Tapplaza Form

Overview

Most contact form plugins stop at "email me a notification." Tapplaza Form goes further: every submission lands in a real inbox inside wp-admin, where you can reply, use canned templates, track delivery, run multiple differently-styled forms, and see analytics — all from one plugin, with no separate SMTP add-on required.

Installation

1. In wp-admin, go to Plugins → Add New → Upload Plugin.
2. Choose the tapplaza-form.zip file and click Install Now.
3. Click Activate. A new Tapplaza Form menu appears in the sidebar.

Quick Start

Paste this shortcode onto any page or post:

[tf_contact_form]

That's it — this renders the Default Form, using whatever category and style you've set under Settings (Support/Ticket and the Modern theme, out of the box). Submissions immediately appear under Tapplaza Form → Messages.

SMTP & From Address

By default, WordPress sends mail through your server's built-in mail() function, which is frequently blocked or flagged as spam. Under Settings → Sending Email Settings, set:

Backup SMTP Connection Reliability

Optionally configure a second mailbox under the same Settings page. If the primary SMTP connection fails to deliver, the plugin automatically retries once through the backup before logging the email as failed. Every email sent through the backup is marked (backup) in Email Logs, so you always know which connection actually delivered it.

Test Email Tool

Also on the Settings page: enter any address and click Send Test. You'll get an immediate pass/fail result — including the actual SMTP error message on failure — instead of guessing whether your configuration works.

Messages Inbox

Every submission — across every form you've created — lands in one place: Tapplaza Form → Messages. From here you can:

• Search and filter by topic, status, or which form the message came from
• Click a message to expand full details and take action
• Mark as read automatically just by opening it

Reply & Compose

Opening a message reveals a reply box right there — type a response and click Send Reply. It's sent through your configured SMTP, logged, and the message is marked Replied.

To email someone who never submitted your form, use Tapplaza Form → Compose Email — enter any address, subject, and message, and send directly from wp-admin.

Reply Templates

Under Reply Templates, create canned responses using placeholders that auto-fill when inserted:

A dropdown to insert a template appears in both the reply box and the Compose Email page.

PDF Export

Every message has a 📄 Download PDF button, producing a clean summary — sender details, subject, message, and the full reply thread — suitable for archiving, printing, or sharing with someone who doesn't have WordPress access (e.g. HR reviewing a job application).

Email Logs

Tapplaza Form → Email Logs records every email the plugin has ever sent — notifications, auto-replies, replies, composed messages, and tests — with delivery status. Failed sends can be resent with one click after fixing the underlying issue.

Multiple Forms, One Inbox

Create additional forms under Forms, each with its own notify email, dropdown options, success message, auto-reply, category, and design theme. Every new form gets its own shortcode:

[tf_contact_form id="2"]

All submissions — regardless of which form they came from — land in the same Messages inbox, filterable by form.

Form Categories

A category controls which fields a form actually shows. Ten are built in:

Switching a form's category auto-fills its dropdown options with sensible defaults for that category — safe to trigger repeatedly, since it only overwrites an empty or still-default list without confirmation first.

Design Themes

Ten visual styles, chosen per form under Settings or the Forms page:

Modern · Minimal · Corporate · Dark · Aurora · Editorial · Ocean · Sunset · Noir · Forest

Each is a genuinely distinct look — from Editorial's boutique serif styling to Noir's stark black-and-white luxury feel — not just recolored variants of one template.

Custom CSS

For pixel-level brand matching beyond the built-in themes, add rules under Settings → Custom CSS. They load after the selected theme's own styles, so your rules always win.

.tfcf-submit { border-radius: 4px; }

Analytics

Tapplaza Form → Analytics shows total/unread/replied counts, week-over-week trend, average response time, a 14-day volume chart, top topics, messages by form, and busiest day of the week — built with plain CSS bars, no external charting library or CDN call involved.

CSV Export

Download every message as a CSV file under Export — useful for spreadsheets, CRM imports, or your own backups.

Troubleshooting & FAQ

My emails are landing in spam

This is almost always a domain authentication issue, not a plugin issue. Check:

1. SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records for your sending domain (many hosts have a one-click "Email Deliverability" repair tool in cPanel)
2. That From Email exactly matches your SMTP username
3. Run a test send through mail-tester.com for a precise diagnosis

SMTP isn't sending at all

Double-check Host, Port, and Encryption are a matching pair (587+TLS or 465+SSL), and that the password field was actually saved — re-enter it if unsure, since it's never shown back to you after saving.

Can I use this alongside another SMTP plugin?

Not recommended — running two plugins that both hook into WordPress's mail sending can conflict. Use Tapplaza Form's own SMTP settings instead of a separate SMTP plugin.

Does this collect any data from my site?

No. Everything — messages, replies, logs, settings — stays entirely in your own WordPress database. Nothing is sent to any third-party server.

Changelog