Guide - updated November 2026
How to get form submissions by email
To get form submissions by email, point your form at a form backend that emails each accepted submission to the recipient you set. In splitforms, notifications are on by default and go to the address on your account; change or add recipients in Settings → Notifications.
This guide covers recipient setup, reply-to behaviour, subject and sender fields, confirmation testing and the common delivery checks. To plan where each submission should go, open the form notification routing planner.
How do you set up form email notifications?
Setup has four steps: connect the form, choose the recipient, send a test submission, and confirm the email arrives. The form itself is a standard HTML form, so the same steps work on a static site, React, Next.js, WordPress or any page builder.
- Connect the form. Set the form's action to
https://splitforms.com/api/submitwith method POST, and add a hiddenaccess_keyinput with the key from your dashboard. - Choose the recipient. The notification email defaults to the address you signed up with. Change it or add more recipients in Settings → Notifications.
- Send a test submission. Fill in the form once yourself with an address you can check. The accepted submission is saved to the dashboard before the notification email is attempted.
- Confirm delivery. Check the inbox, then the spam or quarantine folder. Delivery time and inbox placement depend on the mail provider and recipient settings.
The copy-paste snippet and field reference are on the HTML form to email page, and the full feature list is on email notifications.
How do you choose and change notification recipients?
Start with the person who acts on the submission. For a small site that is usually one inbox. For a team, add the shared inbox or copy the people who need to see every lead. Keep the list short so each notification has a clear owner.
- Primary recipient. Defaults to the address on your account and can be changed per form in Settings → Notifications.
- More recipients. Add several recipient addresses in the dashboard so every submission reaches the right inboxes.
- CC and BCC. A paid-plan feature for copying a whole team, an archive inbox or a CRM auto-forwarder on every submission.
- Answer-based routing. A paid-plan feature that sends different submissions to different inboxes based on a field value, such as department or enquiry type.
If you are deciding between email, Slack, Google Sheets and a webhook, the notification routing planner turns your choices into a short checklist with links to the matching setup guides.
How does reply-to work on form notification emails?
Reply-to is the address your email client uses when you hit Reply. If the form has a field named email, splitforms automatically sets Reply-To to that address, so a reply goes straight to the visitor instead of back to the service. Add a hidden replyto field to override it with a different address.
The notification still comes from splitforms, and the body lists the submitted fields, the form name, the reply-to address and a link to the dashboard. To brand the sender, add a hidden from_name input such as your company or form name. To change the subject, add a hidden subject input and use {{ field }} placeholders, for example New lead from {{ name }}.
How do you test that form emails are delivered?
Test with a real address you control, not a customer record. Submit the form once, confirm the submission appears in the dashboard, then check the inbox and the spam or quarantine folder. The dashboard record is the proof that the form worked; the email is a separate delivery step.
- Submit once. Fill in every required field and send the form as a visitor would.
- Check the dashboard. The accepted submission is saved before the owner notification email is attempted.
- Check the inbox. Look in the primary inbox first, then spam, junk and quarantine.
- Test Reply. Hit Reply and confirm the To address is the visitor's email, or the address in your hidden
replytofield. - Test the subject and sender. Confirm the custom subject and from-name appear as expected.
Why are form notification emails not arriving?
Work from the dashboard outward. If the submission is missing, the form or the access key is the problem. If the submission is there but the email is not, the issue is on the delivery side: the recipient address, a spam filter, or the mail provider.
| Check | What to look for |
|---|---|
| Dashboard record | No record means the form did not submit; check the action URL and access key. |
| Recipient address | Confirm the address in Settings → Notifications has no typo. |
| Spam and quarantine | Check junk folders and the provider's quarantine or filter rules. |
| Allow-list | Add the sender to the recipient provider's safe-sender list if it is filtered. |
| Custom SMTP | On paid plans, confirm the SMTP host, port and credentials if you send through your own provider. |
| Domain authentication | If you send from your own domain, check SPF, DKIM and DMARC alignment. |
A lost email never means a lost lead: accepted submissions stay in the dashboard even when notification delivery fails. For the DNS side, read the email authentication for form notifications guide. For a step-by-step diagnosis, use the form submission troubleshooter.
Frequently asked questions
How do I get form submissions by email?
Point your form at a form backend that sends an email for each accepted submission. In splitforms, notifications are on by default and go to the address on your account. Change or add recipients in Settings → Notifications, then submit the form once yourself to confirm the email arrives.
Are form email notifications free?
Yes. Owner notification emails are included on every splitforms plan, including Free, which covers 500 submissions total with unlimited forms and no credit card. Pro is $5 per month for 5,000 submissions a month and adds CC/BCC recipients, answer-based routing, the auto-reply and a custom sending domain. Annual is $49 per year for 15,000 submissions a month.
How do I change who receives form notification emails?
Open the form in your splitforms dashboard and go to Settings → Notifications. The notification email defaults to the address you signed up with, and you can change it or add more recipients there. CC and BCC recipients are a paid-plan feature, so a whole team or a CRM auto-forwarder can be copied on every submission.
How does reply-to work on a form notification email?
If the form has a field named email, splitforms automatically sets Reply-To to that address, so hitting Reply in Gmail or Outlook goes straight to the visitor. Add a hidden replyto field to override it with a different address. The notification itself still comes from splitforms, and the submitted fields are listed in the body.
Can I customise the subject line and sender name?
Yes. Add a hidden subject input to the form, for example value="New lead from {{ name }}", and anything inside the double braces is replaced with that submitted field. Add a hidden from_name input to brand the sender, such as your company or form name. Both work on every plan.
How do I test that form emails are delivered?
Submit the form once yourself with a real address you can check. The accepted submission is saved to your dashboard before the owner notification email is attempted, so confirm the record appears first, then check the inbox and the spam or quarantine folder. Delivery time and inbox placement depend on the mail provider and recipient settings.
Why are my form notification emails not arriving?
First confirm the submission is in the splitforms dashboard. If it is, check the spam, junk and quarantine folders, confirm the recipient address in Settings → Notifications, and review your mail provider's filters or allow-list. A lost email never means a lost lead, because the dashboard keeps the full submission. Paid plans can send through custom SMTP on a domain you configure.
Do I need SPF, DKIM and DMARC for form notification emails?
Not for standard splitforms notifications, which send through the service with no DNS changes. You need those records when you send through your own domain or custom SMTP, because receiving servers check whether the sending domain is allowed to send for you. The email authentication guide walks through the safe setup order.
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