Form Locker Addon

Form Locker Addon is a Pro Feature

Unlock Form Locker Addon and other powerful features to grow your business.

Get WPForms Pro

Would you like more control over who has access to your forms? With the Form Locker addon, you can password protect your forms, limit submissions, and so much more.

This tutorial will provide a step-by-step guide to installing and using the Form Locker addon in WPForms.

Requirements:


Getting Started

First, you’ll need to be sure you’ve installed and activated WPForms. Once that’s all set, go ahead and install the Form Locker addon.

All settings for the Form Locker addon are within the form builder. To view these options, you’ll need to create a new form or edit an existing one.

After opening the form builder, go to Settings » Form Locker to check out the Form Locker options. We’ll discuss each in more detail below.

Opening the Form Locker addon settings in the form builder

Requiring User Verification

If you’d like for users to enter some information before accessing your forms, you can use the Form Locker addon’s Form Verification options to require them to do so.

First, toggle on the Enable verification option in the Form Locker settings.

The Form Locker enable verification setting

Then select from 3 verification types: Password, Age, or Email.

Selecting and Form Locker verification type

Requiring a Password for Form Access

The Password form verification option will require all users to enter a specific password before they can see your form. You can set any password you’d like, and write a message that will display above the Password field.

Setting up password verification with the Form Locker addon

Here’s an example of how the form verification password field and message look on the frontend.

A password verification field and message

If users enter an incorrect password, they will see a validation message that reads, “The password is incorrect.”

The password verification validation message

Restricting Form Access by Age

The Age verification option will require users to enter their birthdates to prove their age before they can view your form.

Under Criteria, enter an age in years. Then select from the following options:

  • Minimum: Users must be at least this old to view the form.
  • Equal to: Users must be exactly this age to view the form.
  • Maximum: Users must be younger than this age to view the form.

Setting up age verification in the Form Locker addon

You can also enter a message that will appear above the age verification fields.

On the frontend, users will see 3 dropdowns they’ll use to enter their birthdates.

Age verification fields on the frontend

If their age does not meet the requirements you’ve set, they will see a message that reads, “Your age does not meet the criteria.”

The age verification validation message

Note: Need to alter the age verification message in your form? Our developer documentation provides a detailed guide on customizing this message to fit your needs.

Verifying Form Access by Email

Another way to verify users’ identities before allowing them to see your form is to implement email verification. This can help reduce spam entries.

If you like, create a custom message to display above the email field.

Adding an email verification message

On the frontend, users will be asked to provide their email addresses.

An email verification field on the frontend

Once they submit an email address, they’ll see a message instructing them to check their inbox for their verification link.

Email validation verification message

They’ll then need to click on the link in the email to view your form and fill it out.

The email verification link from the form locker addon

Scheduling Form Access

The Form Scheduling option allows you to set the date and time that a form will become accessible, as well as when it will close and stop accepting submissions. To enable this feature, toggle on the Form scheduling setting.

Enabling the form scheduling feature in the Form Locker addon

Once this setting is turned on, additional fields will display:

  • Start Date and Start Time: When to automatically open the form.
  • End Date and End Time: When to automatically close the form.
  • Closed Message: Displayed in place of the form when the schedule determines that the form is not available.

Configuring the form scheduling options in the Form Locker settings

You can also leave the End fields blank and only set a time for the form to open, or vice versa.

If users access your form before or after the open period, they’ll see the closed message you specified in the Form Locker settings.

An example of a closed message for a scheduled form

Restricting Access to Logged-In Users

In some cases, you may want to only allow logged-in users to view your form. The Form Restrictions option lets you enforce this.

To enable this feature, toggle on the Logged in users only setting. Then you can enter a message to display to visitors who try to access your form but aren’t logged in.

Enabling form restriction with the Form Locker addon

This is how our example message looks on the frontend.

An example of a restricted form on the frontend

Note: Want to display links to your site’s login and registration pages like in our example above? See our complete guide to using Smart Tags in WPForms for more details.

Limiting Entries

In some scenarios, you may want to limit the number of entries a form will accept or prevent users from submitting your form multiple times. The Form Locker addon enables you to do both.

Limiting the Total Number of Entries for a Form

If you want to place a cap on the number of entries allowed for a form, toggle on the Enable total entry limit option in the Form Locker settings.

Enabling a total entry limit in the Form Locker addon

Once this option is turned on, additional fields will display:

  • Limit: The maximum number of total entries allowed for the form.
  • Closed Message: The message that will display after the entry limit is reached.

Setting a total entry limit for a form

On the frontend, users will see your message displayed like so once the maximum number of entries have been submitted.

A total entry limit closed message

Note: To display the remaining number of entries allowed for a form, you can use a specific PHP code snippet. For guidance on implementing this functionality, please refer to our developer documentation.

Limiting Entries from the Same User

If you’d like to prevent the same user from submitting multiple entries, you can limit the number of submissions from a single IP address, email address, or both.

First, toggle on the Enable user entry limit option.

Enabling the user entry limit option in the Form Locker addon settings

Then check the box(es) for the value(s) you want to use to limit entries.

Restricting entries by IP address and email address

If you select the Restrict by email address option, you’ll also need to specify which field in your form contains the user’s email by selecting it from the Email Field dropdown.

Next, enter the maximum number of entries you want users to be able to submit in the Limit field. Then use the dropdown next to it to select how you want the limit to apply. Below, we’ve outlined the available options:

Select limit duration

  • Till the end of the day
  • Till the end of the week
  • Till the end of the month
  • Till the end of the year
  • Per 24 hours
  • Per 7 days
  • Per ~30 days
  • Per ~365 days

For our example, we’ll set the limit to 1 entry per user till the end of the month. This option would reset the form and allow the user a new entry at the beginning of each month.

Limiting entries to one per user per month

Finally, enter the message you want to display to users who reach the entry limit. On the frontend, it will look something like this.

The closed message for an entry limit by IP address

Requiring Unique Answers in Form Fields

Another way that you can limit entries for a form is to require unique answers for certain fields. This can prevent submissions with the same name, email, or other identifying details.

You can require unique answers for the following field types:

  • Name
  • Email
  • Phone
  • Website
  • Password
  • Single Line Text

To do so, click on the field in the form builder’s preview area to open the Field Options panel. Then click on the Advanced tab.

Opening the advanced field options for an email field

Next, scroll to the bottom of the advanced field options and toggle on the Require unique answer setting.

Turning on the Require unique answer option

When this form is published, if a user tries to enter an email address that has been submitted before, they’ll see a message reading, “The value must be unique.”

The validation message for fields that require unique answers

Note: Want to customize the error message for fields that require unique answers? See our tutorial on changing validation messages for a step-by-step guide.

That’s it! You can now use the Form Locker addon to restrict access to your forms.

Next, would you like to collect statistics and generate reports on the data collected in your forms? Be sure to check out our Surveys and Polls addon to take your form’s functionality to the next level.

The Best WordPress Drag and Drop Form Builder Plugin

Easy, Fast, and Secure. Join over 6 million website owners who trust WPForms.

Please enable JavaScript in your browser to complete this form.