Do you want to create a form in WordPress? With the right plugin, it's easy! Learn how to build a form with the Formidable drag & drop form builder.
Approximate read-time: 3 minutes
New to WordPress? There's a lot to learn, right? Luckily, form building is one of the easiest parts of creating a WordPress website.
Phew! One less thing to worry about eh?
Formidable Forms is the best WordPress Form Builder plugin.
In this step by step guide, we'll show you how to use a form editor to create a simple contact form in WordPress. After that, you'll be on your way to crafting the most amazing WordPress site imaginable! All you need is solid a WordPress form plugin.
To create a WordPress form, follow these steps:
- Install & activate a WordPress form plugin
- Create a new form
- Add form fields
- Publish your form
1. Install and activate a WordPress form plugin
The first step is to install and activate a WordPress form builder plugin. There are a lot of choices, but today we're going to use one that is trusted by more than 200,000 businesses: Formidable Forms.
Formidable is a drag and drop form builder that makes creating a form easy. The best part is it's completely free!
Of course, there are plenty of advanced features in the pro version, but in this tutorial, all you'll need is the basic plugin.
Here's how to install the free version of Formidable Forms:
- Go to your WordPress Dashboard, and go to the Plugins → Add New page.
- Search for 'Formidable' and click the Install button. After installing, click the Activate button that appears.
Learn more: How to Install Formidable Forms Pro
2. Create a new form
Now that you've installed your new WordPress form plugin, it's time to create a new form. Stay in your WordPress admin and look at the sidebar on the left side of your screen.
- Go to Formidable → Forms and click + Add New at the top of the page.
- Click Create Form under 'Blank Form'.
- Give your new form a name and click Create to start building your contact form.
Need more details? Read our 'create a form' help documentation.
3. Add form fields
Once you've created a new form, all we need to do is add some form fields. We told you this would be easy!
By now you should be looking at Formidable's drag and drop form builder. From this interface, form design is simple.
Just add the fields you need for a contact form then drag them over to the right. You can drag the fields around to adjust the order of the fields as you like.
As you can see, there are quite a number of fields to choose from. For a simple contact form, you can consider adding these fields:
- Single Line Text
- Email Address
- Paragraph Text
- reCAPTCHA
A Single Line Text field can be used in a variety of ways. For a contact form, you'll want to allow users to leave their name.
To do this, all you need is to click on your single line text field, then change the Field Label in the Field Options section in the sidebar.
Using the above method, you could add another text field so users could add a subject to their message too.
For more info on fields, check out our field types help doc.
4. Publish your form
Now that you've created your contact form, you'll just need to publish it. You do want people to contact you, don't you?
First things first, you need to create a new page or post where your form will be published.
Once that's done, we can add the newly created form in a few ways:
If you've never used a WordPress shortcode before, don't worry. They are very easy to use. You can easily spot a shortcode because they are always wrapped in square brackets [like this].
Your newly created form will have a shortcode that can be found by accessing the Settings tab just above the form builder.
If you are using the WordPress Gutenberg editor, you can also insert your form using a block.
What's next?
Congratulations! You've created and published your first form. Not so difficult, was it?
As you might have guessed, this contact form is just the tip of the iceberg. After publishing your form, you can expect to see some form submissions. Those will always show up in the Form Entries tab when viewing your form.
Learn More: How to Add Email Subscription Forms in WordPress
Here are a few more ideas to keep the momentum going:
- Learn about the different ways to use forms in WordPress
- Learn more about sending confirmation emails with WordPress Forms
- See our list of the best WordPress plugins
For more WordPress wizardry, keep an eye on the Formidable blog! We cover topics ranging from beginner to advanced difficulty. See you there!
Read More from the Formidable Blog
- 7 Best Free WordPress Form Plugins
- 8 Ways to Reduce HTTP Requests on WordPress sites
- What are the Best ADA Compatible WCAG Forms?
Not using Formidable Forms yet? Get started today with our free plugin or the full-featured premium plans!