Email notifications

Email notifications send messages when someone submits your form: owner emails are free, while Pro and Business add respondent emails, owner PDF attachments, and custom recipients. Find Email notifications in your form’s Settings. To manage it for all your forms in one place, use Form email notifications under your account's Settings > Notifications.

Makeform is a free AI form builder: describe what you want to collect and it builds the form for you, with unlimited forms and submissions on the free plan.

#Notification types

Makeform has two email notification flows:

• Self email notifications send the response to the form owner for free; Pro and Business let you set 1–5 custom recipient addresses.
• Respondent email notifications send a confirmation email to the person who submitted the form on Pro and Business.

Use self emails when your team needs to react to new submissions.

Use respondent emails when the submitter should receive a receipt, confirmation, or next-step message.

#Enable self email notifications

1. Open your form.
2. Go to the Settings or Integrations area.
3. Find Email notifications.
4. Turn on self email notifications.
5. Save or publish the form.

#Enable respondent email notifications

Respondent emails require Pro or Business and an email field so Makeform knows where to send the message.

1. Add an Email Input field to your form.
2. Open email notification settings.
3. Turn on respondent email notifications.
4. Choose the email field.
5. Customize the message if needed.
6. Save or publish the form.

#Customize the email

Email templates can include form and answer variables.

Useful variables include:

• {{formName}}
• {{submittedDate}}
• {{submittedTime}}
• Field answer variables from your form

Use custom copy when the email needs to include next steps, support instructions, or a receipt-style confirmation.

#PDF attachments

Pro and Business let you attach a PDF with answers to owner email notifications.

Use this for applications, intake records, and forms where you need a copy of the submitted answers.

#Testing checklist

• Submit a test response.
• Confirm the owner receives the self email.
• Confirm the respondent receives the confirmation email.
• Check spam or promotions folders.
• Verify variables render correctly.
• Keep email copy short and clear.

#Troubleshooting

#Respondent emails cannot be enabled

Confirm your form is on Pro or Business, then add an email field to the form.

#The email goes to the wrong address

Check which email field is selected for respondent notifications.

#A variable is blank

Confirm the field exists and the respondent answered it.