New Form Submissions Policy

@AntonioBalderas We’re already working on a way to host custom files in Webflow :blush: Regarding email, it’s a really hard problem to solve, and we recommend using state-of-the-art email tools like Google Apps for Your Domain at this time.

@KProServices If a freelancer deletes their site, the form displays the “Error State” message of the form, which can be custom-designed by the freelancer.

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is the google translate, the form do not work and i dont know what i need to do…

Es una falta de respeto lo que estan haciendo aca en Argentina el dolar es 14 veces mas caro, hace 1 año que contrate este servicio y nunca tuve problemas con los formulario, ahora de la nada me llegan 30 mails diciendome que no funcionan los formularios y mis clientes se me quejan de que no les funciona, yo les tengo que dar una respuesta y no tengo la solucion simple, estoy muy enojado, WHY ALL IS A PROBLEM ?!?!


Mod edit: (Google Translate) - it is a lack of respect what they are doing here in Argentina the dollar is 14 times more expensive , 1 year contract this service does and never had problems with the form , now of nowhere I get 30 emails telling me that the forms do not work and I my clients complain that it does not work , I have to give them an answer and I have no simple solution , I am very angry, ALL WHY iS a PROBLEM ? !?!

@callmevlad I’m still getting this message when I tried to export the code for a website that I’m working on

is it going to work ok? or you recommend to wait?

UPDATE: its not saying that anymore! THANKS!

@diegokenji We have reverted the recent changes, so your forms should work exactly as before. This change went live 20 minutes ago. Are you still seeing any issues?

@aaronocampo Hmm, have you restarted the Webflow designer?

Working now! :smile: thanks for being a company that listen to their customers!

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NICEEEE NOW WORKS AGAIN !!! THANKSSS !!!
we need any other solution for the future or I can go to sleep peacefully ? :sleepy:

@aaronocampo Apologies again for the surprise :pensive:

@diegokenji No need to worry, get some sleep :sleeping:

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Actually I’m very surprised exported sites’ form submissions even work. I have this problem of users downloading my site offline and using their saved copy to spam me (yes, the forms still continue to work and I get charged extra every month for exceeding the quota from these offsite spam form submissions).

I would rather strongly have all forms work ONLY if hosted by Webflow AND submitted from the approved/primary domain only.

If you have a need to export your project, you should be proficient enough to implement your own form submissions as well. Otherwise, don’t export it. As simple as that.

@cyberdave: My support ticket for this has not been solved yet.

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It’s nice that exported forms can be handled by Webflow. Honestly, I’ve always been a bit surprised that it was a feature and can see how it could be problematic for the product. It’s great that Webflow has responded in making it retro active for current accounts and certainly gives current Webflow plan owners a reason to hold on to those accounts.

I’d like to be able to integrate a third party form solution into a Webflow project that I’m planning to export so I don’t have to set it up outside of Webflow after export. Not sure if this is possible or not but it would be nice.

@samliew How do you mean they spam you? If you set it up for them and export it if you don’t want them processing forms couldn’t you rename the site or remove the form data?

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There are malicious visitors to my website that saves a local copy (“Save page as…”) and they can still submit the form and it goes into my form submissions and sends me email, even when I have NO control over their saved offline copy of my website.

Renaming the project won’t work, as it is a public facing site and visitors can continue doing the above.

Deleting the site is not an option.

I’m not talking about exported sites, but it is the same as it is a saved “copy” with all the Webflow form code, which currently cannot tell whether it is a Webflow hosted or exported/saved site. This is what Webflow team is trying to solve.

It isn’t necessarily about being proficient @samliew… it is about the fact that many existing client sites (and sites in development) have a dependency on webflow to handle the form submissions. With this sudden and unexpected change, things broke. And for some users, that meant trying to rebuild and fix every form on 100+ sites in a matter of a couple hours. No respectable notice was given by Webflow and clients were reporting broken forms before some users were even aware that this change was implemented.

As far as your form spam issue, does cloning the site fix the issue? I am assuming you would delete the original version of the site from your dashboard after cloning.

@KProServices

I know this thread is about the change without warning. I’m only adding my feedback on why the change, and what problem the team was trying to solve (and not for profit).

Yes, people do save my website for offline use. And forms get submitted on a daily basis and I cannot control it

I have tried the following but doesn’t work:

  • delete the form and redo the form
  • clone the site and delete the original

Forms still get submitted under the original form name - because I have no control over the older saved local copy that people download, and visitors continue to save the pages, creating more copies of the form no matter how I change it.

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Very odd… I figured cloning and deleting the site would have helped given that the site ID would have changed. I hope they find a solution for you!

It’s at most a temporary solution. It doesn’t stop others from doing the same thing again, which happens all the time. Should I do this everyday?

  • Contact support of your intention to do the below steps
  • Cancel hosting
  • Clone site
  • Delete old site
  • Set up hosting on new site
  • Contact support to refund unused portion of hosting

Like I said, I have already tried this. It is not normal for everyone to have to do this to fix the problem of “Form in locally saved files can be used to spam live site’s form”.

Thank you @callmevlad, we really appreciate you guys. Truly love Webflow and will continue to be a loyal brand evangelist for you guys.

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Good to know it is at least a temporary solution. I agree, it isn’t something you can do daily.

I came to weblow to develop websites. I came to webflow because as a website development tool I found it to be pretty awesome with respect to any other tool I was using at the time I discovered webflow. I still think it is an awesome tool for developing websites. I believed/believe in webflow partly because of the following partial webflow creed and I hope that doesn’t change: “Everyone should have the power to create for the web. To make the most of the web, we need tools that democratize access to it — i.e., tools that empower creative people to build websites and share their visions with the world”.

As to the form problem and the stated reasoning for any change to it being “clients get very upset when a freelancer ends up deleting their Webflow account/sites many months after a site is complete and hosted elsewhere. When this happens, the freelancer (original Webflow account owner, not the client who might not even know about Webflow) can delete a Webflow site (which makes it impossible for Webflow’s servers to keep delivering the form submissions…”

In such a case it makes perfect sense the above argument. That is why, in my mind, using webflows forms should have been and should always be TIED to hosting with webflow. It seems logical they should go hand in hand.

Personally, I don’t use webflow forms. And I don’t host client sites with webflow. I pay for access to the program and keeping websites in the system forever (and the webflow pricing model thereof is another bone of contention which has been expressed on another thread so won’t go into it here) because I am a developer, a web host, a marketer of client sites, we do everything and the webflow hosting model doesn’t fit our profit center needs since it ties us to a third party for one and two, we have our own dedicated server to host our clients on. Also, and mostly because I have been in business since 1998 and learned many, many years ago not to tie myself to any third party on behalf of my clients, if I can help it for reasons just like the “snafu” regarding form submissions.

As well, I don’t understand why anyone would use webflow form submissions or ANY third party form submission system on behalf of their clients. Just my personal opinion but it seems unprofessional to do so if not only because it ties the client to again, a third party system and leaves room for things like this to happen which could be beyond your ability to control.

It is really easy to use a secure form processing script and build a webflow form to use it we do it all the time and it only takes a minute to configure and works great for our clients and relieves us on relying on any third party.

So if anything, maybe this would be a good lesson in deciding to use a good form processing script and tying it into your form and relieving the client of ever having to rely on anyone but you.

Just my opinion…

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@callmevlad Is this still the case. I’ve been a loyal user of Webflow since 2014 and I recently built a site with Webflow and exported for the client which uses the Webflow forms. It’s now being hosted externally. Will they still be able to receive more than the 10 form submissions?

A post was split to a new topic: Form and pricing feedback