Forms

Forms are created for the Human Resources website using a plugin called Gravity Forms. This portion of the manual references specifics for Gravity Forms version 2.4.11.

For more up to date information, visit the Gravity Forms user guide.

As a security precaution, do not ask for a users personally identifiable information (PII) or personally identifiable financial information (PIFI) when creating a form. PII or PIFI is any data that could potentially identify a specific individual. Examples of identifiers include social security numbers (SSN) or passport information.

Accessing Gravity Forms

Accessing Forms Management

Log into WordPress
Select “Forms” from the left WordPress menu

Accessing Forms Administrative Settings

Log into WordPress
Select “Plugins” from the left WordPress menu
Find “Gravity Forms” in the plugin list
Select “Settings” from beneath the Gravity Forms title
Adjust as needed

Forms Management

Creating a New Form

Log into WordPress
Select “Forms” from the left WordPress menu
Next to the page title, select the “Add New” button
From the modal window that appears, fill out the “Form Title” field and select the “Create Form” button – once this step is complete your form will be created and active
Once finished, move onto the Form Settings section of this tutorial

Populating Form Fields

Log into WordPress
Select “Forms” from the left WordPress menu
Hover over a form title then select “Edit” from the menu that appears; or if following along after creating a new form, move onto the next step
To start creating your forms, select a field option from the right menu under the “Standard Fields” heading or “Advanced Fields” heading (which includes pre-made form options) – feel free to review what each option does under the Field Option Definitions section of this manual
Once your form options have appeared on the left, hover over the “Untitled” heading for each field option
From the box that appears, select the downward arrow to modify options
Fill out appropriate options according to your field needs
Once you’ve finished with your field options, re-select the arrow close that fields options
Repeat the above steps for each form option created
Once finished, move onto the Settings section of this tutorial; or if updating a pre-existing form select the “Update” button

Form Settings

Log into WordPress
Select “Forms” from the left WordPress menu
Hover over a form title then select “Settings” from the menu that appears; or if following along after creating a new form, select the “Settings” icon from the top form menu
Set up form basics – this is the “Form Settings” screen that will load after entering this section
- Include your form title (required)
- Include any optional information included in this section
- Select the “Update Form Settings” button when finished
Set up form confirmations – this is the text the user will see once a form is submitted by a user:
- Select “Confirmations” from the settings sub menu on the right
- Hover over “Default Confirmation” and select “Edit” from the menu that appears
- Include confirmation text, as needed
- Select the “Save Confirmation” button when finished
Set up form notifications – these are emails that will be sent to a specific individual or group of individuals when a form is submitted by a user:
- Select “Notifications” from the settings sub menu on the right
- Hover over “Admin Notification” and select “Edit” from the menu that appears
- Using the pre-set options, include notification specifics that will be used for this form
- Fill out the required “Sent to Email” field – multiple emails may be used for this form
- Select the “Update Notification” button when finished
You’re now ready to preview your form – select the “Preview” icon from the form menu
Once finished, select the “Edit” icon from the top form menu
Select the right “Update” button to enable changes to your form

Once forms are created, populated, and settings are adjusted, it is best practice to return to the main forms page (found by selecting the “Edit” icon in the top forms menu) and selecting the right “Update” button.

Adding Forms to Pages

Once your page is created and settings are updated, you’re ready to place it on a page within the Human Resources website. It is not suggested that you add a form to a page with a lot of text before the form, as the page refreshes and will show confirmation text once the user submits their form data. Follow the steps outlined below to add a form to a page.

Directions on Adding Forms to Pages

Log into WordPress
Select “Pages” from the left WordPress menu
Find the page you would like to add the form to and hover over the title, select “Edit” from the menu that appears; or create a new page by selecting the “Add New” button next to the page title
- Follow the Creating & Updating Pages section for more information on creating a new page
Select the WP Bakery “Backend Editor” button
Select the “+ Add Element” button that appears
Select the “Gravity Form” option from the modal window that appears
Select the form to display from the drop-down menu
- Feel free to toggle the settings that appear once you select your form – it is suggested that you only toggle the “Display Form Title” field
Select the “Save changes” button
Your form is now included on your page, once content is added/modified on the page select the “Publish” button to make your form visible on the website

Exporting Form Data

Once your forms have been activated and entries collected, you may want to complete a mass export of form data. Follow the steps outlined below to pull data from the forms tool.

Directions on Exporting Form Data

Log into WordPress
Select “Forms” from the left WordPress menu
From the left WordPress menu that appears, select “Import/Export”
From the Export Entries tab that appears, select the form data you would like to export from the “Select A Form” drop-down menu
From the options that populate, select the fields you would like to show in your export from the “Select Fields” section
Feel free to modify “Conditional Logic” or “Select Date Range” options, if needed
- Conditional Logic allows you to include form entries that meet a specific criterion outlined in this section
Select the “Download Export File” and your csv file will populate

Field Option Definitions

Standard and frequently used form option definitions are included below for quick reference. For more up to date information, visit the Gravity Forms user guide.

Standard Field Options

- Single Line Text: allows users to submit a single line of text such as a name.
- Paragraph Text: allows a user to enter text in a textarea form field.
- Drop Down: allows users to select one option from a list.
- Multi Select: allows users to select multiple options available in the multi select box.
- Number: allows a user to enter a number.
- Checkboxes: allows you to present one or many checkboxes which allow multiple selections.
- Radio Buttons: allows users to select one option from a list.
- Hidden: this field can be used to store information that should not be visible to the user but can be processed and stored with the user submission.
- HTML: allows you to place a block of free form HTML anywhere in your form.
- Section: allows you to add a content separator to your form to help organize groups of fields.
- Page: allows the creation of multi-page forms.

Advanced Field Options

- Name: allows users to enter their name in the format you have specified via the General tab.
- Date: allows you to present a field that captures date data using the jQuery UI date picker.
- Time: allows users to submit a time as hours and minutes.
- Phone: allows users to enter a phone number.
- Address: makes it quick and easy to capture address information on a form.
- Website: allows users to enter a website URL.
- Email: allows you to present a field that captures email data.
- File Upload: allows users to upload a file with their form submission.
- CAPTCHA: allows you to add a captcha field to your form, to help protect your website from spam and bot abuse by trying to determine if the form is being submitted by a human, or defeating a form submission attempt by a scripted bot.
- List: allows the end user to add/remove additional rows (up to a pre-set limit) of information per field.
- Consent: allows you to offer a “yes/no” consent checkbox and a detailed description of what is being consented to.