by Matthew Muro
4.1 (318 reviews)
Visual Form Builder
Build beautiful, fully functional contact forms in only a few minutes without writing PHP, CSS, or HTML.
Tested up to WP 6.0.11 (Current: 6.9)
v3.1
Current Version v3.1
Updated 3 years ago
Last Update on 27 May, 2022
Synced 7 hours ago
Last Synced on
Rank
#1,292
-1 this week
Active Installs
20K+
-23.6%
KW Avg Position
N/A
—
No change
Downloads
1.7M
+1 today
Support Resolved
0%
—
No change
Rating
82%
Review 4.1 out of 5
4.1
(318 reviews)
Next Milestone 30K
20K+
30K+
155
Ranks to Climb
-
Growth Needed
8,000,000
Active Installs
Pro
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Rank Changes
Current
#1,292
Change
Best
#
Downloads Growth
Downloads
Growth
Peak
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Upgrade NowReviews & Ratings
4.1
318 reviews
Overall
82%
5
219
(69%)
4
20
(6%)
3
11
(3%)
2
18
(6%)
1
50
(16%)
Tracked Keywords
Showing 0 of 0| Keyword | Position | Change | Type | Updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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- Version
- 3.1
- Last Updated
- May 27, 2022
- Requires WP
- 4.7+
- Tested Up To
- 6.0.11
- PHP Version
- N/A
- Author
- Matthew Muro
Support & Rating
- Rating
- ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ 4.1
- Reviews
- 318
- Support Threads
- 0
- Resolved
- 0%
Keywords
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Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about Visual Form Builder
Click on the Visual Form Builder > Add New link and enter a few form details
Click the form fields from the box on the left to add it to your form.
Edit the information for each form field by clicking on the down arrow.
Drag and drop the elements to sort them.
Click Save Form to save your changes.
Click the form fields from the box on the left to add it to your form.
Edit the information for each form field by clicking on the down arrow.
Drag and drop the elements to sort them.
Click Save Form to save your changes.
Visual Form Builder uses a text CAPTCHA. If you decide to upgrade to Visual Form Builder Pro, you will gain Akismet support.
Emails are not being sent
Note: Form submissions will always be saved in the database whether or not the email was sent.
Check SPAM folder
A quick look in the SPAM folder will tell you if the emails are being routed into the folder. If so, simply train your email client to not treat those emails as SPAM
Configure your site to use SMTP
Some people have reported that after the form is submitted, no email is received. If this is the case for you, it typically means that your server or web host has not properly configured their SMTP settings.
Try using a plugin such as WP Mail SMTP to correct the issue.
Set the Reply-To email to a same domain email
Setting up SMTP will get you part of the way there. For most, it solves the problem. For others, it requires additional configuration
If you find that emails are not being sent, you should first confirm that you have completed all of the details in the Form Settings > Email section. Next, be sure to set the Reply-To option to an email that exists on the same domain as your WordPress site.
Set the Sender email to an email that exists on the domain
In addition to the Reply-To header, some hosts require that the Sender header is also set to an email that exists on the domain. By default, the Sender email is automatically set to either your admin email if the domain matches. If it does not match, then a local email address is created (wordpress@yoursitename.com).
To change this behavior to use an email that exists on the domain, you will need to set the Sender Mail Header option on the Visual Form Builder > Settings page.
Possible mod_security conflict
Some servers are overzealous in their restrictions on the $_POST object and will block anything with certain keywords. Check your server logs and look for any 403 Forbidden or 500 Internal Server errors. If you notice these errors when submitting a form, contact your host and find out if there are any restrictions.
Enable local mail for your domain
Be sure to enable local mail delivery for your domain. Disabling local mail delivery is common if you are using an external mail server, but can cause bounce-backs saying the email user does not exist.
Also, if possible, check your server’s email logs or have your host check them for you and see if it’s refusing to send an email. It’s possible your email server is attempting to send the emails but can’t for missing mail resources, security, SPAM filtering, or other technical problems.
Resolving Theme or Plugin Conflicts
Visual Form Builder is built using preferred WordPress coding standards. In many cases, some theme authors or plugin developers do not follow these standards and it causes conflicts with those that do follow the standards. The two most common issues have to do with either jQuery or CSS.
jQuery conflicts
Visual Form Builder requires at least jQuery version 1.7. Please make sure your theme is updated to use the latest version of jQuery.
CSS conflicts
If your forms do not look as expected, chances are there's some CSS in your theme conflicting with the built-in CSS of Visual Form Builder.
Theme conflicts
If you have confirmed that you are using the latest version of jQuery and can rule out CSS conflicts, there's probably something in your theme still causing problems.
Activate the default "Twenty" theme
Test your site to see if the issue still occurs
Still having problems even with the default theme running? If not, it's a conflict with your theme. Otherwise, it's probably a plugin conflict.
Plugin conflicts
Before following this process, make sure you have updated all plugins to their latest version (yes, even Visual Form Builder).
Deactivate ALL plugins
Activate Visual Form Builder
Test your site to see if the issue still occurs
If everything works with only Visual Form Builder activated, you have a plugin conflict. Re-activate the plugins one by one until you find the problematic plugin(s).
If, after following the above procedures, you are still having problems please report this issue on the Support Forum.
Customizing the form design
By upgrading to VFB Pro, you be able to purchase the Form Designer add-on which will let you easily customize the design.
Customizing the Date Picker
The jQuery UI Date Picker is a complex and highly configurable plugin. By default, Visual Form Builder's date field will use the default options and configuration.
How do I translate the error messages to my language?
The validation messages (ex: ‘This field is required’ or ‘Please enter a valid email address’) are generated by the jQuery Form Validation plugin.
By default, these messages are in English. To translate them, you can either use the free add-on Custom Validation Messages or follow the manual JavaScript method.
The recommended method to translate the messages is by installing the free Custom Validation Messages add-on. This will let you easily change the messages for all forms from within the WordPress admin.
If you would rather use the manual method, you will need to follow the instructions below.
Follow these instructions:
In your theme folder, create a JavaScript file. In this example, I'm using myjs.js. Add the following code to it and customize the language to what you need:
jQuery(document).ready(function($) {
$.extend($.validator.messages, {
required: "Eingabe nötig",
email: "Bitte eine gültige E-Mail-Adresse eingeben"
});
});
Now, in your functions.php file, add the following piece of code:
add_action( 'wp_enqueue_scripts', 'my_scripts_method' );
function my_scripts_method() {
wp_register_script( 'my-vfb-validation',
get_template_directory_uri() . '/js/my-js.js',
array( 'jquery', 'jquery-form-validation' ),
'1.0',
false );
wp_enqueue_script( 'my-vfb-validation' );
}
Emails are not being sent
Note: Form submissions will always be saved in the database whether or not the email was sent.
Check SPAM folder
A quick look in the SPAM folder will tell you if the emails are being routed into the folder. If so, simply train your email client to not treat those emails as SPAM
Configure your site to use SMTP
Some people have reported that after the form is submitted, no email is received. If this is the case for you, it typically means that your server or web host has not properly configured their SMTP settings.
Try using a plugin such as WP Mail SMTP to correct the issue.
Set the Reply-To email to a same domain email
Setting up SMTP will get you part of the way there. For most, it solves the problem. For others, it requires additional configuration
If you find that emails are not being sent, you should first confirm that you have completed all of the details in the Form Settings > Email section. Next, be sure to set the Reply-To option to an email that exists on the same domain as your WordPress site.
Set the Sender email to an email that exists on the domain
In addition to the Reply-To header, some hosts require that the Sender header is also set to an email that exists on the domain. By default, the Sender email is automatically set to either your admin email if the domain matches. If it does not match, then a local email address is created (wordpress@yoursitename.com).
To change this behavior to use an email that exists on the domain, you will need to set the Sender Mail Header option on the Visual Form Builder > Settings page.
Possible mod_security conflict
Some servers are overzealous in their restrictions on the $_POST object and will block anything with certain keywords. Check your server logs and look for any 403 Forbidden or 500 Internal Server errors. If you notice these errors when submitting a form, contact your host and find out if there are any restrictions.
Enable local mail for your domain
Be sure to enable local mail delivery for your domain. Disabling local mail delivery is common if you are using an external mail server, but can cause bounce-backs saying the email user does not exist.
Also, if possible, check your server’s email logs or have your host check them for you and see if it’s refusing to send an email. It’s possible your email server is attempting to send the emails but can’t for missing mail resources, security, SPAM filtering, or other technical problems.
Resolving Theme or Plugin Conflicts
Visual Form Builder is built using preferred WordPress coding standards. In many cases, some theme authors or plugin developers do not follow these standards and it causes conflicts with those that do follow the standards. The two most common issues have to do with either jQuery or CSS.
jQuery conflicts
Visual Form Builder requires at least jQuery version 1.7. Please make sure your theme is updated to use the latest version of jQuery.
CSS conflicts
If your forms do not look as expected, chances are there's some CSS in your theme conflicting with the built-in CSS of Visual Form Builder.
Theme conflicts
If you have confirmed that you are using the latest version of jQuery and can rule out CSS conflicts, there's probably something in your theme still causing problems.
Activate the default "Twenty" theme
Test your site to see if the issue still occurs
Still having problems even with the default theme running? If not, it's a conflict with your theme. Otherwise, it's probably a plugin conflict.
Plugin conflicts
Before following this process, make sure you have updated all plugins to their latest version (yes, even Visual Form Builder).
Deactivate ALL plugins
Activate Visual Form Builder
Test your site to see if the issue still occurs
If everything works with only Visual Form Builder activated, you have a plugin conflict. Re-activate the plugins one by one until you find the problematic plugin(s).
If, after following the above procedures, you are still having problems please report this issue on the Support Forum.
Customizing the form design
By upgrading to VFB Pro, you be able to purchase the Form Designer add-on which will let you easily customize the design.
Customizing the Date Picker
The jQuery UI Date Picker is a complex and highly configurable plugin. By default, Visual Form Builder's date field will use the default options and configuration.
How do I translate the error messages to my language?
The validation messages (ex: ‘This field is required’ or ‘Please enter a valid email address’) are generated by the jQuery Form Validation plugin.
By default, these messages are in English. To translate them, you can either use the free add-on Custom Validation Messages or follow the manual JavaScript method.
The recommended method to translate the messages is by installing the free Custom Validation Messages add-on. This will let you easily change the messages for all forms from within the WordPress admin.
If you would rather use the manual method, you will need to follow the instructions below.
Follow these instructions:
In your theme folder, create a JavaScript file. In this example, I'm using myjs.js. Add the following code to it and customize the language to what you need:
jQuery(document).ready(function($) {
$.extend($.validator.messages, {
required: "Eingabe nötig",
email: "Bitte eine gültige E-Mail-Adresse eingeben"
});
});
Now, in your functions.php file, add the following piece of code:
add_action( 'wp_enqueue_scripts', 'my_scripts_method' );
function my_scripts_method() {
wp_register_script( 'my-vfb-validation',
get_template_directory_uri() . '/js/my-js.js',
array( 'jquery', 'jquery-form-validation' ),
'1.0',
false );
wp_enqueue_script( 'my-vfb-validation' );
}