GriffinForms – Contact Form and Form Builder vs Shared Files – File Upload & Download Manager

GriffinForms is a free drag-and-drop WordPress form builder plugin for contact forms, multi-step forms, user registration forms, file upload forms, and payment forms. All core features are free — no paywalls, no upgrade required. It handles a simple contact form as easily as a multi-step application. Build with a visual editor, store all submissions in your WordPress database, and layer in conditional logic, spam protection, MailChimp integration, and AI form building with Griffin Assist — all included in the free core. GriffinForms Pro GriffinForms Pro is an optional paid add-on. It adds Square payments, Google Sheets sync, Klaviyo marketing integration, premium field types (Signature, Rating, Rich Text, Image Selection, Likert Scale), submission export (CSV, JSON, Excel), and frontend submission editing. The core plugin remains free and fully functional without it. Why GriffinForms? Free core, no feature walls on the essentials: multi-step forms, user registration, file uploads, Stripe and PayPal payments, conditional logic, spam protection, and email notifications are all included in the free plugin — no licence required. Multi-step forms: break longer forms into pages with per-step validation so users can complete structured flows without feeling overwhelmed. You can also add an optional progress bar — stepper or tabs style — so users always know where they are in the process. WordPress user registration: create WordPress users from form submissions with immediate, pending-activation, or manual-review workflows, multiple registration workflows per form, role assignment, duplicate-account handling, and account-action visibility in the admin area. File uploads: support multi-file uploads per field with controls for file types, size limits, file counts, image constraints, and storage behavior. Stripe and PayPal payments: build WordPress payment forms with product-style workflows, product images, a cart-style review step, hosted checkout options, and resume links for pending payments. MailChimp integration: subscribe form submitters to MailChimp audiences as part of the submission flow — map form fields to MailChimp merge tags, assign tags, and control consent behavior per form. WordPress conditional logic: go beyond simple show and hide with rules that can change labels, values, headings, success messages, redirects, and submit behavior — across fields, rows, and pages. Email and notifications: send notifications and autoresponders through WordPress mail, Custom SMTP, SendGrid, or Mailgun, with reusable messages and merge variables. Spam protection: choose from reCAPTCHA, hCaptcha, Cloudflare Turnstile, or honeypot, and combine them with native rate limiting on submissions and file uploads for layered protection. Builder checks system: a live status bar in the form builder surfaces errors, warnings, and info counts as you edit — covering spam config, email setup, compliance, registration risks, and layout issues before you publish. Compliance profiles: per-form GDPR and HIPAA-ready profiles with submission hashing, layout snapshots, configurable retention, and WordPress personal data export and erase integration. Templates and theming: turn forms into reusable templates, then style them with built-in themes or your own custom theme variations. Submission clarity in WordPress: review entries in a richer admin view with event timelines, per-submission audit logs, metadata, and settings history when troubleshooting production forms. Switching from another plugin: if you are already running Contact Form 7, WPForms Lite, Ninja Forms, or Formidable Forms, GriffinForms includes a guided migration tool that imports your existing forms and submissions so you can move without starting over. Drag-and-drop form builder GriffinForms treats layout as a core part of form building. The drag-and-drop builder uses pages, rows, columns, sidebar controls, and reusable fields to make complex forms easier to shape and maintain. Then you can layer in conditions, uploads, notifications, and payments where needed. This makes longer forms easier to manage and easier for users to complete. Reusable fields also help solve a common admin problem: teams should not need to recreate the same Name, Email, Phone, or Address field across every new form. Common fields can be managed from one place, which helps keep repeated workflows faster to build and more consistent over time. File uploads with practical control File uploads are not limited to a basic attachment field. GriffinForms supports multi-file uploads per field and is designed for workflows where uploads matter, such as applications, support requests, and document collection. For example, an application form can collect resumes, ID documents, certificates, and supporting images in one submission instead of forcing users to send files separately later. You can control allowed file types, per-file and total upload size limits, max file counts, image-specific constraints, and storage behavior, then manage uploaded files from WordPress. Payment workflows with Stripe and PayPal If you enable Stripe or PayPal, GriffinForms can handle payment collection inside the form flow. This is useful for donations, simple product or service requests, paid applications, and other workflows where payment is part of submission instead of a separate checkout. GriffinForms supports a fuller review-and-pay pattern with product-style selections, product images, and cart-style summaries. Stripe can stay on-page for card collection, while PayPal uses its hosted popup approval flow. For pending payments, resume links can bring users back so they can continue from where they left off. Payment workflows can also gate user registration — combining payment collection with WordPress account creation in a single form makes it straightforward to build paid membership signups, paid course registrations, and other workflows where account access should follow a successful payment. Strong conditional logic layer Conditional logic in GriffinForms goes beyond a simple show-or-hide toggle. You can use field, row, and form-level rules to change labels and values, control headings and visibility, swap success messages, trigger redirects, and adjust submit-button behavior. Conditions also go beyond basic text matching. GriffinForms supports checks across field values, counts, password strength, browser time, address parts, and payment-specific conditions such as product, gateway, totals, and counts. That makes it useful for smarter routing, cleaner payment flows, and forms that react as the submission takes shape. For example, you can change the success message or redirect users to a different destination based on what they selected in the form. Themable forms with deeper styling control Forms should not look disconnected from the rest of your site. GriffinForms includes built-in themes, but the theme system goes further than picking a preset. You can create new themes from scratch or modify existing ones with control over typography, layout, inputs, buttons, and states such as hover, focus, and active. Dark themes also look especially strong in GriffinForms, which helps when you want forms to feel more polished and deliberate instead of settling for one generic form look. Submissions, logs, and admin visibility Submissions are stored in your WordPress database, but the admin experience goes further than a simple entry list. GriffinForms includes a richer submission view with metadata, payment context where applicable, submission-specific logs, and event timelines so you can follow what happened to a submission and where it changed. Native logging adds another layer of visibility for production sites. Timeline-style logs, searchable categories, job visibility, retention settings, and settings history make it easier to troubleshoot failed steps, trace changes, and understand what happened over time. GriffinForms also supports partial submissions, which means incomplete multi-step submissions can still remain visible in the admin area when that workflow matters. WordPress account registration workflows GriffinForms includes a flexible user registration workflow for registration forms that need to create or manage WordPress users after submission. You can build a simple WordPress registration form for one account, or use an iterable email field for multi-user registration from a single form submission. GriffinForms lets you choose whether a registration form should use a mapped password or send the native WordPress password setup link, assign the WordPress user role for the account being created, and map optional profile data such as username, first name, last name, and profile image when the form collects it. This user registration system is built for real workflows, not just one fixed registration form pattern. You can decide whether user registration happens immediately, waits for admin activation, or stays in manual review, and you can control how duplicate-account cases are handled. GriffinForms also gives registration forms stronger admin visibility through native logging, submission-side account activity, account-action follow-up, and builder checks that help catch missing mappings, risky password choices, and iterable registration-form edge cases before the form goes live. Helpful docs: – Registration workflow modes – Submission Accounts Accordion – Password strategies Spam protection and rate limiting GriffinForms supports multiple CAPTCHA providers, including reCAPTCHA, Cloudflare Turnstile, and hCaptcha. It also includes native rate limiting and backend anti-spam checks, so spam protection does not depend on a single layer. That protection applies across the submission flow, including workflows that use file uploads. Email delivery and notifications GriffinForms can send admin notifications and autoresponders through WordPress mail or configured delivery providers — Custom SMTP, SendGrid, or Mailgun — without requiring a separate SMTP plugin. Notifications are queued and processed in the background so form submissions are never blocked by email delivery latency. Helpful docs: – Email settings – Managing messages – Mail merge placeholders Griffin Assist — AI form building inside the builder Griffin Assist is GriffinForms’ built-in AI form builder for WordPress. Describe the form you need using plain-English prompts, and Griffin Assist drafts the structure for you. From there you keep full control — drag, rearrange, and fine-tune using the same builder you already know. This is not a separate AI tool that hands off a static export. Griffin Assist works inside your live draft, so changes appear immediately in the builder as you prompt them. Drafting a new form: type a prompt in the Create Form modal and Griffin Assist generates a starting structure with pages, rows, and fields. The draft opens in the builder ready for you to refine. When you are happy with it, publish it to make it live. If you want to start over, discard it — your other forms are never affected. Editing an existing form: open any form in AI draft mode using the AI Edit action. Griffin Assist targets only the elements you ask about, so editing a field label or adding a new page does not rebuild the whole form or disturb fields and logic you already configured. Chat Mode: toggle Chat Mode on to ask questions, explore ideas, and get suggestions before committing to a change. Griffin Assist returns clickable action buttons so you can review a suggestion and apply it with one click. Structural suggestions such as adding a new section, page, or row appear alongside copy advice. Suggestion pills: each element type in the builder has a set of context-aware suggestion pills — one-tap actions tailored to what is currently selected. Improving a field label, polishing a description, adding a file upload hint, or refining dropdown options all have their own targeted pills. Translation is also available as a one-tap action that rewrites all labels, descriptions, options, and button text into your target language. Griffin Assist requires an active AI provider connection. You can connect OpenAI, Anthropic, Google Gemini, xAI Grok, or Mistral from the AI settings tab using your own API key. Griffin Assist also works with WordPress 7 AI Connector keys — if a provider is already configured site-wide through WordPress Connectors, Griffin Assist uses it automatically with no separate setup. A data-sharing consent step is required before Griffin Assist sends any form data to an external provider. Gutenberg and advanced workflows GriffinForms works with Gutenberg and also includes a stronger technical foundation for advanced evaluators, including a documented REST API surface, capability-aware access control, device management for protected companion routes, and webhook-ready architecture. Multi-step submissions use AJAX handling with server-side validation and anti-spam checks, which helps longer forms feel more responsive while still enforcing validation on the backend. Post-submission actions such as emails and other follow-up work can also be processed in the background, which helps more complex workflows stay smoother after a form is submitted. These are not the first thing most users need, but they are there when the deployment calls for them — whether the form is a simple contact form or a complex multi-step workflow. Helpful docs: – Embedding forms – Multi-page forms – Conditional logic Privacy-conscious by default Form submissions stay in WordPress by default. External services are only involved when you enable them, such as payments, CAPTCHA, or email delivery providers. See the External Services section below for details. GriffinForms also includes per-form compliance profiles (Standard, GDPR, and HIPAA-ready) with submission hashing, layout snapshots, configurable retention policies, and WordPress personal data export and erase integration when those workflows matter. External Services GriffinForms can connect to these third-party services when enabled: – Google reCAPTCHA (spam protection): Terms and Privacy – Stripe (payments): Terms and Privacy – PayPal (payments): Terms and Privacy – Cloudflare Turnstile (spam protection): Terms and Privacy – hCaptcha (spam protection): Terms and Privacy – SendGrid (email delivery): Terms and Privacy – Mailgun (email delivery): Terms and Privacy – MailChimp (audience sync): Terms and Privacy – OpenAI (AI form building, when configured): Terms and Privacy – Anthropic (AI form building, when configured): Terms and Privacy – Google Gemini (AI form building, when configured): Terms and Privacy – xAI Grok (AI form building, when configured): Terms and Privacy – Mistral (AI form building, when configured): Terms and Privacy – GriffinForms deactivation feedback (optional, only when you submit feedback while deactivating the plugin): if you select a reason and choose to send feedback, GriffinForms transmits that reason, any optional comment you write, your site name and URL, and your plugin, WordPress, and PHP versions to a GriffinForms-owned endpoint so we can improve the plugin. Your administrator email address is included only if you tick the “allow contact” option. Nothing is sent if you choose “Skip & Deactivate.” Feedback is delivered through GriffinForms infrastructure and the Brevo transactional email service. If you tick the “allow contact” option, your feedback is also raised as a support request in GriffinForms’ Zoho Desk helpdesk so we can follow up with you. GriffinForms: Privacy. Brevo: Terms and Privacy. Zoho: Privacy. Learn more Documentation: GriffinForms Docs User docs: GriffinForms User Docs Templates: Form Templates Releases: Release Notes Privacy: Privacy Policy Use-case guides WordPress contact form WordPress user registration form WordPress multi-step form WordPress payment form WordPress file upload form WordPress conditional logic form License GriffinForms is open source and licensed under GPLv2 or later.

File management plugin featuring file upload, download manager, statistics and download log. The best file sharing plugin for WordPress Shared Files is a powerful WordPress plugin that allows you to securely share and manage files, documents and downloads directly from your WordPress site. With features like file upload and download tracking it’s the perfect solution for businesses, educational institutions, and anyone needing to share files easily and securely. Install Shared Files today and enhance your WordPress site’s file management capabilities. Get the Shared Files plugin and stay neatly organized and managed with your documents and files. Shared Files provides an interface for uploading and managing a large group of documents and files easily with numerous layout options and shortcodes for inserting downloadable files anywhere on the website. Controlled and isolated files from the media library, making it simple to list shared files on the WordPress website Upload and manage files from WP admin area View supported files in the browser, including photos, movies, and other types of files (including lightbox view) Search functionality to easily and quickly find uploaded documents Download Manager for WordPress Top 50 most popular files Download log of all file downloads Search log of all searches made in the front end Download counter for all files Front end search from all files Add tags to files Allow visitors to upload files without logging in Allow only logged in users to upload files Enable support for any file type File manager in the WP admin area These are just some of the highlights offered by the Shared Files plugin. Shared Files Plugin Demos Documentation Blog Getting started with this file management plugin Installing and getting started with organizing your files is super simple when you are using Shared Files plugin. Let’s see how! Start managing your files right inside WordPress admin with 2 steps: Add some files and documents from WP admin > Shared Files > File Manager. Insert one of these shortcodes to any page or post on your site. [shared_files] (default file list) [shared_files_simple] (simple file list) All shortcodes can be found from WP admin / Shared Files / Shortcodes That’s it! The files are now listed for downloading. File Management Shared Files for WordPress has a file manager that allows adding files by the following actions: Adding file name Choosing the file Setting the date for the file Setting the expiration date for the file Adding file description And many more The plugin is extremely simple to use while also being scalable for a big number of files all thanks to a bulk of features offered by Shared Files plugin. Host local downloads – an alternative solution to Dropbox, OneDrive or Google Drive Use this download manager plugin as an alternative to Dropbox, OneDrive or Google Drive to list the downloads directly on your WordPress site instead of an external service. Media Gallery Create a media gallery of images (JPEG, PNG, GIF, WebP and AVIF are supported formats) and allow users to upload their own images. File Manager Use the file manager at WP admin / Shared Files / File manager to add the files. Then use one of the shortcodes listed at WP admin / Shared Files / Shortcodes to list the downloads anywhere on your site. Files of any type Shared Files is a file sharing solution for WordPress that allows sharing numerous types of files with ease, including PDF Word PowerPoint XLS Images (JPEG, PNG, GIF, WebP and AVIF) YouTube videos Any file type can be activated from the plugin settings File folders – this is particularly important for big teams for effective collaboration File search What is the purpose of a file-sharing plugin if not allowing you to easily and quickly find the exact file you’re looking for. This is what Shared Files plugin offers to it’s users. Powerful and fast file search functionality based on defined file data, such as file name, description, and more makes it super easy for Shared Files plugin users to track and find the exact file/document they’re looking for. Previewing files This file managing plugin allows a team to upload files onto the WordPress admin, collaborate with each other, and most importantly administrator and users can preview the files on the browser before going live to ensure the accuracy of the uploaded file. Download files The files you have listed on your site are available for anyone to download by default. It’s also possible to manage, track and limit downloads by various settings. Document / file tags The best way to stay organized and seated with a bulk of files is to assign them tags. With a couple of tags, you can instantly categorize and label files for hassle-free searches down the road, and then find all of those files again easily. Shared Files allows adding tags to files, either using the same tags as posts or a custom taxonomy. File management If your site is continuously growing there is definitely a need to handle the dozens of files and media you have out there. Luckily if you are using the Shared Files plugin, you don’t need any other add-ons. File managing solution Shared Files not only helps to upload and organize files, but it also performs the task of the media library and file manager allowing to store and categorize files and images without the need for other third-party solutions. Lightbox preview Shared Files plugin offers the feature of opening YouTube videos or image files in a lightbox preview. Lightbox previews offer a number of benefits including the ability to customize, add content and update it when necessary, flexibility in location placement, and most importantly high visibility. Front end file upload (in paid plans) An exciting feature of the Shared Files WordPress file-sharing plugin is the ability of users or visitors to upload files. So any of the users having access can upload files right from the front end having their own contribution to a vast depository of website files. It is critical to allow both visitors and users to upload files/documents, particularly allowing to do it from the frontend as it requires the least effort. File sharing For a team collaboration or a group of developers working on the same website, it’s crucial to be able to constantly share files and be able to preview the files others have shared. The Shared Files plugin has thought of it. The plugin allows the quick and easy share of uploaded files with various users with access. FTP upload Using an FTP server is a common solution for businesses that want to keep their data safe. File manager enables the administrators and users to upload files using File Transfer Protocol (FTP). They can do it using a single-file or multi-file uploader. Statistics What is more important than having a statistics of your uploads! Shared Files plugin allows you to have constant eye on the uploaded files and documents by providing you with accurate file upload statistics and analysis. Shared Files FREE – a simple solution for file management and download tracking Fast search of all files targeting all visible data on the file card, e.g. name and description Wait for the Countdown page with a counter and automatic download when the counter reaches zero Any file type upload (audio, video, image, PDF, Word, file folder, etc) SVG icons of high quality for 25 various file types, plus individual custom icons for various file types Browser preview of the uploaded files/documents Lightbox view for images and videos (, YouTube, mp4, webm, ogg, mov) Functions as a file explorer, download manager, and file manager WordPress Multisite compatible Shared Files PRO – a full featured download manager and file management plugin Search filters based on categories, tags, and custom field data Users and roles with different file-opening permissions Downloads wait countdown page Frontend file uploader Visitors/users can upload and add files to new categories FTP files can be uploaded and activated with a single click Upload multiple files Allow any user role to edit files from the front end Favorite files for both logged-in and non-logged-in users Activate Media Library files Sort files into groups Alternatively, specify an external URL for the file and track its loads When a file is downloaded or uploaded, you will receive an email notification Set a file’s expiration date Limit the number of downloads for each file Display files in the site search results Log downloader’s city and country City and country also in the search log This product includes GeoLite2 data created by MaxMind, available from maxmind.com Demos Simple List 2 columns Single file on page List files from a category Search only List files by category File upload 1 File upload 2 Accordion Favorite files Wait Countdown Page – an isolated download page for all files Additional resources You can check more info about us on our website: https://www.sharedfilespro.com/ For any support queries or feature requests regarding the free version, please contact us at the support forum. Follow the Shared Files blog to stay informed about the plugin and its advancements. Do you want to effectively work with a lot of files by managing them quickly and easily? The solution is one – Shared Files! How can I report security bugs? Please see the first FAQ item below.