Instance · Forms
Form email notifications
Last updated 7 November 2026
You can use this tab to set up the email notifications for the form you are creating. You can configure the following types of email notifications:
- Autoresponder Emails
- Workflow Emails
Autoresponder Emails
The autoresponder email notification is a feature that enables you to build automated email replies when a user submits a form. Common examples where autoresponder emails may come in handy are confirmation emails for users submitting a contact form or signing up for a subscription.
An autoresponder goes to whatever address a visitor types, so which sender it can use depends on whether the form has spam protection. This stops anyone using your form to send email to other people from the shared Insites address.
- With spam protection (reCAPTCHA V2 or reCAPTCHA V3, set under Spam Protection on the Details tab), the autoresponder can use any of the instance's senders, including [email protected].
- Without spam protection, the Sender list shows only senders at your own verified domain, and the default one is chosen for you. A note under the on and off switch explains why.
- If your instance has no sender at a verified domain, the autoresponder is held. Your setting is kept, but the email does not send, and the Form Builder says how to fix it: switch spam protection on, or add a sender at your own domain. See Email Senders.
- If you switch spam protection off on a form whose autoresponder sends from [email protected], saving the form moves it to your default domain sender, or holds it if you have none.
To configure autoresponder emails:
- Navigate to the 'Email Notifications' tab.
- Select the 'Autoresponder' tab.
- Fill out the form.
| Input Label | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Send autoresponder email on submit success | Toggle | No | Automatically send a confirmation email to the user upon successful form submission. When this option is toggled to 'True,' the following fields become required:
|
| From Name | Input Field | No | The name of the email sender. |
| Sender | Dropdown Field | No | The address the email is sent from. The list shows the instance's email senders. You cannot type a From address. See Email Senders. |
| To | Input Field | No | The email address to which the autoresponder email is sent. You may provide multiple email addresses, separated by commas. |
| Reply To | Input Field | No | The address that replies go to, such as your own team's inbox. |
| CC | Input Field | No | The email address to which the autoresponder sends a carbon copy email. You may provide multiple email addresses, separated by commas. |
| BCC | Input Field | No | The email address to which the autoresponder sends a blind carbon copy email. You may provide multiple email addresses, separated by commas. |
| Subject | Input Field | No | The subject of the email. |
| Email Design | Radio | Yes | The email design of the autoresponder email. You can choose from the following options:
Selecting the 'CMS Layout' option causes the form to display additional fields discussed in the next section. Please refer to Email design for more details. |
CMS Layout
The following table displays the fields that appear on the form when you select the 'CMS Layout' option in the 'Email Design' field.
| Input Label | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Layout | Select | Yes | The layout of the autoresponder email. Appears only if CMS Layout email design is selected. |
| Content | Code Editor | Yes | The content of the autoresponder email. |
Workflow Emails
The workflow email notification feature enables you to send automated emails to administrators whenever a user submits a form. These emails can help administrators filter and prioritize specific form submissions, leading to a better customer experience and improved allocation of organizational resources.
To configure workflow emails:
- Navigate to the 'Email Notifications' tab.
- Select the 'Workflow' tab.
- Fill out the form.
| Input Label | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Send workflow email on submit success | Toggle | No |
Automatically send a workflow email to an assigned user upon successful form submission. When this option is toggled to 'True,' the following fields become required:
|
| From Name | Input Field | No | The name of the email sender. |
| Sender | Dropdown Field | No | The address the email is sent from. The list shows the instance's email senders. You cannot type a From address. The From Name is what the recipient sees, and replies go to the Reply To address. |
| Subject | Input Field | No | The subject of the email. |
| To | Input Field | No | The email address to which the workflow email is sent. You may provide multiple email addresses, separated by commas. |
| Reply To | Input Field | No | The email address in the 'Reply To' field. |
| CC | Input Field | No | The email address to which the workflow email feature sends a carbon copy email. You may provide multiple email addresses, separated by commas. |
| BCC | Input Field | No | The email address to which the workflow email feature sends a blind carbon copy email. You may provide multiple email addresses, separated by commas. |
| Email Design | Radio | Yes | The email design of the workflow email. You can choose from three options: Default Template, CMS Layout, and Visual Editor. |
| Content | Code Editor | No | The content of the workflow email. |
CMS Layout
The following table displays the fields that appear on the form when you select the 'CMS Layout' option in the 'Email Design' field.
| Input Label | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Content | Code Editor | Yes | The content of the workflow email. |
Note
The system uses the default Insites layout for workflow emails.
Email design
Using the visual editor, Insites lets you modify your email's design and text with pre-built templates, CMS layouts, or custom designs. Topics in this section include the following:
- Default template
- CMS layout
- Visual editor
Default template
Default templates are standard templates the system automatically selects for autoresponder and workflow email notifications. This option automatically assigns a layout and content. It is not editable and is for preview only.
CMS layout
This option involves more coding, with content that can be edited on a WYSIWYG or code editor. For autoresponder emails, you can assign a Layout stored in Insites CMS.
Visual editor
Using this option, you can create designs using drag-and-drop functionality.
Note
The layout is removed from autoresponder emails if this email design is selected.
Dynamic content
Dynamic content greatly enhances personalization, improving overall user experience and customer satisfaction.
For the sake of an example, let's compare two confirmation emails sent to a user inquiring about a product:
With dynamic content:
'Hi, we've received your inquiry for the product and one of our team members will be in touch shortly.'
Without dynamic content:
'Hi,
, we've received your inquiry for the and one of our team members will be in touch shortly.'
Note the need for more personalization and detail about the product in the first example. Now compare it with the second, where the user's name was mentioned, along with details of the product they were inquiring about.
To create dynamic, personalized autoresponder and workflow emails on Insites, you may utilize the toolbox on the right-hand side of the page when you open the 'Email Notifications' tab. The toolbox lists all the fields from the database and makes them available as dynamic variables in your emails. The steps for using dynamic content on your autoresponder and workflow emails are as follows:
- Navigate to the 'Email Notifications' tab.
- Enable Autoresponder or Workflow emails.
- On the Toolbox, find the field you want to use and select the field to copy it to your clipboard.
- Paste the field in the desired location, noting you can use it in the subject or body content of the email. Additionally, you can use fields from the toolbox on any fields in the form.
Send Test Email
This will allow you to send a test email to yourself or designated test email addresses. Its main purpose is to have an actual preview of the email so that you can fix error(s) found before saving the form.
To send a test email:
- Navigate to the 'Email Notifications' tab.
- Select the 'Autoresponder' or 'Workflow' tab.
- Select SEND TEST EMAIL.
| Input Label | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dynamic Variable Content Data | Code Editor | No | These are values that replace the toolbox fields' dynamic content. |
| Test Email Recipients | Input Multiple | Yes | Emails that you want to send the test email to. |
Note
The Test Email Recipients field shows on production instances only. On staging instances, test emails go to the addresses set under Settings > Instance Configuration (email notification settings).