VS Contact Form

Description

About

With this lightweight plugin you can create a contact form.

To display your form you can use a block, a shortcode or a widget.

Form contains fields for Name, Email, Subject and Message. Also included are a sum field (to avoid abuse) and a privacy consent checkbox.

You can customize your form via the settings page or with attributes.

It’s also possible to display form submissions in your dashboard.

How to use

After installation add the VS Contact Form block or the shortcode [contact] to a page to display your form.

Or go to Appearance > Widgets and use the VS Contact Form widget.

You can customize your form via the settings page or with attributes.

Settings page

You can customize your form via the settings page. This page is located at Settings > VS Contact Form.

Settings and labels can be overridden when using the relevant attributes below.

This can be useful when having multiple contact forms on your website.

Attributes

You can also customize your form by adding attributes to the block, the shortcode or the widget. Attributes will override the settings page.

Misc:

• Add custom CSS class to form: class="your-class-name"
• Change email address for sending: email_to="your-email-address"
• Send to multiple email addresses (max 5): email_to="first-email-address, second-email-address"
• Change “From” email header: from_header="your-email-address"
• Change subject in email: subject="your subject"
• Change subject in auto-reply email to sender: subject_auto_reply="your subject"

Field labels:

• Name: label_name="your label"
• Email: label_email="your label"
• Subject: label_subject="your label"
• Message: label_message="your label"
• Privacy consent: label_privacy="your label"
• Submit: label_submit="your label"

Field placeholders:

• Name: placeholder_name="your placeholder"
• Email: placeholder_email="your placeholder"
• Subject: placeholder_subject="your placeholder"
• Message: placeholder_message="your placeholder"

Field error labels:

• Name: error_name="your label"
• Email: error_email="your label"
• Subject: error_subject="your label"
• Sum: error_sum="your label"
• Message: error_message="your label"
• Message – more than 1 link is not allowed: error_message_has_links="your label"
• Message – links are not allowed: error_message_has_links="your label"
• Message – email addresses are not allowed: error_message_has_email="your label"
• Banned words: error_banned_words="your label"
• Privacy consent: error_privacy="your label"

Messages:

• Displayed when sending succeeds: thank_you_message="your message"
• Displayed in the auto-reply email to sender: auto_reply_message="your message"

Example: [contact email_to="your-email-address" subject="your subject" label_submit="your label"]

When using the block or the widget, don’t add the main shortcode tag or the brackets.

Example: email_to="your-email-address" subject="your subject" label_submit="your label"

Display form submissions in dashboard

Via the settings page you can activate form submissions being displayed in your dashboard.

After activation go to menu item “Submissions”. Your form submissions will be listed here.

SMTP

SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) is an internet standard for sending emails.

By default, WordPress uses the PHP mail() function for sending emails. But when using SMTP there’s less chance your form submissions are being marked as spam.

You must install an additional plugin for this, such as WP mail SMTP.

Cache

If you’re using a caching plugin and want to avoid conflicts with the contact form, I recommend excluding your contact page from caching. This can be done via the settings page of most caching plugins.

Have a question?

Please take a look at the FAQ section.

Translation

Translations are not included, but the plugin supports WordPress language packs.

More translations are very welcome!

The translation folder inside this plugin is redundant, but kept for reference.

Credits

Without help and support from the WordPress community I was not able to develop this plugin, so thank you!

Screenshots

Blocks

This plugin provides 1 block.

• VS Contact Form

FAQ

How do I set plugin language?

The plugin will use the website language, set in Settings > General.

If translations are not available in the selected language, English will be used.

What is the default email address?

By default form submissions will be send to the email address set in Settings > General.

You can change this via the settings page or by using an attribute.

Why is the “from” email address not from sender?

I have used a default “From” email header to avoid form submissions being marked as spam.

Best practice is using a “From” email header (an email address) that ends with your website domain.

The default “From” email header starts with “wordpress” and ends with your website domain.

You can change this by using an attribute.

Your reply to sender will use another email header, called “Reply-To”, which is the email address that sender has filled in.

Why does the form look different between themes?

The plugin uses minimal styling and therefore also depends on the styling of your theme.

Can I display multiple forms on the same page?

Do not add multiple blocks, shortcodes or widgets to the same page. This might cause a conflict.

But you can display a form by using the block or the shortcode and a form by using the widget.

Can I add extra fields to form?

If you want extra fields you should use another contact form plugin, such as WPForms.

Why does form submission fail?

An error message is displayed if plugin was unable to send form. Or nothing seems to happen.

• Install an SMTP plugin and try again
• If you are using an SMTP plugin, check the settings page of that plugin for mistakes
• With most SMTP plugins you can test the mail function by sending a test mail
• Disable caching and try again
• Check the built-in anti-spam features, by activating debugging via the settings page

Sometimes form submission fails because your hosting provider has disabled the PHP mail() function. Sending via SMTP will solve this.

For more info about SMTP check the “SMTP” section above.

For more info about caching check the “Cache” section above.

Why do I not receive form submissions?

• Check the junk/spam folder of your mailbox
• If you are using attributes, check your attributes for mistakes
• Check the settings page for disabled email sending or a wrong email address
• Install an SMTP plugin and try again
• If you are using an SMTP plugin, check the settings page of that plugin for mistakes
• With most SMTP plugins you can test the mail function by sending a test mail
• Install another contact form plugin to determine whether it’s caused by VS Contact Form or not

For more info about SMTP check the “SMTP” section above.

Does this plugin have anti-spam features?

Of course, the default WordPress validating, sanitizing and escaping functions are included.

Also included are a sum field, hidden honeypot fields and a hidden time trap.

And you can limit the number of links and email addresses that is allowed in Message field.

How does the “ignore form submissions” feature work?

If you receive a lot of spam you can choose to ignore form submissions with banned words, links or email addresses.

Sender can still fill out the form and include banned words, links or email addresses. But nothing happens with this form submission. So sender gets the impression form is successfully send and moves on.

You can activate this feature via the settings page.

Does this plugin meet the conditions of the GDPR?

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a regulation in EU law on data protection and privacy for all individuals within the European Union.

I did my best to meet the conditions of the GDPR:

• Form contains a privacy consent checkbox
• You can disable collection of IP address
• Form submissions are safely stored in database, similar to how the default posts and pages are stored
• You can easily delete form submissions
• You can disable form submissions being stored in datebase

Why is there no semantic versioning?

The version number won’t give you info about the type of update (major, minor, patch). You should check the changelog to see whether or not the update is a major or minor one.

How can I make a donation?

You like my plugin and want to make a donation? There’s a PayPal donate link at my website. Thank you!

Other questions or comments?

Please open a topic in the www.ads-software.com support forum for this plugin.

Reviews

Does what I need it to

Chris Lovie-Tyler April 19, 2024

I needed a simple form plugin that didn’t come with all the bells and whistles like most of the others. This does what I need. Thanks!

Rarely you find someone so commited to what he puts out

optimalprime February 18, 2024 2 replies

I had a problem with spam lately after years of not getting any really, which in itself is a great result already. I already liked the plugin for its simplicity and clean look, but after experiencing how Guido addressed my questions when we did got spam, I can only say this man is a true caring professional. You feel his intention is to try to make his extension better, being very informative with consistent communication along the way. I wish everyone was like him, would make everything much more fluent. This review is well deserved, It’s not many times i write an unasked review, but I feld this time it wouldnt be fair if I didnt. Thanks a lot Guido, again.

I Love It

Ivcata October 6, 2023

I just love it.

Excellent Contact Form

cognaccola August 12, 2023

Simple to use, activate, drop [contact] in a page. Done Looks good, works good. Period, what more do you want?

What most people are looking for

thedoctorcoernel November 28, 2022

… is this plugin when they are looking for contact forms. There are some many contact form plugins with drag and drop building stuff really nobody uses. This plugin is really simple and perfect for my use! Also this plugin does not contact any external servers. Perfect!

Perfect and great plugin

Rebel Republik July 23, 2022

So happy to find this plugin. Using since ever Contact form 7. But is no more SEO friendly. The support is so fast and efficient. And the installation in Wordpress so easy. So Thanks Guido for your great plugin!!!

Contributors & Developers

Changelog

Version 16.6

• Minor changes in code

Version 16.5

• Minor changes in code

Version 16.4

• New: choose which form submissions to ignore
• Ignore form submissions with banned words
• Ignore form submissions when Message field does not accept links or email addresses

Version 16.3

• Minor changes in code

Version 16.2

• Fix: detect email address in Message field
• Minor changes in code

Version 16.1

• Fix: typo

Version 16.0

• Minor changes in code

Version 15.9

• New: add a maximum of 5 email addresses for sending via the settings page
• You can still use the email_to attribute to override this

Version 15.8

• New: VS Contact Form block
• Block editor users can now replace their shortcode block with the VS Contact Form block

Version 15.7

• Fix: “From” email header

For all versions please check file changelog.