Form field schemas

Each form on your site has a schema — the list of fields it expects. PageFork uses that schema to render dynamic columns in the submissions inbox, to order fields in the detail sheet, and to decide CSV columns.

How a schema is built

The first time a form is submitted, PageFork records every field name it saw. On later submissions, any new field names are added to the schema. The schema grows automatically with the form.

You don’t manage the schema by hand. It’s a reflection of what the form actually sends.

When the schema gets messy

Occasionally you’ll see junk fields — typically after:

• Renaming a field in the form — old submissions used the old name; new ones use the new name. Both appear as columns.
• Adding bot/spam entries with random field names — rare, but possible if spam rate-limiting is bypassed.
• Pasting a form into a new place and forgetting a stale name=… attribute.

Cleaning up

If you want the schema to look consistent going forward:

1. Edit the form in PageFork so the field names match what you want. Ask in chat: “rename the ‘email_address’ field to ‘email’ on the contact form”.
2. Republish the site so visitors start submitting the new names.
3. Old submissions keep their original fields. They show in the CSV as extra columns. You can ignore or delete them in your downstream tool.

There’s no “drop field” button in the inbox on purpose — old data is preserved by default. If you need historical fields removed from the inbox, contact support.

Field ordering

The detail sheet and CSV show fields in the order they were first seen. If you want a particular order:

• Edit the form in PageFork so fields appear in the right order in the HTML. Most browsers submit fields in DOM order.
• New schemas reflect the new order from the next submission onwards.

Next

• Forms overview
• CSV export
• Submissions inbox