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Use the visual builder

Learn how to open the full‑screen Plattio Forms builder, add and arrange fields, use layout and style controls, work with history and autosave, and save your form to get the shortcode.

What you’ll achieve

Follow these steps to build a form in the Plattio Forms full‑screen builder: add fields, arrange layout, pick a style preset or adjust detailed design, use history and autosave, and save the form so you can copy its [plattio_form id="..."] shortcode.

Prerequisites

  • WordPress meeting the plugin minimum (WordPress >= 6.7, PHP >= 8.1).
  • You must have the Plattio Forms plugin active and a user role with form management capability (access to the Plattio Forms admin menu).

Open the builder

  1. In the WordPress admin go to Plattio Forms → Add New (builder page). If you open Add New without a template or form ID you will see the Templates chooser (admin.php?page=plattio-forms-templates) — choose a template and click Use Template to open the builder with that schema.
  2. To edit an existing form go to Plattio Forms → Forms, then click a form Title or the Edit action to open the builder for that form.

Add fields

  1. In the builder use the left panel (tabs such as Fields, General, Notifications, Confirmations, Spam & Security, Privacy, Styling) to choose field types. Field groups include Standard Fields, Advanced Fields and Layout Fields.
  2. Click a field to add it or drag it into the form canvas. After a field is added, use the field settings to edit Label, Placeholder, Required, Width and other per‑field options.
  3. For complex fields (repeaters, choice cards, file uploads, WooCommerce product selector), expand that field’s settings to set min/max, choices, allowed file extensions, and uploader limits.

Control layout and columns

  1. Drag fields to reorder them or place fields side‑by‑side to form columns. Use each field’s Width setting to adjust column sizing.
  2. Use the Layout controls in the Styling tab to set row gap, column gap and action/button spacing for the whole form.

Apply styling presets or fine-tune appearance

  1. Open Styling and choose a preset (e.g., Default, Theme Match, Clean) to quickly set form container, typography and color defaults.
  2. To customize further, adjust form container (Maximum width, Alignment, Padding, Border, Background), typography and color controls for title, description, labels, placeholders, inputs and buttons.
  3. If you need scoped CSS, add it in the Custom CSS textarea and use {{WRAPPER}} to target this form only.

Conditional logic, notifications and confirmations

  1. Use the builder’s Smart Logic/conditional logic editor to add rule groups. Rules inside a group are ANDed; separate groups are ORed.
  2. Open Notifications to add or edit email notifications, use smart tags for recipient fields, and attach uploads if needed.
  3. Open Confirmations to add or reorder user confirmations (Show Page / Confirmation Page or redirect). The first matching confirmation is used.

Field Library (save and reuse a field)

  1. With a field selected, use the builder action to Save field to library. You can later open your personal Field Library and insert saved fields.
  2. Notes: saved field name max is 80 characters; personal library is limited to 100 saved fields per user and saved field JSON payloads have a size limit (server‑side).

History and autosave

  1. The builder supports Undo / Redo. Use these controls to step back through recent edits.
  2. Autosave runs in the builder. If the builder offers an autosave restore message, you can restore shown autosaved changes.

Save your form and get the shortcode

  1. Click the builder Save control (you may see status text like Saving… then Saved).
  2. After a successful save the builder returns the form ID and the embed shortcode. Copy the standard shortcode shown (for example [plattio_form id="123"]). If conversational mode is enabled for the form you will also see the conversational shortcode/embed options.

What to expect after completing these steps

Your new form will be saved and the builder will provide the shortcode to place the form on pages or posts. The form’s styling, fields, notifications and confirmations will take effect immediately on any page where you insert the shortcode.

Troubleshooting & limitations (verified)

  • If Add New opens blank, the builder redirects to the Templates chooser — pick a template or open the builder with a ?form_id= or ?template= parameter.
  • Saving requires a non‑empty Title; saving without a title returns an error and the builder will not save.
  • Some templates or fields (for example the WooCommerce product field or certain templates like warranty_claim) require WooCommerce; the Templates chooser shows a disabled button labeled Requires WooCommerce when WooCommerce is not available.
  • Field Library limits: up to 100 saved fields per user; saved field name max 80 characters; JSON size limits enforced server‑side.
  • Save & Resume (save and continue later) does not persist uploaded files or signatures in drafts — users must reupload those when resuming a saved form.
  • Permissions and nonces protect builder actions; if you lack capability you will see permission errors when saving or using library features.

More help

If you see a specific error when saving (permission, nonce, or validation message), check your user role and retry from the Plattio Forms → Forms list or reopen the builder via the Templates chooser.

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