Description
Contact Form 7 has its own tag syntax ([text], [checkbox], [textarea], and so on) and, by design, does not process regular WordPress shortcodes — neither in the visible form editor nor in the Mail Template used to compose the notification email. This means that a shortcode placed in either of those two places is shown or sent as literal text instead of being replaced by its value.
This plugin bridges that gap in two places at once:
- The form’s free text (what visitors see on the page)
- The Mail Template (the subject and body of the email sent on submission)
Other similar tools only cover the visible form text and leave the Mail Template untouched, which is a common source of confusion when a shortcode looks fine on the page but shows up unprocessed in the notification email.
This plugin is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by the Contact Form 7 project. “Contact Form 7” is a trademark of its respective owner; this plugin simply extends the behavior of forms built with it.
What it does:
- Enables WordPress shortcodes in the free text of any Contact Form 7 form on the site
- Enables WordPress shortcodes in the Mail Template’s subject and body
- Does not change the behavior of Contact Form 7’s own tags ([text], [email], [submit], etc.)
- Adds no settings screen: it’s two small filters, nothing to configure
What it does NOT do:
- It does not allow shortcodes inside the value of a Contact Form 7 tag (for example,
[text* name "[another_shortcode]"]) — there, Contact Form 7 parses the content as part of its own syntax, not as free text.
Screenshots
Installation
- Install and activate Contact Form 7 if you haven’t already.
- Upload the
hugoatcanada-shortcode-bridge-for-contact-form-7folder to/wp-content/plugins/, or install it from the Plugins search screen. - Activate the plugin. No additional configuration is needed.
- Type a shortcode as regular text inside the form body, the Mail Template subject, or the Mail Template body — it will be replaced by its value in each of those three places.
FAQ
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Why isn’t my shortcode being replaced by its value?
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Make sure the shortcode is free text — in the form body, or in the Mail Template’s subject/body — and not inside the quotes of a Contact Form 7 tag (like
[text],[email], etc.). Inside those tags, the plugin has no effect because Contact Form 7 parses that content with its own syntax. -
Does this also work in the notification email, not just the form on the page?
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Yes — that’s the main difference from similar plugins. Shortcodes are processed both in the form’s visible text and in the Mail Template’s subject and body.
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Does this plugin run shortcodes from any plugin, or only a specific one?
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Any shortcode registered on the site, regardless of which plugin or theme created it.
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Do I need to configure anything after activating it?
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No, the plugin has no settings screen. It works as soon as it’s activated.
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Is this plugin made by the Contact Form 7 team?
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No. This is an independent, unofficial add-on that extends how Contact Form 7 forms and emails are rendered. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Contact Form 7 project.
Reviews
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Contributors & Developers
“Hugoatcanada Shortcode Bridge for Contact Form 7” is open source software. The following people have contributed to this plugin.
Contributors
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Interested in development?
Browse the code, check out the SVN repository, or subscribe to the development log by RSS.
Changelog
1.0.0
- Initial release.