How to Extract Emails from Contact Form 7 Submissions
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Export and import options vary by plan, permissions and product version. Check the platform’s current help documentation if a menu or format differs. Use only contact data you are authorized to process; an extracted address is not proof of marketing consent.
Why Extract from Contact Form 7?
Contact Form 7 (CF7) is one of the most widely used WordPress form builder plugins. It is free, lightweight and supports multiple forms, custom fields, CAPTCHA, file uploads and mail configuration. Contact Form 7 is used on millions of WordPress sites for contact forms, inquiry forms, quote request forms and feedback forms.
Unlike many form builders, Contact Form 7 does not store submissions in the WordPress database by default. Submissions are sent as email notifications to the site administrator. This means that form data lives in your email inbox rather than in a dashboard.
Extracting email addresses from Contact Form 7 submissions is useful in several scenarios.
Building a contact list. Contact forms are often the primary way visitors reach a business. Extracting respondent email addresses gives you a list to import into a CRM or email marketing platform.
Recovering lost data. If you did not set up database storage for CF7 submissions, your email inbox may be the only record. Extracting from notification emails recovers those addresses.
Consolidating contacts. If you run CF7 on multiple WordPress sites or alongside other form builders, extracting from each and deduplicating reveals your total unique respondent count.
Migrating to another form builder. When switching from Contact Form 7 to WPForms, Gravity Forms, JotForm or another builder, extracting historical submission email addresses preserves your contacts.
How to Get Form Data from Contact Form 7
Since CF7 does not store submissions by default, the approach depends on your setup.
Option 1: If you use Flamingo or another storage plugin
Flamingo is a companion plugin for Contact Form 7 that stores submissions in the WordPress database.
- Log in to your WordPress admin dashboard.
- Go to Flamingo > Inbound Messages.
- Select the messages you want to export.
- Use the export option to download submissions as CSV.
- Download the file.
Other storage plugins for CF7 (such as CFDB7 or Contact Form Submissions) provide similar export functionality.
Option 2: Extract from notification emails
If you do not use a storage plugin, submissions exist only as email notifications.
- Open your email inbox that receives CF7 notifications.
- Search for the subject line used by your contact form notifications (e.g., the subject you configured in CF7's Mail tab).
- Select the notification emails you want to extract from.
- Save them as EML or MSG files. Most email clients support this: in Gmail, use "Show original" and save; in Outlook, drag to a folder or use "Save As."
- Upload the EML or MSG files to Email Extractor.
Option 3: Copy and paste from emails
- Open the notification emails.
- Copy the email body text from multiple notifications.
- Paste into a text file and save as TXT.
- Upload the TXT file to Email Extractor.
How to Extract the Email Addresses
- Go to bulkemailextractor.com.
- Select "Text and files."
- Upload the CSV file (from Flamingo or another storage plugin), or EML/MSG files, or a TXT file with pasted notification text. Up to 25 MB per file, 100 MB per batch.
- Click "Extract emails."
- Review the results. Duplicates are removed automatically.
- Download as TXT for a plain list, CSV for a single-column spreadsheet, or CSV with sources.
Working with the Results
Import into a CRM
The extracted list can be imported into HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive or any CRM. This is useful when your WordPress contact form is your primary lead source.
Import into an email marketing platform
Import the list into Mailchimp, ActiveCampaign, Kit, MailerLite or another email marketing platform.
Compare with other forms
If you run multiple contact forms (CF7 on one site, WPForms on another, Google Forms for events), extract from each and combine. Deduplication shows your total unique respondent count.
Verify addresses
Form submissions may contain typos or spam entries. Running the extracted list through a verification service removes invalid addresses. See Best email verification services.
Things to Know
No default submission storage
Contact Form 7 does not store submissions in the WordPress database by default. Without a storage plugin like Flamingo, your only record of submissions is the notification emails. This is why extracting from email files is often necessary.
Notification email format
CF7 notification emails include the form field values in the email body. When extracting from these emails, Email Extractor will find the submitter's email address. It may also find other email addresses mentioned in the notification (such as your own admin email address in the header or footer).
EML and MSG limitations
Email Extractor reads the header and body text of EML and MSG files but does not process attachment contents. If CF7 sends file attachments with notifications, the attachment file contents are not analysed.
Flamingo export
If you use Flamingo, the exported CSV includes one row per submission and one column per form field. Column headers are field labels and are not extracted.
Spam entries
Contact Form 7 supports reCAPTCHA, hCaptcha, Akismet and other anti-spam tools. Despite these protections, some spam submissions may be received as email notifications. Spam entries with fake email addresses will be extracted. Verification after extraction helps filter these out.
Multiple forms
A single WordPress site can have multiple Contact Form 7 forms. If you use Flamingo, submissions from different forms are stored separately. If you rely on notification emails, different forms may send to different email addresses or use different subject lines.
Plugin popularity
Contact Form 7 is installed on millions of WordPress sites. While it is powerful and flexible, its lack of default submission storage is a common pain point. Consider installing Flamingo alongside CF7 to avoid losing submission data in the future.
Form field configuration
CF7 uses a tag-based syntax for form fields. The email field is typically configured as [email* your-email]. As long as the form includes an email field, submissions will contain extractable email addresses.
