NaveenCodes Smart Contact Inbox for Contact Form 7 vs Data Source for Contact Form 7

Data Source for Contact Form 7 plugin allows populating the “Contact Form 7” fields (text, email, URL, drop-down menu, …) with data stored in external data sources, like a database, CSV file, URL parameters, users information, post data, taxonomies, Advanced Custom Fields (ACF) – Secured Custom Fields, and JSON objects. Data Source for Contact Form 7 includes two new controls in the controls bar of Contact Form 7, recordset and recordset field link. The “recordset” control reads the information from the external data source (a database, a CSV file, or any other data source supported), and the “recordset field link” control for linking the recordsets and form fields to populate them with the recordset data. A form can include several “recordset” fields, and it is possible to link multiple “recordset field link” controls to the same recordset. The new SQL-Generator module. It generates the database queries in a more conversational style. Just describe the information needed, and get the DB query without any prior database knowledge. How to create the simplest contact form from our practical examples. The plugin includes other complementary controls in the controls bar in addition to the “recordset” and “recordset field link”. The “Print Form” button for printing the form area, “Data Table” control for inserting an advanced table with the recordset records, “copy to clipboard” functionality for copying the values of the fields into the clipboard, and the “Search box in dropdown menu” functionality to make easy the selection in long dropdown menus. Features: Set the information of external data sources available for the Contact Form 7 fields. Easy to use, includes two new controls in the controls bar to define the recordsets and the link fields. Includes the “URL Parameters” data source to populate the form’s fields with the values of the URL parameters. Includes the “Users Information” data source to populate the form’s fields with the users’ information. Includes the “Posts Information” data source to populate the form’s fields with the posts’ data, pages, and custom post types (like the WooCommerce products). Includes the “Taxonomy” data source to populate the form’s fields with taxonomy terms, like categories, posts tags, or any other custom taxonomy. Includes the “Database” data source to populate the form’s fields with the information of a database. Allow defining even complex queries. SQL Generator module. It generates the database queries in a more conversational style. Includes the “Javascript Function” data source to populate the form’s fields with the information returned from a Javascript function. Allows using the fields’ values for filtering the recordset records. Complementary Controls add-on. Includes additional controls and functionalities, such as the “Print Form” button, the addition of the search box to the drop-down menu, copy to clipboard functionality, and Data Table to display the data source records. Features in Premium version: All features of the free version of the plugin. Includes the “Advanced Custom Fields (ACF) – Secured Custom Fields” data source to fill the form filds with data stored in the Advanced Custom Fields or Secured Custom Fields in post, users, comments, taxonomies, widgets, and options. Includes the “CSV” data source to populate the form’s fields with the data store into a CSV file. Includes the “JSON” data source to populate the form’s fields with the data store into a JSON file. There are hundreds of services whose outputs are JSON objects. PDF Generator add-on. It generates PDF files with the information collected by the form and attaches them to the notification emails (Supports the “Conditional Fields for Contact Form 7” plugin tags in the PDF file content if the “Conditional Fields for Contact Form 7” plugin is installed on the website). Post Generator add-on. It generates new posts (posts, pages, or any custom post) with the information collected by the form. User Registration add-on to convert contact forms into user registration forms. CSV Generator add-on to populate a CSV file with the information collected by the form. JSON Generator add-on to populate a JSON file with the information collected by the form. Server Side add-on to implement server side functions to call from the Recordset controls and get the list of records. Data Source Fields Data Source for Contact Form 7 includes two new controls in the controls bar of Contact Form 7, recordset and recordset field link. The recordset control reads the information from the external data source and makes it available on the form. A recordset field can read one or many records from the data source. To insert a recordset field in the form, press the “recordset” button in the controls bar. This action opens a dialog to define the recordset. The insertion dialog includes common attributes for all data sources and specific attributes for the data source selected. The “recordset field link” control links a recordset field to other fields in the form to populate them with the recordset data. To insert a link field in the form, press the “recordset field link” button in the controls bar. This action opens a dialog to define the relationship between a recordset and a form’s field. The link dialog includes the attributes to define the relationship between the recordset field and the form’s fields. Cases of Use Get the information of the registered user and populate the form fields for his name and email: Your name [text* your-name] Your email [email* your-email] Subject [text* your-subject] Your message (optional) [textarea your-message] [cf7-recordset id="cf7-recordset-434" type="user" attributes="first_name, user_email" logged="1"] [cf7-link-field recordset="cf7-recordset-434" field="your-name" value="first_name"] [cf7-link-field recordset="cf7-recordset-434" field="your-email" value="user_email"] [submit "Submit"] Filling a plain text in the form with the first name and last name of the logged user: Hello Enter your address [textarea address] [cf7-recordset id="cf7-recordset-434" type="user" attributes="first_name, last_name" logged="1"] [cf7-link-field recordset="cf7-recordset-434" field="first-name" value="first_name"] [cf7-link-field recordset="cf7-recordset-434" field="last-name" value="last_name"] [submit "Submit"] Populates the list of WooCommerce products and get the price of the selected one: Products List [select menu-719] Product Price [number number-534] [cf7-recordset id="cf7-recordset-619" type="database" engine="mysql" query="SELECT ID,post_title,meta_value as price FROM {wpdb.posts} posts, {wpdb.postmeta} meta WHERE posts.post_type='product' AND posts.ID=meta.post_id AND meta.meta_key='_regular_price'"] [cf7-link-field recordset="cf7-recordset-619" field="menu-719" value="ID" text="post_title"] [cf7-link-field recordset="cf7-recordset-619" field="number-534" value="price" condition="record['ID']=={field.menu-719}"] [submit "Submit"] Using templates to create complex data structures. Displaying the title and excerpt of every published post: {attribute.post_title} {attribute.post_excerpt} [cf7-recordset id="cf7-posts" type="post" attributes="post_title,post_excerpt" condition="post_status='publish' AND post_type='post'"] [cf7-link-field recordset="cf7-posts" field="posts-list" value="{template.summary}"] The form includes a template tag to design a complex data structure. To access the records attributes from the template, use {attribute.attribute-name} format. Ex. {attribute.post_title} You can use the templates for the fields’ values or texts. The format for referring to templates is {template.template-id}. You should replace “template-id” with the id of the template tag. Ex. {template.summary} [cf7-link-field recordset="cf7-posts" field="posts-list" value="{template.summary}"] Using Javascript to Access the Recordset Data The recordset fields trigger the “cf7-recordset” event after receiving the information from the data source, allowing you to access this information with Javascript. In this example, the recordset field reads motivational phrases from a third-party service and displays the first of them into a DIV tag on the form. Add ons (Extensions) Complementary Controls add-on PDF Generator add-on Post Generator add-on User Registration add-on CSV Generator add-on JSON Generator add-on Server Side add-on

💛 This plugin is dedicated to my mother. Every update carries her blessings. NaveenCodes Smart Contact Inbox turns your WordPress admin into a proper inbox for Contact Form 7 submissions. Every CF7 form submission is automatically captured, threaded by sender, and displayed in a clean email-style interface — no external services, no SMTP plugin, no paid add-ons required. Key Features Centralized inbox — All CF7 form submissions appear in one place, grouped by form name. Threaded conversations — Messages from the same email address are automatically grouped into a conversation thread, just like email. Chat-style thread view — Visitor messages appear on the left, admin replies on the right, with timestamps. Direct reply — Reply to visitors straight from the WordPress admin using WordPress’s built-in wp_mail() function. No SMTP plugin needed. Status tracking — Messages show New, Read, or Replied status at a glance. Unread badge — Admin menu badge and admin-bar notification update in real time. Tags — Label threads with custom tags (Lead, Support, Spam, etc.). Filter the inbox by tag in one click. Saved Filters — Save any filter combination (form + tag + email + search) and re-apply it instantly. CSV Export — Download the current inbox view (with all active filters) as a CSV file. Filter & search — Filter the inbox by form name, tag, sender email, or keyword. Pagination — Handles large inboxes without slowdown. Bulk delete — Remove multiple conversations at once from the inbox table. AJAX replies — Replies are sent and saved without a page reload. Spam Shield — Honeypot trap blocks bots silently (no CAPTCHA). Block specific email domains and keywords from the Settings page. Settings page — Toggle the reply feature on/off, customise the reply subject format, and override the From email address. Debug page — Built-in diagnostic tool showing CF7’s raw field data, system status, and a one-click test to verify the inbox is working. How It Works A visitor submits any Contact Form 7 form on your site. NaveenCodes captures the submission (name, email, message, form title). The message appears in NaveenCodes → All Messages in your WP admin. Click the message to open the full thread view. Type a reply and click Send Reply — the email is sent via wp_mail() and saved to the thread. Thread Detection NaveenCodes detects the sender’s email by scanning the value of every CF7 field, not just the field name. This means it works with any CF7 field naming convention automatically. No External Dependencies This plugin uses only WordPress core APIs: wp_mail() for sending replies Custom Post Type for message storage WordPress admin AJAX for real-time actions No database tables are created. All data is stored as standard WordPress posts and post meta. Privacy All submission data is stored in your own WordPress database. Nothing is sent to any external server. On plugin uninstall, all stored messages and options are permanently removed.