Reduce Spam Form Entries on Gravity Forms - UXi® Websites

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If any form on your UXi® website is receiving spam entries on the built-in Gravity Forms, then you have two options to help reduce them:

1. Set up a Honeypot: A hidden field meant to "catch" spammers before they submit your form.
2. Set up a reCAPTCHA field on your form: A "I am not a robot" checkbox for users to click.

Option 1: Set up a Honeypot

If you want to skip CAPTCHA/reCAPTCHA all together, you can also use the honeypot method. Honeypots are extra bits of code used to catch bots without users knowing that they exist. The most common example of this is the hidden form field. Bots, however, will still recognize the field as legitimate and fill it out. If the field is filled out, the form is automatically rejected.

To enable honeypot spam fields in Gravity Forms:

1. Select the Forms icon on the left-hand sidebar of your UXi® dashboard.
2. Hover over the form you want to edit, then hover over Settings, and click Form Settings.
3. At the bottom, check the box for Enable anti-spam honeypot.
4. Click Update Form Settings.

Here’s what the anti-spam honeypot option looks like:

Be sure to track your form submissions after enabling the honeypot method.

Option 2: Use reCAPTCHA

reCAPTCHA is a free Google service that helps protect forms from spambots. Learn more about how reCAPTCHA works here.

1. To use the reCAPTCHA feature on a UXi® site, Google requires you to set up a free account using this link: https://www.google.com/recaptcha/admin/create
2. At the link, log in with your existing Gmail or Google account (or create a new one).
3. Click the blue Admin Console button at the top-right of the welcome screen.
4. Create a new reCAPTCHA by clicking the plus sign + near the top-right corner of the dashboard.
5. Under Label, enter a name for your reCAPTCHA. This could be your website or business name.
6. Important: Select reCAPTCHA V2.
7. Enter the site's URL on one line.
   *If the site is still in the mockup phase, enter the mockup URL on another line so the keys will be valid on both domains.
8. Accept the Terms & Conditions.
   *Optional: Select the 'Send alerts to owners' if you'd like to get alerts if Google detects problems with your site, such as misconfigurations or an increase in suspicious traffic
9. Click Register! You will then be provided two reCAPTCHA "key" codes that you will copy and paste in the below step.
10. Next, you will want to enter the reCAPTCHA keys in your website's form settings dashboard. Log in to your UXi® site, then click on the Forms icon on the left-hand sidebar. In the drop-down that appears, select Settings.
11. Paste the Site Key and Secret Key to the corresponding fields
12. Once both the site key and secret key are entered, a live reCAPTCHA field will display. Select 'I'm not a robot'.
    If your keys are valid -and- the site URL was entered correctly on the reCAPTCHA dashboard, green checkmarks should display next to the field. If they don't, please re-visit the account to make sure its configured correctly.
13. Once the keys are both valid and saved, navigate to the Edit Form screen and add the CAPTCHA field from the Advanced category. Drag it to the correct spot to display in the form. Save the form, and test it by viewing the form in an Incognito window or a separate browser!