Title: The Bonnie Situation Author: nicksull Published: September 19, 2026 Last modified: September 19, 2026 --- Search plugins ![](https://ps.w.org/the-bonnie-situation/assets/banner-772x250.png?rev=3703186) ![](https://ps.w.org/the-bonnie-situation/assets/icon-256x256.png?rev=3703186) # The Bonnie Situation By [nicksull](https://profiles.wordpress.org/nicksull/) [Download](https://downloads.wordpress.org/plugin/the-bonnie-situation.1.0.0.zip) * [Details](https://wordpress.org/plugins/the-bonnie-situation/#description) * [Reviews](https://wordpress.org/plugins/the-bonnie-situation/#reviews) * [Installation](https://wordpress.org/plugins/the-bonnie-situation/#installation) * [Development](https://wordpress.org/plugins/the-bonnie-situation/#developers) [Support](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/the-bonnie-situation/) ## Description Contact Form 7 does not store submissions: once the email is sent, the data is gone. The usual fix is to bolt on a storage add-on that keeps everything forever, including IP addresses, with no expiry. The moment a form collects personal data, that becomes unbounded risk. **The Bonnie Situation** captures every Contact Form 7 submission to the database _and_ treats stored data as a liability. It suppresses IP storage by default and automatically deletes entries after a configurable number of days, enforced by a scheduled job. Clean it up before Bonnie gets home. #### What it does * **Capture** every CF7 submission to a custom table, after mail handling, so it never delays or blocks your email. * **Browse, search, sort and filter** submissions in a modern DataViews admin, with a per-submission detail view. * **Delete** individual submissions permanently, on demand. * **Delete-only retention:** suppress IP storage and automatically delete submissions after a configurable number of days — enforced daily by WP-Cron, with an audit log of every purge. * **Subject-request tooling:** integrates with WordPress’s Tools Export/Erase Personal Data so requests by email include captured submissions. #### Privacy-first defaults IP storage is off, spam is discarded, user agent and referrer are off, and only mapped fields are stored. The plugin provides controls that support GDPR / UK GDPR/ Australian Privacy Act / CCPA compliance; lawful basis and configuration remain the site operator’s responsibility. This is not legal advice. #### Bonnie Pro This plugin is fully functional on its own: it captures submissions and enforces delete-only retention. [Bonnie Pro](https://beforebonnie.com/pro/), a separate add- on distributed off WordPress.org, adds: * **CSV / JSON export** of the current view or selected rows. * **Address book** of deduplicated contacts, with click-through to each contact’s submissions. * **Trash workflow** — soft-delete with a restore window and a hard cap that force- deletes trashed entries, instead of the free delete-only model. * **Bulk delete** across selected submissions. * **Per-form overrides** — each form sets its own policy, window, IP rule and field mapping on the Contact Form 7 editor. * **IP anonymisation** — store a masked address (last octet / last 80 bits) instead of the full IP. * **WP-CLI** — `wp bonnie purge` runs the retention sweep on demand. ### Development Bonnie is free software (GPLv2 or later). The complete, human-readable source — including the React admin under `src/` and the build tooling — is developed in the open: https://github.com/nicksull/the-bonnie-situation That repository holds the un-minified source for every shipped asset — the React admin entry points `src/index.js` and `src/settings.js` that compile to build/index. js and `build/settings.js`. Build them with [@wordpress/scripts](https://www.npmjs.com/package/@wordpress/scripts): ``` npm install npm run build ``` Bonnie Pro is a separate add-on, distributed off WordPress.org. This plugin is fully functional without it. ## Screenshots [⌊Submissions list with status views, search and filtering.⌉⌊Submissions list with status views, search and filtering.⌉[ Submissions list with status views, search and filtering. [⌊Single submission detail view.⌉⌊Single submission detail view.⌉[ Single submission detail view. [⌊Privacy & Retention settings.⌉⌊Privacy & Retention settings.⌉[ Privacy & Retention settings. ## Installation 1. Install and activate **Contact Form 7** (Bonnie is an add-on for it). 2. Upload the `the-bonnie-situation` folder to `/wp-content/plugins/`, or install through the Plugins screen. 3. Activate Bonnie through the **Plugins** screen. 4. Visit **Bonnie Settings** to choose your retention policy. Submissions are captured automatically from then on. ## FAQ ### Does this interfere with Contact Form 7 sending email? No. Capture runs after mail handling and is wrapped so a storage failure is logged silently rather than breaking the form. ### Are IP addresses stored? Not by default. IP storage is off out of the box. Bonnie Pro adds the option to anonymise (mask the last octet / last 80 bits) instead of storing the full address. ### Does the free version keep a trash or recycle bin? No. The free core is delete-only: submissions past their retention window are permanently deleted, with no second store to manage. Bonnie Pro adds an optional trash workflow— soft-delete with a restore window and a hard cap that force-deletes trashed entries. ### How do I guarantee purge timing on a low-traffic site? Retention runs daily via WP-Cron. On sites with little traffic, trigger `wp-cron. php` from a real system cron so the sweep fires on schedule. ## Reviews There are no reviews for this plugin. ## Contributors & Developers “The Bonnie Situation” is open source software. The following people have contributed to this plugin. Contributors * [ nicksull ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/nicksull/) [Translate “The Bonnie Situation” into your language.](https://translate.wordpress.org/projects/wp-plugins/the-bonnie-situation) ### Interested in development? [Browse the code](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/the-bonnie-situation/), check out the [SVN repository](https://plugins.svn.wordpress.org/the-bonnie-situation/), or subscribe to the [development log](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/log/the-bonnie-situation/) by [RSS](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/log/the-bonnie-situation/?limit=100&mode=stop_on_copy&format=rss). ## Changelog #### 1.0.0 * Initial release: capture Contact Form 7 submissions to a custom table, a DataViews submissions admin (search/sort/filter with a per-submission detail view and permanent delete), delete-only retention with a scheduled daily purge and audit log, IP- storage suppression, and WordPress Personal Data export/erase integration. ## Meta * Version **1.0.0** * Last updated **4 days ago** * Active installations **Fewer than 10** * WordPress version ** 6.7 or higher ** * Tested up to **7.1.2** * PHP version ** 8.1 or higher ** * Tags * [cf7](https://wordpress.org/plugins/tags/cf7/)[contact form 7](https://wordpress.org/plugins/tags/contact-form-7/) [data retention](https://wordpress.org/plugins/tags/data-retention/)[GDPR](https://wordpress.org/plugins/tags/gdpr/) [privacy](https://wordpress.org/plugins/tags/privacy/) * [Advanced View](https://wordpress.org/plugins/the-bonnie-situation/advanced/) ## Ratings No reviews have been submitted yet. [Your review](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/the-bonnie-situation/reviews/#new-post) [See all reviews](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/the-bonnie-situation/reviews/) ## Contributors * [ nicksull ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/nicksull/) ## Support Got something to say? Need help? [View support forum](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/the-bonnie-situation/)