How to create a Joomla contact form

Using Joomla and want to add a contact form to your web project? The integrated form function is a good start. For more extensive or complex forms, you can choose from a range of plugins. So how exactly do you create and add a Joomla form? And what information should be included?

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Quick guide to add a Joomla contact form

The quickest way to add a Joomla contact form to your website is via the backend Contact menu:

  1. Open 'Components' from the left side menu.
  2. Click on 'Contacts' and the sub-menu also called 'Contacts'.
  3. Select 'New' or 'Create first contact'.
  4. Enter the name of your contact form (e.g. 'Contact') and a correspondence email address.
  5. Save the contact for the Joomla contact form via the same-named button.
  6. Launch 'Menus' from the left-hand menu.
  7. Select 'Manage'.
  8. Click on 'New' and create a new entry with the title 'Contact form'. For 'Menu type' enter 'Single contact'.
  9. Save your entry.
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Step-by-step tutorial to add Joomla contact form without plugin

Joomla provides a contact form by default. You can access the feature via the backend of the content management system to create a simple Joomla form. The individual steps are summarised below.

Step 1: Create a contact

The first step in creating a Joomla contact form using the integrated function is a contact profile. Here you’ll define a corresponding email address to send all contact requests to.

Once you’ve registered in the backend, call up 'Components' from the side menu and select 'Contacts' and the sub-menu of the same name. Click 'New' or 'Create first contact' if you haven’t added yours yet.

Joomla backend: 'Contact' menu
Joomla backend: 'Contact' menu.

There are two fields to fill in for the contact. Enter a 'Name' for the contact such as 'Contact'. In the 'Email' field enter the correspondence email address for the Joomla contact form. Finally, click 'Save'.

Create contact profile in Joomla backend
Create contact profile in Joomla backend.

In the listing of the 'Contacts' menu you should now be able to see and edit the profile any time.

Contact in Joomla backend
Contact in Joomla backend.

Step 2: Create a Joomla contact form

Next, create a Joomla contact form and connect it to your contact profile. Launch the 'Menu' to the left of the backend menu and select 'Manage'. Click 'New'.

Manage menus in the Joomla backend
Manage menus in the Joomla backend.

Enter a 'Title' for your 'Contact form'. In 'Menu Details' enter 'Single contact'. Save the changes.

Create new menu in Joomla
Joomla: Create new menu in Joomla.

To the left, you should now see the menu item 'Contact form'. Open it by clicking the plus sign ('Add site menu item')

Step 3: Embed form

You can now link the created form to a module or a menu to add it to your project. From the main navigation, insert it as follows:

  1. Open 'Menus' from the left-hand menu.
  2. Click 'Main Menu'.
  3. Enter 'Contact form' for the title field.
  4. From the 'Menu Item Type' select the option 'Contact' (in 'Select Contact'). Select the contact to link the form to the desired email address.
  5. Hit 'Save'.
Create a Joomla contact form in the backend
Create a Joomla contact form in the backend.

As a test, you can fill in the details afterwards and submit the form to check how it works.

Create a Joomla contact form using a plugin

If Joomla’s native features aren’t enough to satisfy the needs of your project, you can use a Joomla extension. Just be sure that the selected extension matches your Joomla version and is actively maintained.

Here’s an example of how to set up a Joomla contact form using the extension visforms.

Note

The basic version of visforms is available for free. A subscription gives you access to additional features such as bootstrap and Ulkit layouts.

Step 1: Install Joomla contact form plugin

First you need to install the extension. As with Joomla templates you can do this via the backend:

  1. Register in the Joomla backend.
  2. Click on 'System' in the side panel.
  3. Select 'Extensions' under “Install”.
  4. If you’ve already downloaded a plugin, select its installation package. Otherwise, proceed to step 5.
  5. Click 'Install from Web'.
  6. Use the search function to find the desired extension.
  7. Select the desired extension and click 'Install'.
Joomla backend: Install visforms from web
Joomla backend: Install visforms from web.

Step 2: Create a Joomla contact form

Once you’ve installed the Joomla form extension, it will pop up under 'Components' to the left. You can use the menu to create your Joomla contact form. For visforms, click the button of the same name and then 'Form Factory'.

Now specify a form title which will be displayed on your website. Define the database name of the Joomla contact form in 'Form name'.

visforms: Add title and name of Joomla contact form
visforms: Add title and name of Joomla contact form.

Now create the Joomla form by choosing a template to customise. You can also design all fields, names and labels individually. Once you’ve made your selection, press 'Create Form and Fields'.

Create Joomla contact form using visforms
Create Joomla contact form using visforms.
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Step 3: Add contact form

You can link visforms to a module or to a menu to add them to your web page. Follow the steps below to add your contact form to the main menu navigation, for example:

  1. Access 'Menus' on the left.
  2. Click on the sub-menu 'Main Menu'.
  3. Click 'New'.
  4. Select a strong title.
  5. Enter 'Visforms' -> 'Formular' as menu type.
  6. Select the Joomla contact form you created earlier.
  7. Hit 'Save' and publish the form.
Joomla contact form created using visforms
Joomla contact form created using visforms.

What should be added to a Joomla contact form?

Knowing which fields to add to a contact form can be a bit of a challenge. You’ll want to collect your visitors’ contact details and achieve conversions using the form. A rule of thumb is to only ask for the information you actually need. The less information users need to provide, the higher the potential for conversion.

In most cases, three entry fields suffice:

  • Name
  • Email
  • Message

This information is a good basis as you can collect your visitor’s email address and then address them by their name when sending a reply.

If desired, you can make these fields mandatory and other sections optional. This way you can collect other details without turning users away because of too many fields to fill.

Tip

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