{"id":13945,"date":"2023-04-10T14:00:51","date_gmt":"2023-04-10T12:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/?p=13945"},"modified":"2023-08-30T13:28:34","modified_gmt":"2023-08-30T11:28:34","slug":"wordpress-form-to-database","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wordpress-form-to-database\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Save Contact Form 7 Data to Your WordPress Database"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wpb-content-wrapper\"><p>[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]You know how the vast collection of available plugins is one of the best things about WordPress? How you can use them to turn a plain WordPress installation into a beast of a website with all kinds of features and functionalities? Well, sometimes the plugins themselves require help from other plugins to make them more useful.<br \/>\n[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;28px&#8221;][vc_column_text]Take Contact Form 7, for example. It\u2019s probably the most popular WordPress form plugin, and certainly <a href=\"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/best-wordpress-form-plugins\/#contact-form-7\">one of the best form plugins<\/a> you can use. It\u2019s commonly supported by <a href=\"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/theme-plugin\/contact-form-7-wordpress-themes\/\">premium WordPress themes<\/a>. However, if you want to <a href=\"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/how-to-style-contact-form-7\/\">style Contact Form 7<\/a>, you\u2019d be best served by using <a href=\"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/qi-addons-for-elementor\/contact-form-7\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">our CF7 widget for Elementor<\/a>. As you can see from the <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/mjWBuQeXfr8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">video tutorial for the CF7 widget<\/a>, it\u2019s very user-friendly and applying proper styling to it can get you a long way in terms of conversions. If you\u2019re not a fan of Elementor and prefer block editing, there\u2019s also the almost identical <a href=\"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/qi-blocks-for-gutenberg\/contact-form-7\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">CF7 block for Gutenberg<\/a>. To see it in action, check out the <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/bAec78xnY7Q\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">CF7 block tutorial<\/a>. And if you want to save submissions to the database, you\u2019ll need some outside help, too. That\u2019s what we\u2019re going to talk about here.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;28px&#8221;][vc_column_text]Now would be a good time to say that if you\u2019re not saving your submissions, you might as well not have a contact form at all. These submissions are a tremendously useful pool of potential leads and prospects, and a base you can use for delivering your messages across various channels. Depending on the sort of info you\u2019re collecting, they can also be used for audience segmentation and targeting. You definitely want to have them all in one place, in your website\u2019s backend, i.e. your WordPress database. [\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;28px&#8221;][vc_column_text]In this article, we\u2019ll show you:[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;22px&#8221;]<ul class=\"qodef-unordered-list-item qodef-toc\">\n    <li>\n\t        <div class=\"qodef-ul-title-holder\">\n            <span class=\"qodef-ul-title-content\"><a href=\"#contact-form-7-submissions\">Where do Contact Form 7 Submissions Go?<\/a><\/span>        <\/div>\n            <\/li>\n<\/ul>[vc_empty_space height=&#8221;5px&#8221;]<ul class=\"qodef-unordered-list-item qodef-toc\">\n    <li>\n\t        <div class=\"qodef-ul-title-holder\">\n            <span class=\"qodef-ul-title-content\"><a href=\"#connect-contact-form-7-to-your-database\">How to Connect Contact Form 7 to Your Database<\/a><\/span>        <\/div>\n            <\/li>\n<\/ul>[vc_empty_space height=&#8221;5px&#8221;]<ul class=\"qodef-unordered-list-item qodef-toc\">\n    <li>\n\t        <div class=\"qodef-ul-title-holder\">\n            <span class=\"qodef-ul-title-content\"><a href=\"#plugins-instead-of-flamingo\">Plugins You Can Use Instead of Flamingo<\/a><\/span>        <\/div>\n            <\/li>\n<\/ul>[vc_empty_space height=&#8221;68px&#8221;][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"qodef-h4\"><a id=\"contact-form-7-submissions\"><\/a>Where do Contact Form 7 Submissions Go?<\/h2>\n<p>[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;24px&#8221;]<div class=\"qodef-single-image-holder   qodef-has-border \">\n    <div class=\"qodef-si-inner\" >\n                                    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"700\" height=\"374\" src=\"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Contact-Form-7.jpg\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"Contact Form 7\" srcset=\"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Contact-Form-7.jpg 700w, https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Contact-Form-7-300x160.jpg 300w, https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Contact-Form-7-620x331.jpg 620w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/>                        <\/div>\n<\/div>[vc_empty_space height=&#8221;38px&#8221;][vc_column_text]The way Contact Form 7 is set up, any submissions you get from your forms will be sent to you via an email. Setting up the sender email address, the one that\u2019s on the same domain as your website, and the recipient email, which can be whatever you want it to be, is one of the crucial steps of configuring the plugin before you start using it. [\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;28px&#8221;][vc_column_text]While this system might work, it\u2019s easy to see why users would want it a bit different. <strong>Entirely relying on your email means that you\u2019ll get no info from contact forms if you mess up the configuration of either of your email addresses<\/strong>.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;28px&#8221;][vc_column_text]But even if you do that step well, you can still have issues with the current system. It puts you completely at the mercy of your recipient email service provider for form data storage and additional functionalities. <strong>If something goes wrong with your email service provider or account, you can quickly lose all the contact form data<\/strong>. The way you search and export your data will also depend on the email service you\u2019re using.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;28px&#8221;][vc_column_text]If nothing else, having to open your email client every time you want to check for new submissions can also be a drag and disruptive to your workflow. <strong>Having access to the contact form submissions from your website\u2019s backend makes perfect sense if you spend lots of time there<\/strong>.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;80px&#8221;][vc_widget_sidebar sidebar_id=&#8221;latest-themes&#8221;][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;81px&#8221;][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"qodef-h4\"><a id=\"connect-contact-form-7-to-your-database\"><\/a>How to Connect Contact Form 7 to Your Database<\/h2>\n<p>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]If you want to change how Contact Form 7 handles your form submissions and save them to your website\u2019s database, you can do that with a plugin. <strong>There are a couple you can use, including one that was developed by the team behind Contact Form 7<\/strong>. It\u2019s called <a href=\"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/plugins\/flamingo\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Flamingo<\/a>, and we\u2019ll show you how to start using it.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;28px&#8221;][vc_column_text]With Contact Form 7 installed, head over to <em><strong>Plugins &gt; Add New<\/strong><\/em>. Search for the keyword \u201cflamingo,\u201d and you\u2019ll probably see it as the first result. <strong>Install and activate it<\/strong>.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;50px&#8221;]<div class=\"qodef-single-image-holder   qodef-has-border \">\n    <div class=\"qodef-si-inner\" >\n                                    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"700\" height=\"374\" src=\"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Flamingo-Plugin.jpg\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"Flamingo Plugin\" srcset=\"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Flamingo-Plugin.jpg 700w, https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Flamingo-Plugin-300x160.jpg 300w, https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Flamingo-Plugin-620x331.jpg 620w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/>                        <\/div>\n<\/div>[vc_empty_space height=&#8221;38px&#8221;][vc_column_text]And with that, you\u2019ve done all you need. <strong>There\u2019s no additional setting up needed \u2014 the submissions you get through Contact Form 7 will be stored in the <em>wp_posts<\/em> database<\/strong>. If you want to see them, you can head over to the newly added Flamingo tab on your website\u2019s dashboard. There, you\u2019ll notice the \u201cAddress Book\u201d and the \u201cInbound Messages\u201d options.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;50px&#8221;]<div class=\"qodef-single-image-holder   qodef-has-border \">\n    <div class=\"qodef-si-inner\" >\n                                    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"700\" height=\"374\" src=\"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Flamingo-Plugin-WordPress.jpg\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"Flamingo Plugin WordPress\" srcset=\"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Flamingo-Plugin-WordPress.jpg 700w, https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Flamingo-Plugin-WordPress-300x160.jpg 300w, https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Flamingo-Plugin-WordPress-620x331.jpg 620w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/>                        <\/div>\n<\/div>[vc_empty_space height=&#8221;38px&#8221;][vc_column_text]Choosing the \u201cInbound Messages\u201d will take you to a window that contains all the messages you\u2019ve received, sortable by subject, sender, channel, and date. <strong>You\u2019ll also be able to easily export all the messages in a .csv file with the click of a button<\/strong>.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;50px&#8221;]<div class=\"qodef-single-image-holder   qodef-has-border \">\n    <div class=\"qodef-si-inner\" >\n                                    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"700\" height=\"374\" src=\"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Inbound-Messages.jpg\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"Inbound Messages\" srcset=\"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Inbound-Messages.jpg 700w, https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Inbound-Messages-300x160.jpg 300w, https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Inbound-Messages-620x331.jpg 620w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/>                        <\/div>\n<\/div>[vc_empty_space height=&#8221;38px&#8221;][vc_column_text]The plugin will save contacts in the Address Book by default. If this is something that you don\u2019t want Flamingo to do, you\u2019ll have to install yet another plugin to stop it. <strong>Otherwise, you\u2019ll be able to export your contacts just like you would your posts<\/strong>.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;80px&#8221;][vc_widget_sidebar sidebar_id=&#8221;qi-banner&#8221;][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;81px&#8221;][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"qodef-h4\"><a id=\"plugins-instead-of-flamingo\"><\/a>Plugins You Can Use Instead of Flamingo<\/h2>\n<p>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Flamingo is a simple plugin that does its job well. However, if you for any reason have some problems when using it, or if you want a plugin with different features \u2014 or just more of them \u2014 <strong>there are other plugins you can use instead of Flamingo<\/strong>.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;72px&#8221;][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"qodef-h5\">Contact Form 7 Database Addon<\/h3>\n<p>[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;24px&#8221;]<div class=\"qodef-single-image-holder   qodef-has-border \">\n    <div class=\"qodef-si-inner\" >\n                                    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"700\" height=\"374\" src=\"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Contact-Form-7-Database-Addon.jpg\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"Contact Form 7 Database Addon\" srcset=\"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Contact-Form-7-Database-Addon.jpg 700w, https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Contact-Form-7-Database-Addon-300x160.jpg 300w, https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Contact-Form-7-Database-Addon-620x331.jpg 620w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/>                        <\/div>\n<\/div>[vc_empty_space height=&#8221;38px&#8221;][vc_column_text]<a href=\"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/plugins\/contact-form-cfdb7\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Contact Form 7 Database Addon<\/a>, CFDB7 for short, is a popular CF7 database plugin that\u2019s simple to install and even simpler to use. <strong>It does pretty much the same thing as Flamingo<\/strong> \u2014 it starts capturing form submissions into the database once activated, and it doesn\u2019t burden you with unnecessary options.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;72px&#8221;][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"qodef-h5\">Contact Form Entries<\/h3>\n<p>[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;24px&#8221;]<div class=\"qodef-single-image-holder   qodef-has-border \">\n    <div class=\"qodef-si-inner\" >\n                                    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"700\" height=\"374\" src=\"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Contact-Form-Entries.jpg\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"Contact Form Entries\" srcset=\"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Contact-Form-Entries.jpg 700w, https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Contact-Form-Entries-300x160.jpg 300w, https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Contact-Form-Entries-620x331.jpg 620w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/>                        <\/div>\n<\/div>[vc_empty_space height=&#8221;38px&#8221;][vc_column_text]The <a href=\"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/plugins\/contact-form-entries\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Contact Form Entries<\/a> plugin brings support for multiple contact form plugins and some advanced options that could help with <a href=\"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wordpres-gdpr-compliance\/\">your website\u2019s GDPR compliance<\/a>. <strong>Contact Form Entries allows you to disable storing user information such as IP addresses, OS, browser, and screen size<\/strong>.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;72px&#8221;][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"qodef-h5\">Advanced Contact Form 7 DB<\/h3>\n<p>[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;24px&#8221;]<div class=\"qodef-single-image-holder   qodef-has-border \">\n    <div class=\"qodef-si-inner\" >\n                                    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"700\" height=\"374\" src=\"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Advanced-Contact-form-7-DB.jpg\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"Advanced Contact form 7 DB\" srcset=\"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Advanced-Contact-form-7-DB.jpg 700w, https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Advanced-Contact-form-7-DB-300x160.jpg 300w, https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Advanced-Contact-form-7-DB-620x331.jpg 620w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/>                        <\/div>\n<\/div>[vc_empty_space height=&#8221;38px&#8221;][vc_column_text]The <a href=\"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/plugins\/advanced-cf7-db\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Advanced Contact Form 7 DB<\/a> plugin packs plenty of features you\u2019d expect from it, such as search, filtering, and exporting. <strong>If you want it to shine, however, you\u2019ll have to install some of its commercial addons<\/strong>. That way, you can get a GDPR-compliant version of the plugin and enable features such as reporting and user access management.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;68px&#8221;][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"qodef-h4\">Let\u2019s Wrap It Up!<\/h2>\n<p>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]In the years since it was created, Contact Form 7 has managed to become the go-to contact form plugin for many WordPress users. A user base that measures in millions is the best confirmation of quality a plugin could have \u2014 but it\u2019s no guarantee it will be flawless.<br \/>\n[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;28px&#8221;][vc_column_text]If the inability to save entries in the WordPress form to the database is something you don\u2019t like about Contact Form 7, don\u2019t worry. There are more than a few plugins that can add that feature to CF7, including the one from the same developers who worked on the original.<br \/>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Need to save data from a Contact Form 7 WordPress form to the database? You can easily take care of it using a plugin \u2014 we&#8217;ll show you how!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9295,"featured_media":13950,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[15,4,39,13],"class_list":["post-13945","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tutorials","tag-plugins","tag-tips","tag-tools","tag-wordpress"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13945","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9295"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13945"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13945\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13950"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13945"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13945"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13945"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}