2.8.8 – Apr 28, 2016

Fix bug with Export
Update French translations

Version 2.8.7 – Mar 30, 2016

Fix use of deprecated functions
Check permissions before adding new forms

Version 2.8.6 – Sep 21, 2015

Update to allow translations to use the WP_LANG_DIR folder for language packs

Version 2.8.5 – Sep 09, 2015

Better secure entry detail page against XSS vulnerability

Version 2.8.4 – Aug 24, 2015

Update how widget is registered to comply with WordPress 4.3

Version 2.8.3 – May 08, 2015

Better secure searching and filtering for forms and entries list

Version 2.8.2 – Apr 23, 2015

Fix bug with WordPress 4.2 and class property variables not being set

Version 2.8.1 – Apr 12, 2014

Add localized jQuery form validation messages for languages that have a VFB translation file
Add localized jQuery UI datepicker text for languages that have a VFB translation file
Add vfb_spam_words_exploits, vfb_spam_words_profanity, and vfb_spam_words_misc filters to allow spam sensitivity words to be controlled
Update the jQuery UI date picker and CKEditor scripts to only load when the respective field is on the form
Update tooltip to prefix class names to prevent potential conflicts
Update admin notices to only display on VFB Pro pages
Update “Add New Form” help text
Update Export to make sure there are no errors with unserializing before proceeding
Update Export to more accurately strip all HTML tags for all fields except HTML and Address (where
is replaced with new lines)
Update admin form editor to get fields by reference to improve looping speed
Update admin with more jQuery UI CSS overrides for the disabled classes
Update email headers to use array formatting instead of a string
Update file upload process to check if the $FILE global is an array before proceeding
Update Display Forms shortcode/template tag to not wrap in tags
Update CSS to use !important to prevent themes from conflicting with certain rules
Fix bug with image upload where guid may not be set correctly on some servers
Fix bug for missing Address description
Fix bug in export where entries fields did not load the correct page with the right field names
Fix bug where sanitizing number should sanitize digits, which doesn’t allow decimals

Version 2.8 – Dec 3, 2013

Add Title option to widget
Add “Unselect All” link to entries export field selection
Update global form font size
Update errorClass to more specific vfb-error class name
Update various admin form filter drop downs to include form ID
Fix bug where error label border did not display on certain inputs
Fix bug affecting radio/ checkbox descriptions
Fix quotes and other encoded characters in export
Fix PHP notices when global $post is not available
Minor updates to the admin CSS
Remove screen_icon which has been deprecated in WordPress 3.8

Version 2.7.9 – Sep 23, 2013

Add “Always load CSS” setting
Add “Spam word sensitivity” setting
Add Entry ID to entries list view
Update number sanitizing to use regular expression instead of floatval
Update jQuery UI CSS
Update file input styles
Update CSS and JS to use cache busting version numbers
Update email and entry detail to wrap textarea, HTML, and post content in wpautop
Fix bug where creating a new form did not forward to edit screen immediately
Fix label “for” attribute output
Fix bug where lists were unstyled in descriptions
Fix various “selected” output bugs in admin
Fix bug where “Show on Screen” would not remember selections
Fix a couple screen options calls to use action and not filter
Reduce number of queries on forms list page

Version 2.7.8 – Aug 13, 2013

Add settings page with options for popular filters
Add vfb_sender_mail_header, vfb_show_version filters
Add an ID attribute to the form container div
Update CSS enqueue to only load when form exists on the page
Update list of user agent strings to test against in vfb_blocked_spam_bots
Update email from names to use mb_encode_mimeheader for proper encoding
Update padding on select elements
Update Instructions field to include CSS Classes and Field Layout options
Update form output to force bullets to hide, but only if list-style-type isn’t set
Update form output to only display the “for” attribute for certain fields
Update Export to always download a file, even if no results are found
Fix bug when sorting and field sequence is not properly set
Fix bug when uploading an audio or video file in WordPress 3.6
Deprecate spam check for empty user agent
Remove texas from spam words

Version 2.7.7 – Jul 16, 2013

Fix bug where confirmation function fails

Version 2.7.6 – Jul 16, 2013

Add sorting to checkbox/radio/select options
Add dateFormat option for Date fields
Add admin blue styles
Add vfb_address_labels_placement, vfb_skip_referrer_check filters
Update interface icons
Update form delete process to now delete all collected entries for that form
Update CSS with more default styles to override potential theme problems
Update form saving to check for max_input_vars and display error message
Update saving field name, description, options, and default value to trim whitespace
Update Legend output to only display bottom border when text is available
Update submit button name/id attributes to conform to new naming convention
Fix bug where User Name dropdown would appear when no required text or name fields were set
Fix form list bulk delete
Fix sprintf error when max file size has been reached
Remove unnecessary queries during email
Remove old “Display Forms” help image and just use text

Version 2.7.5 – Jun 06, 2013

Add Print button to Entry Detail view
Add Duplicate link to Form List view
Add meta keyword for plugin version number
Update HTML field to use CKEditor instead of Quicktags
Update CSS to include :focus styles
Update Entry Detail to link File Uploads
Fix bug during Export for duplicate field names
Fix bug on Export page where Page to Export option may not appear
Fix bug on Export page where Fields were not limited to 1000 in an edge case
Fix bug where delete link did not work in Form List view

Version 2.7.4 – May 08, 2013

Update Numbers field to allow either Digits or Number validation and sanitize as float instead of int
Update Entries Detail “Delete” link to a “Trash” link
Fix bug where referer URL did not match domains that prepended www
Fix bug in form output where file uploads were not being sent
Fix bug on Entries List to only display approved (i.e. untrashed) entries in All view
Fix bug on Entries List to properly display Today’s Entries
Minor updates

Version 2.7.3 – May 07, 2013

Fix bug where referer URL was not compatible with certain permalink structures

Version 2.7.2 – May 05, 2013

Add form search in admin
Add ‘Pages to Export’ option when more than 1000 entries detected for a single form
Add Netherlands translation
Update forms list design
Update admin to require WordPress 3.5 and jQuery UI 1.9
Update behavior to allow deselecting Default values on Select/Radio/Checkbox options
Update some translations
Update Entries to allow trashing before deleting
Update style of “Add Form” button above post/page visual editor
Update and improve sticky sidebar behavior
Fix bug where nesting and sorting would not save
Fix bug during Export for certain encoded characters

Version 2.7.1 – Mar 13, 2013

Fix bug in Export where fields did not load in certain cases
Minor code updates

Version 2.7 – Feb 28, 2013

Add widget for displaying forms in sidebar
Add dashboard widget for displaying recent entries
Add DONOTCACHEPAGE constant to fix occasional nonce errors for caching plugin users
Fix bug where second address line was always required
Fix bug for misnamed Instructions CSS class
Fix bug where quotes were not converted on output
Fix bug where left/right aligned labels and content were not displaying correctly
Fix bug where export AJAX was not returning properly
Fix bug for Export Select All fields
Sanitize IP address before inserting into database
Rollback Date field type to non-HTML5 to prevent duplicate date pickers in Chrome
Update language .POT

Version 2.6.9 – Feb 08, 2013

Fix bug where Validation would be removed on saving predefined fields

Version 2.6.8 – Feb 06, 2013

Add Reply-To to email headers for better compatibility with some email servers
Add new Fields selection in Export
Update CSV export to be more reliable
Update certain input field types to HTML5 input types
Update vfb_address_labels filter to allow control over Address field
Fix bug where Address field sanitization stripped <br> tags
Fix bug where i18n file was improperly loaded
Fix bug in Instructions description where HTML tags were encoded in admin
Fix bug that allowed validation dropdown to be active in certain predefined fields
Check DB version and update with proper plugins_loaded action
Deprecate use of CDN for certain files in favor of locally hosted versions
Deprecate Export Selected in favor of more reliable exporting on the Export screen

Version 2.6.7 – Dec 06, 2012

Update email headers
Fix bug where notification email did not send
Fix textarea value formatting in email

Version 2.6.6 – Dec 04, 2012

Turn off script debugging

Version 2.6.5 – Dec 04, 2012

Add confirmation to Delete field
Add new Address label filter
Add new CSV delimiter filter
Add CSS Class option to Submit button
Update some queries to be compatible with WordPress 3.5
Update first fieldset warning and output a more noticeable error
Update tooltip CSS
Fix media button to use correct action
Fix missing un-prefixed classes

Version 2.6.4 – Nov 12, 2012

Fix bug where SVN commit mangled code

Version 2.6.3 – Nov 12, 2012

Update CSS to now prefix all classes to help eliminate theme conflicts
Update email function to force a From email that exists on the same domain
Fix bug affecting File Upload field validation
Fix database install to use PRIMARY KEY instead of UNIQUE KEY
Fix bug preventing Export from displaying filtering options
Minor code cleanups

Version 2.6.2 – Oct 23, 2012

Fix bug where File Upload field would prevent validation
Fix bug when selecting entries export
Fix bug that hid the entries export options
Fix bug for another missing Save Form button
Update JS and CSS from CDN to use HTTPS

Version 2.6.1 – Oct 17, 2012

Fix bug for missing Save Form button
Fix bug for entries screen options and pagination

Version 2.6 – Oct 17, 2012

Move plugin into its own menu
Add new ‘All Forms’ view with an alphabetical group list
Add new New Form screen
Add customizable columns to admin form builder (see Screen Options tab)
Update meta boxes to be reordered or hidden (see Screen Options tab)
Update and clean up entry form design
Update email headers to send from admin email for servers having trouble with sending
Fix bug where form rendering would behave erratically in Internet Explorer 9
Fix bug where sender emails would be cut off after 25 characters in the entries database

Version 2.5 – Sep 13, 2012

Add new Export page for exporting all entries
Add IDs to each form item on output
Fix bug where extra quote was outputting on radio buttons
Fix bug where form name override was not being updated when copying a form
Fix bug where address formatting broke in the email
Deprecate Export All from Entries Bulk Actions (to export, see new Export page)
Update name attribute to remove field key in attempts to prevent POST limit from reaching max memory
Update server side validation to check for required fields
Update server side validation to denote which field is failing
Minor admin CSS update

Version 2.4.1 – May 22, 2012

Fix bug where misspelled variable caused email to not send

Version 2.4 – May 22, 2012

Fix bug where label alignment option was not being saved
Update spam bot check to only execute when form is submitted
Update list of spam bots

Version 2.3.3 – Apr 30, 2012

Fix bug for missing media button image

Version 2.3.2 – Apr 27, 2012

Fix bug that displayed a warning

Version 2.3.1 – Apr 27, 2012

Fix bug where Export feature was broken
Fix bug where server validation failed on certain data types
Add months drop down filter to Entries list

Version 2.3 – Apr 24, 2012

Add media button to Posts/Pages to easily embed forms (thanks to Paul Armstrong Designs!)
Add search feature to Entries
Add Default Value option to fields
Add Default Country option to Address block
Fix bug where Required option was not being set on File Upload fields
Fix bug where Form Name was not required on Add New page
Update and optimize Entries query
Update Security Check messages to be more verbose
Update email formatting to add line breaks
Update how the entries files are included to eliminate PHP notices
Minor updates to CSS

Version 2.2 – Mar 26, 2012

Add Label Alignment option
Add server side form validation; SPAM hardening
Add inline Field help tooltip popups
Add Spanish translation
Update Form Settings UI
Update File Upload field to place attachments in Media Library
Update Field Description to allow HTML tags
Update Field Name and CSS Classes to enforce a maxlength of 255 characters
Update jQueryUI version
Fix bug preventing form deletion

Version 2.1 – Mar 06, 2012

Add Accepts option to File Upload field
Add Small size to field options
Add Options Layout to Radio and Checkbox fields
Add Field Layout to field options
Add Bulgarian translation
Update jQuery in admin
Verification fields now customizable
Verification field now can be set to not required

Version 2.0 – Feb 10, 2012

Fix bug for misspelled languages folder
Fix bug for slashes appearing in email and admin
Fix bug for misaligned rows in CSV export
Update admin notices functionality
Update the way Addresses were handled during email
Add Hungarian translation

Version 1.9.2 – Jan 09, 2012

Bug fix for copied forms with nested fields

Version 1.9.1 – Jan 04, 2012

Bug fix for Sender Name, Email, and Notification Email overrides

Version 1.9 – Jan 03, 2012

Add ability for fields to be nested underneath Fieldsets and Sections
Add Section Form Item
Update adding/deleting fields to use AJAX
Update and improve admin tabs functionality
Update new form building to no longer force require email details
Update Delete Form link to require confirmation before deleting

Version 1.8 – Nov 22, 2011

Add Dynamic Add/Delete for Options for Radio, Select, and Checkbox fields
Add Dynamic Add/Delete for Email(s) To field
Add CSS Classes configuration option
Update Instructions field to allow for images
Submit button text value now customizable

Version 1.7 – Nov 09, 2011

Add Instructions Form Item
Add Duplicate Form feature
Add Sender Name and Sender Email customization fields to Notifications
Update CSS

Version 1.6 – Oct 07, 2011

Fix bug where multiple address blocks could not be used
Add internationalization support
Add auto-respond feature to separately notify your users after form submission
Update jQuery Validation to 1.8.1

Version 1.5.1 – Sep 08, 2011

Fix bug where missing jQuery prevented multiple form fix from working

Version 1.5 – Sep 07, 2011

Fix bug where multiple forms on same page could not be submitted individually
Fix bug where Entries form filter did not work
Update admin CSS to use it’s own file instead of one loaded form WordPress

Version 1.4 – Aug 16, 2011

Fix bug where database charset wasn’t being set and causing character encoding issues
Fix date submitted to match local date and time settings
Fix Textarea CSS to respond to large size
Add File Upload and HTML Form Items
Add Entries Export feature
Update View Entries to full page view instead of jQuery show/hide quick view

Version 1.3.1 – Jul 28, 2011

Fix bug where new Confirmation screen was not being installed
Fix bug where escaped names and descriptions were not being stripped of slashes properly
Add missing sprite image for Form Items

Version 1.3 – Jul 27, 2011

Fix bug where jQuery validation was missing from security field
Update Form Items UI to make it easier and quicker to add fields
Add six more Form Items
Add Confirmation customization
Update CSS output for some elements

Version 1.2.1 – Jul 19, 2011

Fix bug where entries table does not install

Version 1.2 – Jul 19, 2011

Fix bug where reserved words may have been used
Fix bug where multiple open validation dropdowns could not be used in the builder
Add entries tracking and management feature
Improve form submission by removing wp_redirect
Add Sender Name and Email override

Version 1.1 – Jun 30, 2011

Fix bug that prevented all selected checkbox options from being submitted
Add more help text on contextual Help tab
Fix missing closing paragraph tag on success message

Version 1.0 – Jun 23, 2011

Plugin launch!