How to Set up Contact Form 7 in WordPress

 

Are you looking for how to set up Contact Form 7  in WordPress? Well, look no further because this article will explain to you the exact steps you need in order to install and configure this plugin.

 

One of the oldest and most reliable contact forms in the plugin category is contact form 7. Setting it up might not be easy as it comes. No need to worry though, in this detailed article we will walk you through the entire process and explain to you how to create a form utilizing the plugin from scratch.

 

Let’s get started.

 

How to Install Contact Form 7? – Beginner’s Guide

 

 

Incepted in 2009, the Contact Form 7 has been there and it has been downloaded over 5 million times in the past century. Directly available from the WordPress repository, it’s easy to install Contact Form 7 without any fuss.  You’ll be able to search the plugin alongside a number of add-ons readily available in the repository.

 

Below are the steps required in order to install the Contact Form 7:

 

• Sign in to WordPress.

 

• In your WordPress dashboard, select Plugins → Add Plugin from the menu.

 

 

• In the search bar once the Contact Form 7 plugin is displayed, click Install → Activate.

 

 

The Pros and Cons of Contact Form 7

 

Even though Contact Form 7 has unique functionalities, it is deemed to have some disadvantages as well. The following pros and cons will help you decide whether to pick Contact Form 7 or not.

 

Advantages of Contact Form 7 WordPress Plugin

 

• It is simple and a piece of cake to install on any WordPress site (versions)
• In order to be easily added to any post or page, Contact Form 7 has in-built contact forms.
• Compact Form 7 is compatible with any WordPress theme. 
• To add a re-captcha for preventing spam action, Contact Form 7 has a facility to add. 
• More features can be added with auto-updates and upgrades.

 

Disadvantages of Contact Form 7 WordPress Plugin

 

• Contact form 7 might be difficult to use for beginners as its interface is not as easy.
• The support options are limited
• Third-party add-ons are a must for the core plugin as it is unable to perform without them.
• To check if a preview is available or not, there are no settings available.

 

 

A step-by-step guide for creating custom forms in Contact Form 7

 

• To start, navigate to Contact → Contact Forms, click on Add New and type the name of your new form.

 

• Basic fields like name, subject, email, etc. will be automatically created by the plugin, itself.

 

 

• Depending on your needs, you’ll want to keep these fields and insert a few more fields. We’ll show you how to insert a drop-down menu field, for example.

 

• To add a new field, pick from the tags available at the top of the form editor panel. 

 

 

 

• To add a drop-down menu field, click on the drop-down menu tag. A popup will appear immediately.

 

 

 

• Here’s what’s going on there:

1. To find which field begins or ends, <label> and </label> are used to tell the plugin.
2. To symbolize the email field, a drop-down menu*  is used. 

 

• Save the form.

 

How to Configure Mail Settings in Contact Form 7?

 

You can find the email settings in the Mail tab located right beside the form editor. Configuration is allowed by contact form 7 of the following mail delivery settings. 

 

• To – the email address to send a notification to.
• From – the email address to send a notification from.
• Subject – the subject of the notification email.
• Additional Headers – specify additional email headers like “reply-to”.
• Message Body – the body of the notification email.
• File Attachments – specify any attachments to include with the notification email.

 

 

While the traditional mail setting works for most scenarios, it’s still crucial to go through a number of settings in case it requires a special configuration. To access the special configuration in mail delivery settings, install Contact form 7 email add-on Pro,  an email configuration extension to the Contact Form 7. Here is the plugin tutorial that will help you understand the setup and installation of the Contact form 7 email add-on Pro. 👇

 

 

After you make a form for submission, the plugin’s delivery settings let you customize the templates and parameters that are used to create notifications as well. 

 

Summary

 

Contact form 7 is the most well-known contact form plugin in the WordPress repository and for a great reason! Website features like dropdown menus, basic contact forms, complex contact forms that support file attachments, and more, can be created by this plugin without mulch ado.  

 

Best of all, it helps secure your contact form against spammers with the help of the built-in reCAPTCHA.

 

So have you used the Contact Form 7 on your WordPress site yet? If not, then what’s your alternative choice? Let us know in the comments section below!