Create your first form

This tutorial creates a contact form with a name, email address, message, optional explicit privacy acknowledgement, and submit button. It then adds the active form to a page with the POM page builder.

Before you begin

Confirm that an administrator has enabled Settings → POM Theme → Forms → General → Enable forms system.

Decide where contact messages should be sent. If you leave a form route without its own recipient, POM Forms can use the site-wide default administrator recipients.

1. Create the form

1. In WordPress, go to Forms → Add New.
2. Enter a descriptive title, such as “General contact”.
3. Keep the form unpublished while you build and test it.
4. Open the Builder tab.

The form builder uses this hierarchy:

Step
└── Row
    └── Column
        └── Field

2. Add the fields

Add these fields in order:

1. Text — label it “Name” and mark it required.
2. Email — label it “Email address” and mark it required.
3. Textarea — label it “Message” and mark it required.
4. Checkbox — use it for a required privacy acknowledgement only when the workflow calls for affirmative consent.
5. Submit Button — set a clear label such as “Send message”.

Each field has a machine-readable name. Keep names short, descriptive, and stable, for example name, email, and message. Notification merge tags and automations can depend on these names.

3. Arrange the layout

For a first form, use one column per row. This is easy to read and works well on mobile.

To place two short fields side by side later:

1. add or select a row;
2. create two columns;
3. set suitable responsive widths;
4. move one field into each column;
5. confirm that they stack in a logical order on mobile.

See Fields, layout, and conditional logic.

4. Configure the administrator notification

1. Open Notifications.
2. Add or edit an administrator route.
3. Enter the recipient address, or intentionally use the site-wide fallback.
4. Set a useful subject, such as “New contact from {{field:name}}”.
5. Use the form's merge-tag picker to insert submitted values.
6. Set Reply-To to the submitted Email field if replies should go to the visitor.
7. Include the submitted form data.

Do not use a visitor-supplied address as the From address. Use an address authorized for the site and put the visitor's address in Reply-To.

5. Configure messages and privacy

Open Messages/Behavior and review:

• the success message;
• required-field and validation messages;
• the privacy clause;
• what happens after a successful submission;
• loading and duplicate-submission protection.

Keep the success message specific. Tell the visitor whether the message was received and what to expect next.

6. Decide whether to store submissions

Open Storage/Advanced. Choose whether this form should inherit the site-wide storage and retention defaults or override them.

Email delivery and submission storage serve different purposes. If a submission must be retrievable in WordPress, enable storage and choose an appropriate retention period. See Notifications, submissions, and retention.

7. Save, publish, and test

1. Choose Save.
2. Enable Publish so the form becomes Active and available to the page builder.
3. Create a temporary page or open the page that should contain the form.
4. Submit a realistic test while signed out.
5. Confirm the success message, notification delivery, and stored entry when storage is enabled.

Add the form to a page

1. Edit the destination page with the POM visual builder.
2. Add the POM Form element.
3. Select the active form.
4. Save the element and update the page.
5. Open the public page and submit another test.

For raw shortcode content, use the form's ID:

[web_form id="123"]

Replace 123 with the real form ID. The visual builder is recommended for normal page editing.

Troubleshooting

If the form is not listed in the page builder, confirm that it is Active. If mail does not arrive, verify the notification route and the site's mail delivery before changing the field layout. See Forms troubleshooting.