ThemeGrill AuthorAre you wondering how to limit number of responses in WordPress forms? Do you want to limit form entries in your WordPress form? If so, there cannot be a better way than following our easy guide.
When you add a form to your site, you may want to limit or restrict the form entries at some point. The restriction might be for a certain region, for a certain date range, etc. While you might have thought the process to be hectic, some form builder plugins, such as Everest Forms, make the process hassle-free.
Therefore, we’ve prepared a complete guide to restrict form submissions on the WordPress site that you can follow and get done in no time.
But before we jump directly to the guide on how to limit number of responses in WordPress forms, let’s know why you should do so.
Why Should You Limit Form Entries in WordPress?
Whenever you create a form on your WordPress site, you may sometimes want to restrict certain users from filling in and submitting the form. On the other hand, form entries from the people of certain countries might be unnecessary to you.
Besides, you might also want to set the start and the end date for some forms. Also, in many situations, you may require a pre-defined number of entries, and at that point, you may want to specify the number of form submissions. After all, why waste other users’ time when you’ve already received enough form entries, right?
Hence, you might want to limit form entries in WordPress form in such cases. And, using a WordPress plugin that supports form restriction, you can effortlessly restrict form submission in WordPress form.
So, let’s dive into our guide on how to limit number of responses in WordPress Forms.
How to Limit Number of Responses in WordPress Forms?
Step 1: Choose the Best Form Builder Plugin
To take full advantage of the contact form in WordPress, you must be careful in choosing the right form builder plugin. If you look at the list of popular form builder plugins, plugins such as Everest Forms and User Registration– are a few you can rely on.
So, here in this article, we’re teaching you to restrict form submission in WordPress forms using Everest Forms.
Everest Forms has an easy-to-use interface with a drag and drop builder. It’s currently powering over 100,000 active websites. Likewise, it also provides a large number of pre-designed form templates that you import and use instantly. Additionally, it has unlimited form fields that you can use without any restrictions.
You can read our review of Everest Forms if you’re interested in learning more about it. But for now, let’s proceed with the following steps to limit form entries in WordPress.
Step 2: Install and Activate Everest Forms and Everest Form Pro Plugin
The first and foremost step for using Everest Forms is to install the plugin. So, to install and activate the free Everest Forms plugin, visit your WordPress login URL and log in to your site.
Next, go to Plugins >> Add New.
Instantly, you’ll see a new page with featured plugins and a search bar. Use the search bar to search for Everest Forms. As it shows you the plugin, click on the Install Now button and immediately Activate the button.
You might now create a contact form with simple features and fields. However, you’ll require the Form Restriction add-on to restrict form submissions in WordPress; the add-on is available only on the Everest Forms premium. Hence, let’s install the Everest Forms pro version.
Everest Forms has four plans under its premium versions: Personal, Plus, Professional, and Agency. However, the Form Restriction add-on is only available in the Professional and Agency plan. Thus, you’ll require to purchase either a Professional or Agency plan for your site.
To get the Everest Forms premium plan, go to its official site and purchase the plan. As soon as you purchase the plugin, you get the login credentials to log into your WPEverest account in the email address you’ve provided.
So, log in and access your WPEverest dashboard. Now, navigate to the Download tab and download the Everest Forms Pro; the file gets downloaded as a zip file on your device.
The same dashboard also has the License Keys tab, containing the license key for Everest Forms premium. Now, copy the keys and visit your WordPress dashboard.
Go to the Plugins >> Add New on your dashboard, and click on the Upload Plugin. Choose the zip file for the Everest Form Pro, click on the Install Now button, and then the Active button.
Next, you’ll need to enter the license key for the plugin. So, paste the license key that you copied before into the field under Everest Forms (Pro) and hit Enter.
Hence, your site now has the Everest Forms and the Everest Forms (Pro) plugins.
Step 3: Install and Activate Form Restriction Add-on
Let’s now install and activate the Form Restriction add-on. To do so, navigate to Everest Forms >> Add-ons from your WordPress site’s dashboard.
As it directs you to the page with the Everest Forms add-ons, scroll down to find the Form Restriction add-on. When you see the add-on, click on the Install Addon button and then Activate button.
Now you have everything you’ll require to limit form entries in WordPress.
Step 4: Create a New WordPress Form
Now, let’s create a new custom contact form using Everest Forms to restrict form submissions for it. If you already have a custom form ready to use, you can use the same form. If you need a new form, navigate to Everest Forms >> Add New.
Here, you’ll see the number of templates you can use to build varieties of forms.
But for now, we’re building a new form from scratch. So, click on Start From Scratch.
Also, give a suitable name to the form.
Now, start to add the form fields from left to right on your form by dragging and dropping the fields.
Please read our article on how to add a contact form in WordPress for a detailed guide. When you’ve successfully created a contact form following the tutorial, you can move on to the next step.
Step 5: Set Entries Limit for the WordPress Form
To set the entry limit for the form, go to the Settings tab and then click on Form Restriction.
The Form Restriction feature has five options as explained below:
i. Entry Limitation
To set the total number of form submissions, enable the Max number of Entries option. From here, you can choose how many entries you want to receive per day, week, month, year, or in total; use the drop-down menu and make your choice.
Click on the “-” sign to decrease the number of form entries and the “+” sign to increase the number of entries.
At the same time, you can also edit the Max Entry Message for the form. The message is displayed to the users when the number of form entries exceeds the defined maximum number.
ii. Form Scheduling
It allows you to select a date and time range during which users can submit their forms. You can simply choose the start date and the end date for the form submission.
The option also allows you to choose specific days on which the user can submit the form.
To schedule your form submissions for a specific date and time range, you can customize the following options:
- Submission Starts: Choose the date from when you want the user to submit the form. As you click on the empty space, a calendar pops up where you can choose the date.
- Submission Ends: Choose the end date for the form submission so that users can’t submit the form after the deadline.
- Time Scheduling: It allows you to set the time to start and end the submission of the form. Just as above, clicking on the blank space lets you set the hours and minutes.
- Form Waiting Message: Here, you can add the message that gets displayed when the user is too early to submit the form or the user submit the form before the submission starts.
- Form Expires Message: You can set the form expired message from here, which is displayed when the user submits the form after the submission end date.
iii. User Restriction
Enabling this option lets you show the form to the logged-in users only. You can also set the message in the Require Login Message to let users know that they must log in to access the form.
iv. Password Restriction
Password Restriction allows you to restrict form submissions with a Password so that only those users who have passwords will be able to submit the form. It has the following elements:
- Password: Here, you can add the password to your form.
- Password Form Message: To let the user know that the form is password-protected, you can add the message in this field.
v. Form Submission
This option allows you to deny the form submission when the user submits an empty form. It also has the option of Empty Submission Message where you can add the message to display when a user submits an empty form.
vi. Form Restriction by Country
You can even restrict users from submitting the form from certain countries with this feature. As soon as you enable form restriction by country, it further shows you the following options:
- Choose Country to Restrict: Using the drop-down menu, you can select the county from which you don’t want the form to be submitted.
- Country Restriction Message: You can set the country restriction message from here that gets displayed when a user from a restricted country tries to submit the form.
After customizing all the options available for the Form Restriction add-on, save the form and proceed.
Step 6: Publish the WordPress Form on Your Website
As you’ve completed setting up the form with all the necessary form restrictions, it’s time to publish the form on your site. So, open the page or post where you want to add the contact form.
The page or post opens in the Gutenberg editor where you’ll see the block inserter icon [+].
Click on the icon and search for the Everest Forms block, and select the block.
Using the Everest Forms block’s drop-down menu, select the custom form with the submission limit you just created.
You can now give an appropriate title to the page or post. Next, you can preview the form by clicking on the Preview button.
If you find everything okay, hit on the Publish button to let the form go live on your page or post.
Wrapping It Up!
That sums up our guide on how to limit number of responses in WordPress forms. We’re confident that you can now restrict form submissions in WordPress without difficulties.
But again, if you decide to use Everest Forms, half of the hassle ends right there. It also has an active support team, providing premium support to its users at any time.
Besides using Everest Forms to restrict form submissions in WordPress, you can also use it to customize your contact form, stop spam in the contact form, and more.
You can explore more about WordPress from our blog page if you have some time. You can also follow us on Twitter and Facebook to get regular updates on new posts.
