Title: JH Message Export for Flamingo
Author: Juraj Hamara
Published: <strong>October 24, 2026</strong>
Last modified: October 24, 2026

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# JH Message Export for Flamingo

 By [Juraj Hamara](https://profiles.wordpress.org/jurajj/)

[Download](https://downloads.wordpress.org/plugin/jh-message-export-for-flamingo.1.0.0.zip)

 * [Details](https://wordpress.org/plugins/jh-message-export-for-flamingo/#description)
 * [Reviews](https://wordpress.org/plugins/jh-message-export-for-flamingo/#reviews)
 *  [Installation](https://wordpress.org/plugins/jh-message-export-for-flamingo/#installation)
 * [Development](https://wordpress.org/plugins/jh-message-export-for-flamingo/#developers)

 [Support](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/jh-message-export-for-flamingo/)

## Description

Flamingo saves the messages sent through your Contact Form 7 forms. This plugin 
downloads them as an Excel file (.xlsx) that anyone can read: one row for each message,
one column for each field, and the columns are named by the labels your visitors
saw in the form.

The plugin adds an Export page to the Flamingo menu. Check the forms you want, choose
a period and click the download button. The button shows how many messages the file
will have before you download it.

#### Filters

 * Forms – one, several or all of them in one file. Forms deleted in Contact Form
   7 are listed too, as long as Flamingo still has their messages.
 * Period – all time, this month, last month, this year, or your own range of days.
 * Sender e-mail – the whole address or a part of it, for example @gmail.com.
 * Text – only messages that contain all of the given words.
 * Spam – messages marked as spam can be included if you need them.

#### The Excel file

 * Column names come from the labels in your Contact Form 7 forms, for example “
   E-mail” instead of your-email. Fields with the same label in different forms 
   share one column.
 * Columns follow the order of the fields in the form. A field removed from the 
   form later still has a column if older messages contain it.
 * The first column is the date and time of sending, as a real date you can sort
   and filter by. It is in your site’s time zone and in the date and time format
   from Settings > General.
 * Messages from several forms go on one sheet, with a column that names the form.
 * Checkboxes and other fields with several values show them separated by commas.
 * Every value stays text. A phone number like +421 900 123 456 keeps its plus sign,
   and a value starting with = never runs as a formula.
 * The header row stays in place when you scroll and has filters switched on.
 * Nothing technical: no IP addresses or browser details, no tokens of bot checks
   such as reCAPTCHA, hCaptcha or Turnstile.

The file opens in Microsoft Excel, LibreOffice and Google Sheets.

#### Read only

The plugin only reads messages from Flamingo. It does not change or delete them,
it has no settings and it saves nothing in the database. The file is created in 
the server’s temporary folder, sent to your browser and deleted at once.

#### Requirements

 * Flamingo, which saves the messages.
 * Contact Form 7 is optional. Without it, for example after you switched to another
   form plugin, the old messages can still be exported. Columns are then named by
   the field names and follow the order in the messages.
 * The zip extension of PHP, which most hosting providers have. Without it, the 
   Export page tells you so.

#### Privacy

Messages from forms usually contain personal data. The plugin does not send them
anywhere and does not connect to any external service. The downloaded file contains
everything your forms collected, so store and share it with the same care as the
messages themselves.

## Installation

 1. Install and activate Flamingo, if you do not have it yet. Flamingo saves messages
    from the moment it is active, older messages cannot be exported.
 2. Install this plugin from the Plugins screen in your WordPress admin, or upload 
    the `jh-message-export-for-flamingo` folder to `/wp-content/plugins/`.
 3. Activate the plugin.
 4. Go to Flamingo > Export.

## FAQ

### Where do I find the export?

In the Flamingo menu, below Inbound Messages: Flamingo > Export.

### Who can export messages?

Everyone who can see the messages under Flamingo > Inbound Messages, which is administrators
by default. The plugin checks the same permission as Flamingo, so if you changed
who can read the messages, the same applies to the export.

### Does the plugin change my messages?

No. It only reads them. Nothing in Flamingo is changed or deleted, and the plugin
saves no settings or data of its own.

### Why does a column have a name like “Your name” instead of the label from my form?

The plugin looks for the label of each field in the Contact Form 7 form: the text
in a `<label>` around the field, the line of text before it, or its placeholder.
If it finds none, or if the form was deleted or Contact Form 7 is not active, the
column is named by the field name, so your-name becomes “Your name”. Add a label
to the field in the form and the next export uses it, for older messages too.

### Why are two similar fields in separate columns?

Fields share a column only when their labels are the same, regardless of upper and
lower case. “Phone” and “Phone (optional)” stay two columns. Two fields of the same
form never share a column.

### Why is the consent checkbox missing from the file?

Contact Form 7 does not accept a form without its required consent, so the column
would say “Yes” in every row. Flamingo keeps the consent with each message, together
with its text. Optional consent, such as a newsletter checkbox, has its own column.
If the form was deleted or Contact Form 7 is not active, the plugin cannot tell 
required consent from optional, and the column stays.

### Can I export messages marked as spam?

Yes. Open More options and check “Also include messages marked as spam”. The file
then has a Spam column. Messages in the trash are never exported.

### Which date format does the file use?

The date and time format of your site, from Settings > General. Names of months 
and days are shown by the spreadsheet application in its own language. If no part
of the format can be used in a spreadsheet, the file uses the date format of the
reader’s computer.

### The Export page says the zip extension of PHP is missing. What now?

An .xlsx file is a zip archive, and the plugin needs the zip extension of PHP to
create it. Ask your hosting provider to enable it.

### How many messages can I export at once?

Messages are processed in batches, so the memory needed does not grow with their
number. In tests, 5,000 messages took a few seconds.

### Can I export messages sent before Flamingo was installed?

No. Flamingo saves messages from the moment it is active, and Contact Form 7 itself
does not keep them.

### Does it export messages saved by other plugins, such as CFDB7?

No, only messages saved by Flamingo.

## Reviews

There are no reviews for this plugin.

## Contributors & Developers

“JH Message Export for Flamingo” is open source software. The following people have
contributed to this plugin.

Contributors

 *   [ Juraj Hamara ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/jurajj/)

[Translate “JH Message Export for Flamingo” into your language.](https://translate.wordpress.org/projects/wp-plugins/jh-message-export-for-flamingo)

### Interested in development?

[Browse the code](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/jh-message-export-for-flamingo/),
check out the [SVN repository](https://plugins.svn.wordpress.org/jh-message-export-for-flamingo/),
or subscribe to the [development log](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/log/jh-message-export-for-flamingo/)
by [RSS](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/log/jh-message-export-for-flamingo/?limit=100&mode=stop_on_copy&format=rss).

## Changelog

#### 1.0.0

 * First release.

## Meta

 *  Version **1.0.0**
 *  Last updated **13 hours ago**
 *  Active installations **Fewer than 10**
 *  WordPress version ** 6.7 or higher **
 *  Tested up to **7.1.3**
 *  PHP version ** 7.4 or higher **
 * Tags
 * [contact form 7](https://wordpress.org/plugins/tags/contact-form-7/)[excel](https://wordpress.org/plugins/tags/excel/)
   [export](https://wordpress.org/plugins/tags/export/)[flamingo](https://wordpress.org/plugins/tags/flamingo/)
   [xlsx](https://wordpress.org/plugins/tags/xlsx/)
 *  [Advanced View](https://wordpress.org/plugins/jh-message-export-for-flamingo/advanced/)

## Ratings

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## Contributors

 *   [ Juraj Hamara ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/jurajj/)

## Support

Got something to say? Need help?

 [View support forum](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/jh-message-export-for-flamingo/)

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