You publish a form on your site, set up email notifications, and wait for messages to come in. At first, handling messages one by one through email works fine. Then the volume picks up, a few notification emails get delayed or caught in spam filters, or a team member asks for a list of everyone who reached out during the past month. Searching through an email inbox to copy and paste names, phone numbers, and notes into a spreadsheet quickly becomes a chore.
Having a direct way to export wordpress form entries saves you that hassle. Because Diviniket WP Forms saves submissions right in your WordPress database, you do not have to worry about missing an enquiry if an email server hiccups. You can pull all those submissions into a clean spreadsheet file whenever you need to sort leads, create backups, or share contact lists with colleagues.
Why Site Owners Need a CSV Form Export
Relying solely on email alerts for incoming website enquiries is a common trap. WordPress notification emails depend on server mail functions or third-party SMTP configurations. If a mail server fails, or if your inbox provider flags automated notifications as junk, you might not even realize someone contacted you. Storing submissions within your WordPress database removes that single point of failure.
Once your submissions are safely stored on your site, a csv form export gives you a standard format that works with almost any tool. You can open a CSV file in spreadsheet software such as Microsoft Excel, Google Sheets, or Apple Numbers. From there, you can sort submissions by date, filter contacts, or import the data into other office tools. It is also a handy way to archive records on your local computer before doing routine site maintenance.
Another practical reason to run an export is sharing data without granting admin access. You might not want your sales assistant, accountant, or outside marketing consultant logging into the WordPress admin panel. Exporting your form data export as a spreadsheet allows you to email them the file or drop it into a shared team folder safely.
Preparing Your Forms Before Collecting Entries
Before you can export any entries, you need an active form that collects the right details from your visitors. Diviniket WP Forms includes a visual editor where you can drag and drop fields into place. If you are just starting out with building forms, you can see how the layout controls work on our visual form builder page.
When you set up your fields, think about what columns you want to see in your eventual export. The plugin provides dedicated fields for key details:
- Name field: The plugin prioritizes the dedicated Name field when displaying the name column in the entries list, which keeps your spreadsheet organized.
- Email field: Collects visitor email addresses for follow-ups and records.
- International phone input: Adds an interactive country-flag selector and automatically handles the country-code prefix so numbers remain uniform.
- File upload field: Allows visitors to send attachments with their submissions.
Once you finish configuring your fields, save the form to generate its shortcode. You can display the form anywhere on your site by adding the shortcode to a page, post, or block:
[divismfo_form id="123"]Keep in mind that 123 is only an example ID. You must replace it with the specific ID assigned to the form you built in your dashboard.
Step-by-Step Guide to Export WordPress Form Entries
Viewing and downloading submissions with Diviniket WP Forms happens directly inside your WordPress administration dashboard. The plugin creates its own database tables on your server to keep submissions organized separately from standard posts or comments.
Follow these steps to generate your file:
- Log in to your WordPress dashboard as an administrator.
- Navigate to the Divine Forms menu in the sidebar and select Divine Forms > All Entries.
- Review your list of submissions. You can see the submitted names, contact details, and dates right in the dashboard table.
- Locate the entry export control on the entries screen to begin the export process.
- Click the export option to generate and download your CSV file directly to your computer.
- Open the downloaded CSV file in your chosen spreadsheet program to view your columns and rows.
When you open the file, each submission occupies its own row, with columns representing the fields from your form. If your visitors attached documents through a file upload field, the entry records the reference to the uploaded file so you know which document belongs to which submission.
Keeping Junk Out of Your Exported Files
A spreadsheet full of spam submissions is frustrating to sift through. If automated bots hit your forms, your exported rows will be cluttered with fake email addresses and advertising links. Cleaning up your data before it reaches your database makes your exported reports much more useful.
Diviniket WP Forms includes several anti-spam tools to stop bot submissions before they are saved to your entries list. You can explore all the supported verification methods on the spam protection overview.
Here are the options you can activate in the plugin settings:
- Built-in Honeypot: This technique adds a hidden field to your forms that real visitors do not see, but automated scripts fill out. If the hidden field contains data upon submission, the entry is rejected. It requires no third-party accounts or API keys.
- Google reCAPTCHA v2: You can enter your API keys centrally in the global settings and switch on reCAPTCHA verification on individual forms.
- Cloudflare Turnstile: A privacy-focused alternative that verifies visitors using Cloudflare credentials and checks submissions server-side.
- hCaptcha: Another supported verification service that checks response tokens against hCaptcha servers before accepting an entry.
Using at least one of these verification methods keeps your submissions list clean, meaning you spend less time deleting bad rows after downloading your CSV.
An Alternative: Sending Submissions Directly to Google Sheets
Downloading a manual CSV file is great for periodic reviews, but sometimes you need real-time data sharing. For instance, if you have a sales team that follows up on new leads immediately, asking them to wait for a weekly manual export slows down communication.
Instead of running a manual form data export every few days, you can configure Diviniket WP Forms to send incoming submissions directly to a live spreadsheet. You can read the setup requirements on our Google Sheets integration page.
The integration connects your site to Google Sheets through a Google service account. Here is how the process works:
- You create a Google service account in the Google Cloud Console and share your target spreadsheet with the service account email address.
- You add the service-account credentials into the plugin settings in your WordPress dashboard.
- The plugin validates your spreadsheet ID, connects to the sheet, and reads the header columns.
- You enable Google Sheets synchronization on your specific form.
- Whenever a visitor submits the form, the plugin processes the entry and appends the values directly as a new row in your spreadsheet.
This automated workflow gives your team an up-to-date sheet without requiring administrative access to your WordPress dashboard. However, keep in mind that this is a one-way sync. Changes you make inside the Google Sheet will not update entries stored in your WordPress database.
Limitations to Know Before You Export
Every tool has boundaries, and it helps to understand what the plugin does and does not do before building your workflows around it.
First, Diviniket WP Forms focuses on clean CSV exports for spreadsheet analysis. The plugin does not include built-in PDF generation or PDF export features. If you need a PDF report of your submissions, the standard approach is to open your exported CSV in a spreadsheet tool such as Excel or Google Sheets and use its built-in print or export-to-PDF functions.
Second, the plugin stores entries inside your WordPress site database tables. The plugin does not automatically back up these tables to external storage or guarantee permanent retention against server issues. Backing up your WordPress database regularly is a general WordPress best practice that every site owner should handle through their web host or a backup routine.
Finally, earlier versions had experimentations that are no longer part of the plugin. Features such as built-in WhatsApp messaging, built-in PDF tools, and payment gateway connections were removed to keep the core form functionality focused and stable. If you need complex multi-step workflows, conditional branching, or payment checkouts, this plugin is not designed for those setups.
FAQ
Does exporting form entries delete them from the WordPress database?
No, exporting a CSV file simply creates a downloadable copy of your submissions. The original records remain saved in your database tables and continue to display under Divine Forms > All Entries until you decide to remove them.
Can I export my form entries directly into a PDF document?
No, Diviniket WP Forms does not have a built-in PDF export tool. To create a PDF, download your entries as a CSV file, open it in your preferred spreadsheet program, and use the spreadsheet program to save or print the sheet as a PDF.
Are uploaded file attachments bundled into the CSV export?
A CSV file is a plain text file, so it cannot contain actual image or document files inside its rows. Instead, the export records the reference to the uploaded file for that submission, allowing you to locate the uploaded document on your site.
Do I need an external service to perform a CSV form export?
No third-party accounts are required to download your entries. Submissions are saved locally in your WordPress database, and the export file is generated directly by your server from the admin dashboard.
If you prefer watching a walkthrough of these features on screen, you can follow our step-by-step guides on our YouTube tutorial channel. You can also connect with me on the Aditya Singh LinkedIn profile if you want to follow plugin updates or discuss WordPress development.