---
title: "The {user} and {created_by} Merge Tag"
date: 2026-04-23
author: "GravityKit"
link: "https://www.gravitykit.com/docs/gravityview/merge-tags/the-createdby-merge-tag/"
---

This GravityKit Academy course, [Advanced User Management and CRM Functionality](https://academy.gravitykit.com/course/gravityview-advanced-user-management/), has real-world examples of using the `{user}` merge tag.

The `{created_by}` Merge Tag allows you to display details of the entry creator. It supports all the functionality of the Gravity Forms and uses the same structure as the `{user}` Merge Tag [documented on the Gravity Forms website](https://docs.gravityforms.com/user-merge-tag/).

### **Difference between** `{user}`  **and** `{created_by}` 

The `{user}` merge tag displays information about the **currently logged-in user**.

The `{created_by}` displays information about the entry creator, if there is one\*.

\*The user must be logged in when submitting the entry ([read more about that here](https://www.gravitykit.com/docs/gravityview/advanced/understanding-how-an-entry-gets-associated-with-a-user/)). If the user was not logged in when creating the entry, the `{created_by}` Merge Tag will be empty. You can wrap the `{created_by}` Merge Tag with a [ shortcode](https://www.gravitykit.com/docs/gravityview/shortcodes/gvlogic-shortcode/) to check for its existence.

---

### Usage

All the Merge Tag modifiers below also work with the `{user}` Merge Tag. Example: `{user:user_email}`.

- `{created_by:ID}` - Displays the user ID of the entry creator
- `{created_by:display_name}` - Displays the Display Name of the submitting user.
- `{created_by:first_name}` or ` {created_by:last_name}` - The first and last name of the entry creator.
- `{created_by:user_email}` - Displays the email of the submitting user.
- `{created_by:user_login}` - Displays the user login of the submitting user. {user:user\_login}
- `{created_by:[meta_key]}` - This merge tag can display any user meta (including custom user meta). Replace `[meta_key]` with the name of the user meta, example: `{created_by:company_name}` .

Use this plugin to create and display custom user meta: [Extra User Details](https://wordpress.org/plugins/extra-user-details/).

### Example

You can add this code to a [Custom Content field](https://www.gravitykit.com/docs/gravityview/getting-started-gravityview/using-the-custom-content-field/) to link to the entry creator's User Profile page in the WordPress Dashboard:

```
[gvlogic if="{created_by}" isnot=""]
       Link to Profile
[/gvlogic]
```

```
[gvlogic if="{created_by}" isnot=""]
       Link to Profile
[/gvlogic]
```