Elementor Pro includes a built-in submissions panel that stores every form entry automatically. If you are using the Elementor Form widget to capture leads, contact requests, or enquiries - your submissions are already being saved without any additional setup.
But storing submissions and managing them efficiently are two different things. This guide covers both - what Elementor handles natively, where its built-in panel works well, where it has limits, and how to build a more complete submission management workflow on top of it.
How Elementor stores form submissions
Every time someone submits an Elementor form, the entry is written to the WordPress database automatically. No additional plugin needed. No configuration required. The Collect Submissions action is enabled by default on new Elementor forms.
To view stored submissions, go to Elementor > Submissions in your WordPress admin. Select a form from the dropdown and every captured entry appears in a list with field values, submission date, and basic status options.
One important thing to check: make sure the Collect Submissions action is active in your form's Actions After Submit settings. If it was ever removed and only an Email action is active, submissions exist only as email notifications with no database backup.
What Elementor's submissions panel does well
For straightforward use cases, Elementor's native panel is capable enough:
Entry storage and viewing - every submission is stored reliably and viewable from the WordPress admin. Field values, submission date, and the page the form was submitted from are all recorded.
Basic status marking - entries can be marked as Read or Unread. Useful for a single person doing a quick daily review of new submissions.
Basic filtering - filter by date range and read status. Sufficient for low-volume forms where you need a quick overview.
Email notifications - configure notification emails that fire on every submission with field values pulled in dynamically via merge tags.Bulk actions - select multiple entries and mark as read, mark as unread, or delete in one action.
For a site with one or two forms and one person reviewing submissions occasionally, this covers the basics without needing anything else.
Where Elementor's submissions panel has limits
The limits become noticeable as volume grows, team size increases, or reporting requirements become more specific.
No analytics or trend data
The submissions panel is a list. There is no way to see whether a form is generating more or fewer submissions over time, no daily or weekly breakdown, and no comparison across forms. If someone asks "how many leads did we get last month compared to this month?" - the answer requires manually counting entries across two date ranges.
No field-level filtering
Elementor's filtering covers date range and read status only. There is no way to filter by a specific field value - for example, all submissions where the Service field equals "Web Design", or all entries where the budget field is above a certain value. Finding a specific subset of entries requires scrolling through the full list manually.
No audit trail
If a team member edits a submission in Elementor's panel - corrects a typo, updates a field value, there is no record of it. No timestamp, no who-changed-what. For any site with more than one person touching submission data, this creates an accountability gap that grows over time.
No cross-plugin unified view
If your site runs Contact Form 7, WPForms, Gravity Forms, or any other form plugin alongside Elementor, those submissions are managed in completely separate places. There is no single view covering all your forms regardless of which plugin built them.
No way to add internal notes
There is no way to attach an internal comment to a specific entry - a follow-up reminder, a team annotation, a status update. That context lives in someone's head, a Slack message, or an email thread, disconnected from the submission record itself.
No frontend display options
Submission data stays in the WordPress admin. There is no built-in way to display it on the frontend of your site as a counter or a table - without a separate plugin or custom development.
No advanced export
Elementor has a basic export option. There are no saved export configurations, no field-level filters applied before export, and no automatic sync to Google Sheets or other external destinations.
Building a more complete submission management workflow
For sites where the limits above create real friction, Form Vibes connects with Elementor Forms automatically and extends the submission management workflow without replacing anything Elementor already does.
Install Form Vibes alongside Elementor Pro and it starts capturing Elementor form submissions from that point forward. Your existing forms stay exactly as they are - no changes needed.
What this adds to the workflow:
Unified dashboard across all form plugins
All supported form plugins feed into one Form Vibes dashboard. If your site runs Elementor alongside Contact Form 7, WPForms, or Gravity Forms - everything appears in one place. Switch between forms using a single dropdown with the same interface regardless of which plugin built the form.
Field-level filtering
Filter submissions by any field value, stack multiple conditions, and narrow down to exactly the subset you need. Find all enquiries where the budget field is above a certain value, or all submissions from a specific campaign landing page, in seconds.
Analytics dashboard
Daily, weekly, and monthly submission volume for any form. See whether lead generation is trending up or down, spot spikes that correspond to campaigns, and answer "how did we do this month compared to last?" without manually counting entries.
Event Log
Every edit and export action is recorded automatically with a timestamp and username. If a field value looks wrong, the log shows whether it was changed and what the original value was. Starts recording from the moment Form Vibes is activated.
Submission Notes
Attach internal annotations to any entry - follow-up reminders, team comments, status updates. Visible to anyone with Form Vibes access. Never sent to the submitter. Keeps submission context attached to the record where it belongs.
Advanced export and Google Sheets sync
Quick Export downloads all entries for any form as a CSV immediately. Export Profiles (Pro) save any export configuration - form, date range, field filters, output columns and re-run it in one click. Google Sheets sync (Pro) pushes every new submission to a connected spreadsheet automatically the moment it arrives.
Frontend submission display
Data Profiles (Pro) lets you display submission data on any page using a shortcode or Elementor widget - live counters, searchable tables, or password-protected team views.
Practical workflow combining Elementor and Form Vibes
A typical submission review workflow with both active looks like this:
New submission arrives → Form Vibes captures it automatically → appears in Form Vibes dashboard as Unread → team member reviews it, marks as Read, adds a note ("Followed up 14 June") → next team member opens the same entry and sees the full context without asking what happened → entry exported to CSV or pushed to Google Sheets for reporting.
Elementor handles the form building and the initial storage. Form Vibes handles everything after that.
Getting Started
Form Vibes is free to install from WordPress.org. Install it alongside Elementor Pro, submit one test entry on any Elementor form, and go to Form Vibes → Submissions to confirm everything is capturing correctly.
Read the full setup guide with screenshots on How to Save and Manage Elementor Form Submissions.
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