Resolving ‘Something Went Wrong While Saving the Form’ in WPForms

Are you seeing the error message: “Something went wrong while saving the form. Reload the page and try again. Please contact the plugin support team if this behaviour persists.”

This is a fairly common issue that can occur when saving a form in the WPForms builder. In most cases, it is caused by server-level settings blocking the AJAX request used to save your form. In this guide, we’ll walk you through the most common causes and how to resolve them.

Common Causes

Here are the most frequent reasons you might encounter this error:

• Server-Level Security Rules (ModSecurity): Many hosting providers use ModSecurity or similar firewalls to protect against malicious requests. Sometimes, these rules can mistakenly block legitimate AJAX requests from WPForms, preventing the form from saving.
• Firewall Blocking admin-ajax.php: The admin-ajax.php file is a core WordPress file used by WPForms to save forms without refreshing the page. If your server firewall blocks this file, form saves will fail.
• File Permission Issues: Incorrect file or folder permissions on your server can block the execution of admin-ajax.php or other files WPForms relies on.

Example: Error in Browser Console

When this issue occurs, you may see errors in your browser’s console similar to:

Failed to load resource: the server responded with a status of 403 (Forbidden)
Failed to load resource: the server responded with a status of 500 (Internal Server Error)

These indicate that the AJAX request was blocked or failed at the server level.

Troubleshooting Steps

Follow these steps to resolve the issue:

1. Contact Your Hosting Provider
   Let them know you are experiencing blocked AJAX requests when saving WPForms forms. Ask them to:
   • Review and adjust any ModSecurity rules that could be blocking requests to admin-ajax.php.
   • Ensure the server firewall is not blocking admin-ajax.php.
   • Reset file and folder permissions
2. Check for Other Security Measures
   If your host uses additional server-side security (beyond ModSecurity), request that they whitelist the WPForms admin-ajax requests.
3. Test After Adjustments
   Once your host has made changes, try saving the form again. If the error persists, share your browser console logs with your host or support team for further investigation.

That’s it! Now you know the most common reasons for the “Something went wrong while saving the form” error in WPForms and how to fix it.

Next, would you like to learn how to properly test your forms before publishing them? Be sure to check out our complete form testing checklist tutorial for more details.