How to Extract Emails from Gravity Forms 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 Gravity Forms?
Gravity Forms is a premium WordPress form plugin used by businesses, agencies, nonprofits and developers to build contact forms, registration forms, survey forms, order forms, application forms, donation forms and complex multi-page workflows. Form entries (submissions) are stored in the WordPress database and accessible from the WordPress admin dashboard.
Extracting email addresses from Gravity Forms entries is useful in several scenarios.
Building a contact list across multiple forms. A WordPress site may have dozens of Gravity Forms for different purposes (contact page, newsletter sign-up, event registration, job application, quote request). Email addresses are scattered across separate forms. Extracting from all of them produces a single deduplicated list.
Recovering contacts not captured by add-ons. Gravity Forms has add-ons that send entries to Mailchimp, HubSpot, Salesforce, Zapier and other tools. If an add-on was not installed from the start, earlier submissions may not have reached those platforms. Exporting directly from Gravity Forms captures every entry regardless of add-on status.
Migrating from WordPress. If you are moving away from WordPress or switching form plugins, extracting all email addresses from Gravity Forms entries ensures no contacts are lost.
Combining with other sources. If contacts come through Gravity Forms, a standalone form tool, email correspondence and manual entry, extracting from all sources and deduplicating produces one complete list.
How to Export from Gravity Forms
Gravity Forms stores entries in the WordPress database. You export from the WordPress admin panel.
Exporting entries
- Log in to your WordPress admin dashboard.
- Go to Forms in the left sidebar (this appears after Gravity Forms is installed).
- Hover over Import/Export and click Export Entries.
- Select the form you want to export from the dropdown.
- Choose which fields to include in the export. Check at least the email field. You can include all fields or select specific ones.
- Optionally set a date range or apply conditional filters to export a subset of entries.
- Click Download Export File.
- Gravity Forms generates a CSV file and downloads it to your computer.
Repeat for each form you want to extract from.
Export fields
The exported CSV contains one row per entry and one column per selected field. Columns match the field labels in your form (e.g., "Email", "Name", "Phone", "Message"). Gravity Forms also includes metadata columns: entry ID, date created, source URL, user agent and user IP (depending on your settings and Gravity Forms version).
Large exports
For sites with tens of thousands of entries, the export may take time. If the export times out (which can happen on shared hosting), consider increasing your PHP execution time limit or using the Gravity Forms CLI (available through WP-CLI) to export via the command line.
How to Extract the Email Addresses
- Go to bulkemailextractor.com.
- Select "Text and files."
- Upload the CSV file (or files, if you exported from multiple forms). 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 to see which form export each address came from.
Working with the Results
Track which form each contact came from
If you export each Gravity Forms form separately and upload all the files in one extraction, downloading as CSV with sources shows which form each address appeared in. This helps you distinguish contact form inquiries from newsletter sign-ups, event registrants from job applicants.
Combine with other WordPress plugins
If your WordPress site uses multiple form plugins (Gravity Forms, Contact Form 7, WPForms, Ninja Forms), export entries from each and upload all files in one extraction. Deduplication handles visitors who submitted forms through different plugins.
Recover pre-integration contacts
If a Gravity Forms add-on (Mailchimp, HubSpot, ActiveCampaign) was installed after the form started collecting entries, earlier submissions were never synced. Exporting all entries and extracting ensures you have every email address, including those from before the add-on was activated.
Feed into an email marketing platform
After extraction, import the list into your email marketing platform for campaigns. Verify the list first if entries span a long period. See Best email verification services.
Things to Know
Column headers are not extracted
CSV column headers from Gravity Forms (your field labels) are text, not email addresses, so they do not appear in the extracted results.
Entry data is not preserved
Email Extractor outputs email addresses only. Names, phone numbers, messages, file uploads, payment data, signatures, consent checkboxes and other fields from the Gravity Forms export are not carried over. If you need those fields, work with the original CSV file.
Admin notification emails
Gravity Forms entry exports contain the data submitted by the visitor. They do not include admin notification email addresses (the addresses that receive form submission alerts). Those are configured in the form settings and are not part of entry data.
IP addresses and metadata
Gravity Forms can store the submitter's IP address with each entry. IP addresses are not email addresses, so they do not appear in the extracted results. If your site has privacy policies around IP storage, review the Gravity Forms personal data settings.
Spam and trash entries
Gravity Forms can mark entries as spam (using Akismet or reCAPTCHA) or move them to trash. Standard exports include only active entries by default. Spam and trashed entries are not exported unless you specifically access them. This means the extracted list should not contain spam submissions.
Consent field considerations
If your forms include a consent checkbox (e.g., "I agree to receive marketing emails"), the consent status is stored as a field in the entry data. This field is not preserved in the extracted output. Review the consent column in the original CSV before using extracted addresses for marketing. See Email consent types explained.
Multisite installations
If you run a WordPress Multisite network with Gravity Forms, entries are stored per site. You need to export from each site's admin panel separately.
