GF No Duplicates vs Shortcodes Ultimate – Content Elements

Gravity Forms already has some built-in duplicate submission prevention techniques, including the No Duplicates setting for a field in your form, preventing the same field value from being used multiple times for the same form. Using this setting is a rock solid approach to avoid duplicate submissions, but it requires having a field in your form that you can consider as a source of unique data per submission. This add-on helps using the same idea, without requiring having a field to enable the No Duplicates setting, by dynamically adding a hidden input with a random token to the form, and checks the POST request received for this token value to prevent duplicate submissions. This will stop identical POST requests from being accepted for entry creation, like the ones that some browsers will send when the browser back or refresh buttons are clicked or when browser tabs are restored in mobile devices. Limitations If for any reason the visitor manually fills the form with the same information, and submits it again, blocking this visitor’s behavior is not within the scope of this plugin functionality. To put in another way, the add-on is intended to block automated resend of the same POST request data, it doesn’t block submissions voluntarily initiated by the visitor. If your site is still receiving repeated POST requests created before enabling the add-on, therefore not containing the token field, you would still receive duplicates for these entries. There’s no way for the add-on to be able stop duplicates for requests created before enabling the add-on. How it works: When the add-on is enabled a hidden input with a random token as value is added to each form dynamically in the front-end. When a POST request is received and handled by Gravity Forms, GF No Duplicates checks if this POST request has the token and if its value was used already in an existing entry for the form tied to the POST request. If the token parameter exists but is empty or there’s any form entry where the token value was used already, GF No Duplicates stops the submission. The form is replaced with an error message, which contains a link to the form page, suggesting the visitor to click the link to start a fresh new submission. Requirements PHP 7.0 or higher. WordPress 4.9 or higher. Gravity Forms 2.5 or higher. The page where the form is embedded must be excluded from cache (if you use any caching plugin or server cache, see note below). Usage Install and activate it as you do with any other plugin. Enjoy! Optionally, you can customize the duplicate submission message shown to users from the settings page or using a filter (see the FAQ). Note about Caching The add-on functionality relies on a random token generated dynamically, so for obvious reasons caching the page where your form is embedded would prevent the add-on from working as expected. This is not a limitation of the add-on but the expected if you’re serving a static version of your page, which is the only reason to cache a page, you shouldn’t never cache pages where you expect dynamic data. Most caching plugins provide you a way to exclude URLs from cache, this is for a reason, use it. There are some web hosting providers using cache at server level and not providing their customers with an interface to exclude URLs from cache (e.g. WP Engine, Kinsta, …), you can still ask your host support staff to add the exclusion for you. You can also use Fresh Forms for automated cache exclusion if you use any of the embedding methods and caching plugins supported (see Fresh Forms description for more details).

Building new pages with Gutenberg? Explore VovaBlocks, a focused collection of native marketing and content blocks from the creator of Shortcodes Ultimate. View VovaBlocks → About Shortcodes Ultimate Shortcodes Ultimate is a WordPress shortcode plugin for adding tabs, accordions, buttons, FAQs, sliders, carousels, lightboxes, columns, boxes and other reusable content elements without coding. It is ideal for site owners who want richer content layouts and practical UI elements without switching to a full page builder. Use Shortcodes Ultimate in the Block Editor, Classic Editor, widgets and template files. Generate shortcodes visually, preview the result before inserting it, and reuse the same elements across posts, pages and existing shortcode-based content. Trusted by hundreds of thousands of WordPress sites, Shortcodes Ultimate helps you replace multiple single-purpose UI plugins with one maintained toolkit. Explore live examples What you can build With Shortcodes Ultimate, you can quickly add common WordPress content elements such as: Accordions and FAQ sections Responsive tabs CTA buttons and download buttons Boxes, notes and callouts Columns and layout helpers Sliders and carousels Lightboxes for images and custom content Post lists and dynamic content blocks Spoilers, toggles and expandable content Media embeds and visual content blocks Instead of installing a separate plugin for every small content element, Shortcodes Ultimate gives you one maintained toolkit for everyday WordPress content tasks. Works with modern and classic WordPress workflows Shortcodes Ultimate works with the Block Editor, Classic Editor, widgets and template files. You can insert shortcodes manually, use WordPress shortcode blocks or use the built-in shortcode generator to configure elements visually. This makes the plugin useful for: Site owners who want to improve content without coding Bloggers and affiliate publishers who need reusable CTA and content blocks Agencies and freelancers maintaining multiple WordPress sites Developers who want shortcode-friendly output in templates Existing sites with older content that already uses shortcodes Why use Shortcodes Ultimate? 50+ ready-to-use WordPress shortcodes Visual shortcode generator Live preview Works with the Block Editor and Classic Editor Shortcodes can be used in posts, pages, widgets and template files Responsive elements that work with your theme Built-in Custom CSS editor Developer-friendly hooks and documentation Free version available on WordPress.org Pro version available for advanced shortcodes, extra styles and premium support Why shortcodes still matter in WordPress The WordPress Block Editor is great for visual content editing, but shortcodes are still useful when you need portable, reusable content elements that work across different parts of a WordPress site. Shortcodes are especially helpful when you want to: Reuse the same content element in many posts or pages Add dynamic content inside widgets or templates Maintain older WordPress sites that already use shortcodes Work across Classic Editor and Block Editor workflows Add content elements without switching to a full page builder Keep common UI elements available through a simple text-based syntax Shortcodes Ultimate is designed for these practical workflows. It gives you a large collection of ready-made shortcodes and a visual generator, so you do not need to write shortcode syntax manually unless you want to. Free and Pro The free version of Shortcodes Ultimate includes a large collection of useful shortcodes for everyday WordPress content tasks. Shortcodes Ultimate Pro adds advanced shortcodes, additional styles, Content Slider, Pricing Table, Testimonials, Shortcode Creator, Elementor support and premium support. Compare Free and Pro Useful links Documentation Live Examples Pro features Support