4.12 Settings
The Settings module allow admins to customize some functionality and appearance and to establish data security protocols.
4.12.1 General
Here you can adjust the number of forms, quizzes, and polls that display on the dashboard, configure your default email header and address, and choose how many items appear on the modules and submissions pages.
Dashboard
In the field provided, enter the number of forms, quizzes, and polls you wish to see on the dashboard, and select whether to display only published forms, only drafts, or both.
From Headers
In the Sender email address field, enter the default email address from which emails will be sent, and below that, the name you want to appear as the sender.
Pagination
Enter the number of forms, quizzes and polls to display on the main page for each, and do the same for the submissions listing page as well.
Form editor
Choose whether you want the settings modal to open automatically whenever you insert a field. This only applies when you insert one field at a time.
Usage Tracking
Usage tracking is incredibly useful for our designers and enables us to learn more about what features you use and don’t use. It is a completely anonymous feature and helps us deliver more relevant features in the future. See our Privacy documentation for more information about the data we collect.
To enable usage tracking, toggle on Allow usage tracking and click Save Changes.
No PII Collected
WPMU DEV’s usage tracking never collects your personal data or that of your site users. If you enable this option, we will only collect anonymous data about how Forminator is used, what errors occur, and under what circumstances, and we use this data to improve the plugin. Leave the usage tracking option enabled if you want to help out or disable it if you’d prefer to opt out.
Usage Tracking when White Label is enabled
When White Label is activated in the WPMU DEV Dashboard, only users with permission to access the WPMU DEV Dashboard will be able to see the usage tracking option.
4.12.2 Accessibility
Click Enable High Contrast Mode to increase the visibility and accessibility of Forminator elements and components to meet WCAG AAA requirements. When enabled, High Contrast Mode only affects elements within the Forminator UI.
4.12.3 Appearance Presets
This section enables you to create and edit your own custom styles that can then be applied to any form with a single click.
Recommended Reading
Check out our blog post on styling forms using appearance presets.
Forms Only
Note that these preset options are available for forms only at this time; a future update will include appearance presets for polls & quizzes as well.
The first time you access this section, you’ll see only the Default Preset style, which is the style that is applied to all your new forms by default. You can edit this default style, or create your own custom styles.
Creating a New Preset
To create a new custom preset, click the + New Preset button.
In the modal window that pops open, give your new custom preset a Name.
If you already have a form styled the way you want, and would like to use that style for your new custom preset, you can optionally import its appearance settings. Simply select the form you want to use from the Import dropdown.
Then click the Create Preset button and your custom preset will load on the page so you can customize everything you need.
Editing a Preset
To edit an existing preset style, either the default or one of your own custom presets, select it from the Preset dropdown.
Important
When you edit any preset style here, your changes will not be automatically applied to forms where that preset is used. You will need to apply the preset to those forms again for the changes to take effect. Use the Bulk Actions if you have multiple forms using the same preset. A future version will improve upon this process.
Customizing the Preset Appearance
The specific styling options for your presets are identical to those available in each form as seen in the Appearance (Forms) chapter above, so please review that chapter for details on their use.
Note that there is no preview option for appearance presets. So if you do want to preview your styling as you go, we suggest styling the appearance of an existing form, and using the Preview option there. Then save your form, come back here and import that form’s appearance settings when creating a new custom preset.
4.12.4 Data
Uninstallation
Select whether to Preserve or Reset settings and data when the plugin is uninstalled.
File Upload Storage
By default, all files uploaded via File Upload fields in your forms are stored with random names in designated subdirectories of the /wp-content/uploads/forminator/ directory.
But you can specify a custom uploads directory here if needed. Select Custom and enter your custom directory name. Note that this directory will be relative to /wp-content/uploads/ and cannot include a subdirectory.
As an example, if you enter my-custom-folder, the directory would be located at:
/wp-content/uploads/my-custom-folder/
If the custom directory you specify here does not yet exist, it will be created automatically.
Custom File Uploads Filter
You can further customize the file uploads path by using the forminator_custom_upload_subfolder filter added to your active child-theme’s functions.php file or a mu-plugin.
<?php | |
add_filter( ‘forminator_custom_upload_subfolder’, function( $sub_folder, $module_id, $dir ) { | |
return $module_id . ‘/’ . $dir; | |
}, 10, 3 ); |
Using the filter as shown in the above example would append the form ID plus the uploads or signatures subdirectory to the custom file path you set, like so:
https://domain.com/wp-content/uploads/my-custom-folder/[form_ID]/[uploads/signatures]/path-to-image.jpg
Here are a few additional examples to help you get started with this filter:
Append the following to the Custom File Uploads path:
[sub-folder]/[user-id]/[uploads/signatures]/path-to-image.jpg
<?php | |
add_filter( ‘forminator_custom_upload_subfolder’, function( $sub_folder, $module_id, $dir ) { | |
if ( function_exists( ‘get_current_user_id’ ) ) { | |
$user_id = get_current_user_id(); | |
if ( $user_id ) { | |
$dir = $user_id . ‘/’ . $dir; | |
} | |
} | |
return ‘sub-folder/’ . $dir; | |
}, 10, 3 ); |
Append the following to the Custom File Uploads path:
[sub-folder]/[username]/[uploads/signatures]/path-to-image.jpg
<?php | |
add_filter( ‘forminator_custom_upload_subfolder’, function( $sub_folder, $module_id, $dir ) { | |
if ( function_exists( ‘is_user_logged_in’ ) && is_user_logged_in() ) { | |
$current_user = wp_get_current_user(); | |
$user_login = wp_normalize_path( $current_user->user_login ); | |
if ( $user_login ) { | |
$dir = $user_login . ‘/’ . $dir; | |
} | |
} | |
return ‘sub-folder/’ . $dir; | |
}, 10, 3 ); |
Append the following to the Custom File Uploads path (stores both uploads and signatures in the same subdirectory):
[form_ID]/path-to-image.jpg
<?php | |
add_filter( ‘forminator_custom_upload_subfolder’, function( $sub_folder, $module_id, $dir ) { | |
return $module_id; | |
}, 10, 3 ); |
Reset Plugin
Need to start over with a fresh install? Click the Reset button to return Forminator to its default state.
Remember to click Save Changes after adjusting Forminator data settings.
4.12.5 CAPTCHA
Add an additional layer of protection to your forms with a CAPTCHA field. Forminator includes support for the following captcha types:
The language for each captcha type will display in your site’s language by default. But you can specify the language that should be used in the captcha at the bottom of this screen if you prefer to change it.
Google reCAPTCHA
Forminator supports Google reCAPTCHA v2 Checkbox, v2 Invisible, reCAPTCHA v3, and reCAPTCHA Enterprise. You must enter correct credentials for the version(s) you intend to use in your forms or you will get an error when you try to save settings in the captcha field added to your forms.
We recommend setting up all the reCAPTCHA versions so you can easily use any of them in any form without errors.
To get Google reCAPTCHA set up, go here and follow the steps below for each version you want to set up:
- Add a Label, such as Forminator Form.
- For reCAPTCHA type, select the version you wish to use.
- For Domains, enter your site domain where the form is located.
- Accept the Terms of Service.
- Click the Submit button.
In the next step, copy your Site Key and your Secret Key and paste them into the corresponding fields on your site for the version you set up.
Once you’ve added your keys , click the Save Settings button, and you’re done. You can now add a reCAPTCHA field to any of your forms.
Note that if you set up the reCAPTCHA incorrectly here, you’ll see an error message in the preview section informing you what went wrong so you can fix the setup.
Enterprise reCAPTCHA
To set up Google reCAPTCHA Enterprise keys, follow the steps below
Recommended Reading
Read Google’s official documentation on how to create enterprise reCAPTCHA keys to understand the process in detail.
Log in to Google Cloud Console and create a new project or select an existing project
Recommended Reading
Read Google’s official documentation on how to create a new project in Google Cloud Console.
Enable the Enterprise reCAPTCHA API
Click the Create Key button under the Keys tab of the reCAPTCHA enterprise page to create a new key.
Enter a display name to identify the keys and choose the platform type as Website
Enter your domain name in the New domain field and click Done to add it to the list.
Expand the ‘WAF, Domain Verification, AMP pages, and challenge’ option to configure firewall, domain verification, checkbox challenge, amp pages, and testing key options.
Keep the ‘Use checkbox challenge’ toggle disabled to create API keys for V3 reCAPTCHA type
Or, enable the ‘Use checkbox challenge’ toggle to create API keys for the V2 checkbox reCAPTCHA type. Set the difficulty level for the checkbox challenge to easy, medium, or hard.
Click Create Key button to create the API key.
Copy the generated API key and paste the same key in both the Site Key and Secret Key fields on your site.
Once you’ve added your keys, click Save and preview to ensure the keys are valid and configured correctly.
hCaptcha
Forminator supports hCaptcha as an easy alternative. You only need to enter one set of keys here and can then select either the standard or invisible captcha when adding the field to your form. See Captcha Field for details.
To get hCaptcha set up, go here and click the New Site button.
Enter your site domain where the form is located in the Hostnames field, and click the Save button at the top.
In the next step, click the Settings button next to the site you just saved.
Copy your Site Key and paste it into the corresponding field in Forminator on your site.
Then, under the Settings tab, copy your Secret Key and paste it into the corresponding field in Forminator.
Once done adding your keys , click the Save Settings button, and you’re done. You can now add a hCaptcha field to any of your forms.
Note that if you set up the hCaptcha incorrectly here, you’ll see an error message in the preview section informing you what went wrong so you can fix the setup.
4.12.6 Import
Forms created using the Contact From 7 plugin can be imported to Forminator, as long as the form files exist on the same site.
Click All to import all Contact Form 7 forms, or click Specific Forms to see a list of available forms from which to choose.Then, click Begin Import to proceed.
Most field Contact Form 7 field types will work just fine in Forminator, but a small number will not. These include:
- Quiz Field – Forminator doesn’t have a built-in quiz field, however, you can enable Google’s reCAPTCHA v3 and Honeypot protection on your imported forms.
- ConstantContact – Forminator doesn’t integrate directly with ConstantContact. However, you can use Webhook integration with Zapier to send your leads to ConstantContact.
- reCaptcha v3 – At this stage, Forminator can’t import your existing reCAPTCHA integration. You can set this up manually on your imported forms once they are transferred.
- Additional Settings – Forminator doesn’t support CF7’s additional form settings.
- Custom field IDs – Forminator creates a unique ID for each field, and the conditional logic relies on them. However, you can provide a custom CSS class for each field.
4.12.7 Submissions (Settings)
NOTE
If you enable the “Custom” option for any of the features in this section but leave the value at “0”, that is the same as enabling the “Forever” option.
Forms Privacy
Submissions Retention
By default, all submissions will be kept forever but you can auto erase all submissions after a certain period in case you need to set that up.
IP Retention
Forminator will save IP addresses in your database. If you need to release this data (due to GDPR or any local law) you can customize the IP retention policy here.
Account Erasure Requests
Here you can choose what will happen to the submissions of a user you are deleting from your site (by using Tools/Erase personal data) if those submissions contain an email address. Retain Submission will leave all submissions of that user intact and Remove Submission will remove all submission from the user you deleted from your site.
Poll Privacy
Submissions Retention
Much like with forms above, you can choose to auto erase all poll submissions after a certain period.
IP Retention
Each time your visitors vote, Forminator will save their IP in your database (this is used to prevent multiple votes by one visitor on the poll they already voted in and to modify vote limitations). In case you need to release this data (due to GDPR or any local law) you can enable the IP Retention here.
Quiz Privacy
Submissions Retention
Here again, just like with forms and polls above, you can choose to auto erase all quiz submissions after a certain period.
4.12.8 Payments
Forminator supports both Stripe and PayPal online payment processing platforms.
NOTE
You must have access to an account with one or both of these services and one or both of those accounts must be connected to Forminator in order to use the payments feature.
Connect to Stripe
Stripe recommends the use of restricted API keys (RAKs) to improve security and efficiency in third-party integrations, in compliance with the latest standards. RAKs offer precise control over permissions, allowing third-party services to access only necessary data and actions.
As a result, we encourage all our users and members to use RAKs and integrate with Stripe using the Forminator Stripe App. See Stripe’s documentation to learn more about it.
To connect your Stripe account to Forminator, click the Connect to Stripe button.
You’ll be prompted to enter your Test and Live API keys in the modal that pops open.
To get the needed keys, click the Forminator Stripe App link in the feature description at the top. The link will redirect you to the app installation page, where you can install the app.
Alternatively, you can navigate to the Stripe marketplace, search for the Forminator Stripe App, and install it.
We highly recommend creating the API keys via the app. However, if you wish to create the API keys manually, navigate to the Manual API Key Creation section.
In the installation modal, click Continue.
Now, select the Stripe account to which you want to install the app. From the Install In drop-down in the bottom left corner of the modal, select if you want to install the app in Live or Test Mode.
IMPORTANT
Note that if the app is installed in live mode, it will not be accessible in test mode (or vice versa), and it will need to be separately reinstalled in test mode by following the installation steps.
Click the Install App button to complete the installation process. After successful installation, you will be able to find the app under the Installed Apps tab on the Team and Security page.
To generate the API keys, click on the app.
In the app dashboard, click the View API Keys button to pop open a modal where you can find your Publishable and Restricted keys. If you are in Live mode, click the Generate new key button and enter the verification code sent to the phone number associated with your Stripe account to reveal the restricted key.
Copy the keys and paste them into the corresponding fields in the Forminator Stripe integration modal. Note that the restricted key can be viewed only once. It’s important to make a copy of the key, as a new key needs to be generated in case it gets lost.
Note that you’ll need to get the Test Publishable and Restricted keys as well; Forminator requires both sets.
To get the Test keys, enable Test Mode in your Stripe account, install the app, and during installation, select Test Mode from the Install In drop-down. Then create the keys by repeating the above-mentioned steps.
Be sure to paste the Live keys in the Live fields and the Test keys in the Test fields, then click the Connect button.
Once connected, you’ll see your Stripe connection info appear to confirm, and you can set your Default Currency for Stripe payments.
IMPORTANT
If you generate a new live key, the old key will still remain valid for about 1 hour to avoid any unexpected transactional issues. If the app is uninstalled, the keys will become invalid instantly. It is important to ensure that you generate new keys and re-connect with Forminator if the app is accidentally uninstalled.
Once this setup is completed, you can add the Stripe payment field to any of your forms.
Manual API Key Creation
It is highly recommended that you use the Forminator Stripe App to generate the API keys, as the required key permissions are pre-defined to ensure a smooth key creation process.
However, if you wish to manually create the API keys, navigate to your Stripe dashboard, and on the Developers page, under the API keys tab, you can find the Standard and Restricted keys sections. Under the Standard Keys section, click on the publishable key value to copy the key.
To generate a new Restricted API key, click the Create Restricted Key button.
IMPORTANT
The following screen appears only in newly created Stripe accounts and may not appear in older ones during manual key creation. In such a case, you can directly configure the permissions.
In the modal that opens up, select the Building your own integration option and click Continue. Selecting this option ensures that permissions are not automatically configured.
In the Key name field enter an identifier for your key and configure the following permissions for the resource types
All core resources
Charges: Write
Customers: Write
PaymentIntents: Write
Products: Write
Tokens: Write
All Checkout resources
Checkout Sessions: Write
All Billing resources
Credit Notes: Read
Subscriptions: Write
All Connect resources: Read
All webhook resources
Webhook Endpoints: Read
All Terminal resources
Locations: Read
Readers: Write
The permissions for the rest of the resource types can be set to None. After setting up the above permissions, click Create Key. The new restricted API key will be created.
Remember to repeat the same steps in the Test mode to create the Test Publishable and Restricted API keys. Now, paste the copied keys into the corresponding fields in the integration modal.
Connect to PayPal
The setup for PayPal payments is very similar to Stripe above. Start by clicking the Connect to PayPal button.
You’ll be prompted to enter your Sandbox and Live keys in the modal that pops open.
To get the needed keys, click the here link in the feature description at the top. That link will redirect you to the My apps & credentials page in your PayPal developers account. If you are not already logged in there, you’ll be prompted to do so; just log in with your regular PayPal credentials. You should then see one or two default Sandbox accounts provided by PayPal.
Click on the name of a Sandbox account to open the credentials page, then copy the Sandbox Client ID and Secret from your PayPal account, and paste them in the corresponding fields in the Forminator popup.
You’ll then need to get the Live Client ID and Secret as well; Forminator requires both sets. To get the Live keys, navigate to the My apps & credentials page in your PayPal developers account. Then click the Live toggle at the top, and click the Create app button to create a live REST API app if you haven’t already.
Get the live Client ID and Secret keys the same way as the sandbox ones: click the name of your app and copy them from the next page. Then paste those keys in the corresponding fields in the Forminator popup.
Once again, be sure to paste the Live keys in the Live fields, and the Sandbox keys in the Sandbox fields, then click the Connect button. Once connected, you’ll see your PayPal connection info appear to confirm, and you can set your Default Currency for PayPal payments.
Once this setup is completed, you can add the PayPal payment field to any of your forms.
4.12.9 Permissions
You can configure and manage permissions to the features of Forminator for various user roles or users. By default, all administrators have complete access to all the features of Forminator.
Previously using the manage_forminator capability?
If you had previously added the manage_forminator capability to certain user roles using the User Role Editor plugin or similar, you can now remove that capability from those roles and grant users more fine-grained access rights with this new feature.
Click Add Permission to add new permission.
User role
Select this option if you want to add permission to all the users of a specific user role. From the drop-down select the user role to which you want the permissions to be applied.
Exclude users – If there are any specific user(s) of the chosen user role that you would like to exclude from the permission you can specify in this field by specifying their user name or email.
Specific User
If you want to add permissions to any specific user(s) you can select this option. Search the user you want to add permission to in the search bar.
Permissions
Here you can select the feature(s) that the chosen users or user role can access. Click Add Permissions to add the permission.
A list of all the added users or user roles will be displayed along with their permissions. The features that the user role/users can access are indicated by a green check mark and the ones that can’t be accessed are indicated by a lock icon.
Click the gear icon next to every added permission to view the options to edit or delete the added permission.
If any user or user role tries to access a feature that they don’t have the necessary permissions for, the following screen will be displayed.
4.12.10 Geolocation
Here you can enter the Google Maps API key to use the Geolocation feature in the address field of your forms.
Enable the “Default form settings” option if you want to enable Geolocation by default on all address fields across all the forms on your site.
Find your Google Maps API Keys
Login to Google Maps Platform. Click on the “Keys & Credentials” tab
Create a new project or select an existing project
Note: If you haven’t previously set up your billing account, provide your bank account details or add your credit/debit card details to set up a billing account. You won’t be charged until you exceed your free usage limitations.
Click on Create Credentials > API Key
The API key will be generated.
Copy and paste the generated key in the “Google Maps API” field under Geolocation settings