> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.watx.in/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Submissions

> Reading and exporting what a form has collected, how an answer reaches the contact record, and how a submission starts an automation.

Every accepted answer is stored against the form. You can read it in the editor, export it as a spreadsheet, and act on it automatically.

## Where to read them

The editor's **Submissions** tab shows the table without leaving the form you are building — "did anyone fill it in?" is a question that gets asked while editing. The same table is at its own address from the forms list: the actions menu on a card has **Submissions**, and that page carries an **Edit form** button back.

The count beside the tab is what the table actually holds, not a stale total.

| Column      | What it shows                                                                                                        |
| ----------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Date**    | When it arrived. Newest first                                                                                        |
| **Source**  | Where it came from — `hosted` for the public page, `embed` for the iframe, `widget` for the chat widget              |
| **Status**  | How it was filed. Everything accepted is recorded as new; spam is refused before it is stored rather than filed away |
| The answers | Up to five answer columns. Headings, paragraphs and page breaks never take a column                                  |
| **Contact** | **View** opens the matched contact, or a dash when the submission identified nobody                                  |

The table shows the most recent 200 submissions. **Refresh** re-reads it; it is loaded when you open the tab.

## Exporting

**Export CSV** downloads every submission in the table with **every** answerable field as a column — not just the five the table has room for — plus the date, the source and the status. The file is named after the form.

<Note>
  The columns are built from each field's key, which is generated once from its first label and never regenerated. Reword a question and the exports still line up; the header simply shows the new wording.
</Note>

## What is stored, and what is not

* Only the answers that were **visible**. A field a rule hid is not recorded, so somebody who typed a reason and then changed their mind does not have it filed against them.
* Only the fields that were **answered**. An untouched optional field takes no key at all, rather than an empty one.
* A hidden field's default value, applied on the server, plus anything supplied through `?key=` in the link.
* Nothing from a field the form no longer has. A stale page submitting a removed question still gets its enquiry recorded.

## How a submission becomes a contact

Only fields with **Save to contact** set are used to identify anyone. The order is fixed:

<Steps>
  <Step title="Phone">
    The strongest identifier, because it is what reaches somebody on WhatsApp. The number is converted to international format first, using the workspace's country.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Email">
    Matched case-insensitively when no phone matched.
  </Step>

  <Step title="The chat visitor">
    A submission made inside the website widget attaches to the visitor's own contact.
  </Step>

  <Step title="A new contact">
    Created with the source **form** when nothing matched.
  </Step>
</Steps>

Matching a contact **fills in blanks only**. A name or number your team corrected in the CRM is never overwritten by a later form still carrying the old one. Custom fields mapped on the form are written at the same time.

Two established contacts are never merged. If a submission matches someone who already exists, it attaches to them and leaves both records alone. An anonymous website visitor who types their own phone number *is* folded into the contact it belongs to — they have told you who they are.

A submission with no identifying answer at all — a feedback form that only asks for a rating — is stored with no contact against it. That is a complete submission, not a failed one.

The submission then appears on that contact's [activity timeline](/contacts/activity-timeline).

## Acting on a submission

The **Form submitted** trigger starts an automation every time a form is sent. Leave its **Form** setting on *Any form*, or point it at one form.

It carries no channel, so **do not scope the automation to a channel** — see [Channels and the 24-hour window](/automations/channels-and-window).

Inside the automation:

| Token                         | Value                                           |
| ----------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------- |
| `{{ form.<field key> }}`      | One answer, by its key — `{{ form.full_name }}` |
| `{{ trigger.form_id }}`       | Which form was submitted                        |
| `{{ trigger.submission_id }}` | The submission itself                           |

So a "new enquiry" automation can tag the contact, create a deal, notify the team and reply quoting what the person actually asked for. See [Triggers](/automations/triggers), [Steps](/automations/steps) and [Variables and expressions](/automations/expressions).

<Warning>
  A person who filled in a form has usually never messaged you, so there is no conversation to reply in. Message steps in that automation are skipped and the run is marked partial — the tag, the deal and the webhook still run. On WhatsApp, reaching somebody who has not written to you first needs an approved template.
</Warning>

## Spam

Two checks run before a submission is accepted, and neither shows a visitor a puzzle:

* **Honeypot** — a field hidden in the page that people never see and bots fill in. Switched on by default, on the Settings tab.
* **Too quick** — a form returned in under a second was not read by a human.

A refused submission is not stored and does not reach your contacts or your automations.

## Booking forms

A booking makes a submission like any other, carrying the answers to everything else the form asked, plus a held slot. The slot itself is on the [Appointments tab](/forms/bookings).