When traveling to a foreign country or starting a new hobby, understanding important terms will help to ensure you have a positive experience. Likewise, with Wufoo, knowing a few key phrases will allow you to navigate all of our custom settings and powerful features with ease.

Here’s a comprehensive guide to help you get started. Learning caps on!

Account Owner

The main user on a Wufoo account. Usually this belongs to the person who first made the Wufoo account, and on Gratis and Ad Hoc plans, it’s the only user for the account. However, the Account Creator may be updated after the initial creation, for example if an employee leaves a company, they may pass the account to their successor. This is the only user who can make changes to the account’s plan, such as upgrades.

Confirmation

An email which can be sent to one email address entered into an Email field. It can also include a copy of the entry as part of the email body. Often used to provide the person filling out a form with a verification that their entry has been submitted.

CSS Keywords

Provided shortcuts for additional field styling or functionality. These keywords are used to apply some additional, pre-written CSS, so no knowledge of CSS is necessary. Includes modifications like aligning fields in columns, hiding portions of a multi-part field, or hiding a field from view.

Entry

A single submission of a form. When someone clicks “Submit” on a public form, an account user manually creates an entry through the Entry Manager, or an entry is sent via our API, this counts as one entry (regardless of the number of fields on the form). These are stored in the Entry Manager. The number of entries allowed per month will depend on the account’s plan.

Entry Manager

Stores a form’s submitted entries, and also allows for the creation of entries for Private forms. Accessed by clicking the Entries button under each form.

Field

The fundamental building block for collecting data through a form. Field type determines what sort of input can be collected. In addition to standard fields (text, number, multiple choice, drop down and checkboxes), Wufoo also provides premade fields for some of the most common data types (Address, Email, Website, etc) that include some basic validation. A form (on a paid plan) can have a maximum of approximately 100 fields, but this varies based on the specific field types.

Form

A collection of fields for collecting information. Can be shared via URL, embedded on external pages, or accessed using the Wufoo API. Many different types of forms can be created, and there are a wide variety of examples in our Template Gallery.

Form Manager

Contains all of an account’s forms, and links to other portions of the account. Sometimes referred to as the “main” page, since it’s the first page you see upon logging in. Under each form, you will find buttons that provide access to the Entry Manager, Rule Builder, Notifications, and other menus for each form.

Form Builder

The area used to create and edit forms by adding/removing fields and updating Field Settings and Form Settings. This is what you’re shown if you click the “Edit” button under a form on the Form Manager.

Notifications

An email or text message/SMS that can be sent to any address that you predefine in the Notifications Settings, or in the Form Rules section of the Rule Builder. They are usually used to send a copy of an entry to an interested party. For example, on a time-off request form that employees fill out, Notifications can be used to send a copy of each submission to HR for recordkeeping.

Private

A form that can only be accessed through the Wufoo account. A form can be set to “Private” by unchecking the “Public” box next to the form in the Form Manager. The Account Creator (and any sub-users on a paid account) can still submit entries from within the Entry manager for the Private form, but the form can not be accessed or submitted using a public link or embed code.

Protected

A form that is similar to a standard Public form, but requires a password in order to view. Clicking the “Protect” button under a form in the Form Manager allows you to restrict publicly available forms so that they can only be accessed by individuals with the password. This allows for a somewhat semi-private form, since people without access to your Wufoo account can still submit entries, but they need the password.

Report

Compilation of entry data from a single form, organized and displayed using Widgets. A report can be further refined by using filters to match only entries meeting certain conditions.

REST API

Standardized method of programmatically interacting with Wufoo data such as forms and entries. Useful for creating custom integrations or automating tasks.

Share

Provides various methods of distributing your form. Includes standard form URL, embed codes, Twitter/Facebook, and WordPress options.

Templating

Templating is a fancy way of having Wufoo dynamically replace a shortcut phrase with data filled in from the user on your forms.

Theme

A customized design for your form. Themes can be customized to adjust fonts, colors, backgrounds, and header logos.

Theme Designer

Used to create, edit, or delete a custom theme. Accessed through the Themes button under a form in the Form Manager

URL Modification

Values added to the form URL, which allow fields to be prefilled. Can also be used to modify the form itself, such as turning of HTTPS/SSL for the form.

User

1. Refers to someone filling out your form. Whether they used one of the public form links, or your form was embedded on a site, people who fill out your forms are considered users.
2. Additionally, on a Bona Fide or higher plan, multiple users can be created on a single account. To simplify things, it may help to think of these same-account users as sub-users, since they have access to the account as the Account Owner who created the account. A sub-user in Wufoo is assigned permissions to view, create, edit Forms/Reports/Themes/Entries. These users can also be designated as account Admins who have access to create and edit user permissions. Only the Account Owner has access to the plan and billing settings.

Webhook

A special type of integration option, that allows a form to send an HTTP POST request to a specified URL. This method is often used in various third party integrations.

Widget

Charts, graphs, and other display options for a report. Most Widgets visualize data from a specific individual field. Up to 20 widgets can be added to a single report.

Are we missing anything? Something not clear? Let Michael know in the Comments section below!