Getting Started with Dynamic Lookup

The Gravity Forms Dynamic Lookup field enables you to populate field choices from these sources:

• Other Gravity Forms entries
• WordPress users
• WordPress posts, pages, and custom post types

Video walkthrough

Adding a Lookup field #

In the Gravity Forms form editor, drag Lookup from Advanced Fields onto your form.

Basic configuration #

Start by choosing where the choices come from: Gravity Forms, WordPress Users, or Post Types. Each source then has its own settings for what the choices show and how they’re sorted.

1. Input Type: Choose Dropdown or Multiple Choice. A dropdown accepts several selections when Enable multiple selections is checked under Additional settings. Multiple Choice shows radio buttons with Select One, and checkboxes with Select Multiple, Select Exact Number, or Select a Range.
2. Source of Choices: Choose Gravity Forms to list entries from another form, WordPress Users to list users, or Post Types to list posts, pages, or custom post types.

When Input Type is Dropdown, add a Placeholder on the Appearance tab, such as Select a department. Without one, the dropdown opens on its first choice, and a visitor who leaves it alone submits that choice.

Using Gravity Forms entries as the source #

When pulling choices from other form entries:

1. Source Form: Select the source form containing your desired entries.
2. Source Field: Choose the field whose value names each choice.
3. Display Format: Appears when the source field’s choices have separate values, such as BIO for Biology. Choice Text shows each choice’s text, and Choice Value shows its value.
4. Filter by Field: Lists only the source entries that match a value from another field in this form, for cascading dropdowns. It appears when Input Type is Dropdown. Creating cascading dropdowns with the Filter by Field setting explains it.
5. Show only entries created by current user: Lists only the entries that the signed-in person filling in the form created.
6. Show only unique results: Lists each name once when several source entries share it. It appears only when Storage Format is Text, and it’s on by default. With ID storage, every entry is its own choice, even when names repeat.
7. Additional settings: Opens the Advanced tab, where you choose the Storage Format and a sort direction.

Using WordPress users as the source #

When using WordPress users as your data source:

1. User Group: Select a user role to dynamically pull in users with that role.
2. Display Value: Choose what to show (Display Name, Username, Email, User ID, or Full Info, which shows the name, email, and ID).
3. Additional settings: Opens the Advanced tab, where you choose the Storage Format, a field to sort by, and a sort direction.

Using post types as the source #

Post Types lists posts, pages, or custom post types as choices, with these settings:

1. Source Post/Page: Select Posts, Pages, or one of your site’s public custom post types. Only published items are listed.
2. Display Value: Choose what to show (Title, Slug, Post ID, or Full Info, which shows the title, ID, and type).
3. Additional settings: Opens the Advanced tab, where you choose the Storage Format, a field to sort by (such as Title, Date Published, or Menu Order), and a sort direction.

To show other details of the selected post in a notification or confirmation, such as its permalink or featured image URL, see Using Merge Tag Modifiers with Lookup Fields. These modifiers need Storage Format set to ID (Default).

Choosing a storage format #

Storage Format, on the Advanced tab, decides what an entry saves when someone picks a choice. Every source has it.

• ID (Default) saves the ID of the chosen entry, user, or post. Entries, merge tags, and Views then show its current name, so renaming the source updates every entry that points to it. Merge tag modifiers work, and an entry export writes the name, with an extra column, such as Department (ID), that you can add for re-importing.
• Text saves the text the choice showed at the time. The entry keeps that text when the source changes later, and merge tag modifiers return the same text. Show only unique results can list a shared name once.

A View sorts and searches the field by the name it shows with either format.

Using conditional logic #

The Lookup field works with Gravity Forms conditional logic:

1. In the field settings, check Enable Conditional Logic.
2. Add the rules that show or hide the field based on other fields in the form.