Export Submissions to CSV & PDF
Form Forge keeps every submission in your WordPress database, searchable and filterable in the admin. But sometimes you need to hand off data to someone else — a spreadsheet for a colleague, a PDF for a client, a CSV for an external analytics tool. Form Forge exports both, per-submission or in bulk.
CSV export
Per-form bulk export
From the Submissions view of any form, click Export as CSV to download every submission for that form as a single CSV file. The first row contains column headers (the field labels), and each subsequent row is one submission with fields in the same order as the form.
Filtered export
Apply filters (date range, field values, submission status) before exporting and Form Forge only includes the matching rows. Useful for partial exports — “submissions from last month,” “only paid ones,” “only from Germany.”
Column control
Optionally choose which fields to include in the export. Skip internal fields, debug fields, or fields you don’t need in the CSV. Settings are remembered per form for repeat exports.
UTF-8 encoding
CSVs are exported as UTF-8 with a BOM so Excel, Google Sheets, and every other spreadsheet app opens them correctly — no garbled characters for names with accents, emoji in free-text fields, or non-Latin scripts.
Large export handling
For forms with tens of thousands of submissions, CSV export runs via the Forge background job queue to avoid PHP timeout. You click Export, the job runs in the background, and you get a notification with a download link when it’s ready.
PDF generation
Per-submission PDF
Every submission in the admin has a PDF link that generates a printable PDF version — form title, submission ID, date, and every field value in a clean, readable layout. Styled with Form Forge’s design system and your form’s branding.
How PDFs are generated
PDF generation runs through our managed backend (Forge API) using a headless rendering engine. The result comes back as a download-ready PDF with consistent formatting across all operating systems and browsers.
If the Forge API isn’t reachable, Form Forge falls back to local HTML generation with a print dialog — good enough for most users and fully functional offline.
Automatic PDF attachments
Attach a PDF copy of the submission to the email notification sent to admins or submitters. Useful for:
- Job applications — attach a PDF of the application to the internal email
- Order forms — attach a PDF receipt to the customer confirmation email
- Intake forms — attach a PDF to the client’s file
- Legal forms — attach a PDF for records
Enable per form in the notification settings.
Printable submission view
On the frontend, you can also expose a “Print submission” view so users can print or save their own submission as a PDF at any time.
Use cases
- Agencies exporting client form data for monthly reports
- Job boards downloading application data for hiring managers
- Event organizers exporting attendee lists to share with vendors
- E-commerce stores archiving order forms for accounting
- Healthcare providers generating PDFs of intake forms for patient files
- Legal firms creating PDF records of consultation requests
- Educational institutions exporting student registration data
CSV template for re-import
Form Forge’s CSV format is designed to be re-importable. If you need to migrate submissions between sites, export from the source, import on the destination. The format preserves field names, types, and metadata.
Ready to export your form data?
CSV export is included in every version of Form Forge. PDF generation is included in every paid plan.