Deftform Changelog

Today, we added a much-welcome improvement to the form builder, a dedicated CSS field for custom styles and two new fonts.

Form builder improvements

We kept tweaking the form builder and optimized a few things. First, we now show the "Connections" and "Tags" sections even when empty. That should make it clearer that those things exist and where to add them.

Additionally, we added a way to add a field or page break element directly at a specific position within the fields list. That way, you don't need to drag and drop new elements from the bottom of the form after creating it. You can now create it directly at the needed spot.

Simply move your cursor between fields and select what you want to add.

CSS field for form styles

We added a dedicated CSS field to the form style options. So in addition to uploading a custom CSS file, you can now also paste or write CSS styles directly. For global styles like background color, text colors etc, we recommend to keep using the existing color picker options.

Custom CSS is automatically wrapped in style tags.

We also added two new fonts to choose from when creating or editing styles: Kanit and Prompt.

Today, we deployed a fix (sort of) for the AI Form Builder and also added an option to change the delimiter for the "Multiple Choices" field.

Fallback AI provider

In the past few weeks, we have observed several errors in our logs related to the AI form builder. Additionally, a few customers have contacted us regarding 500 error messages. The issue stemmed from the OpenAI API not returning a response within our defined timeout window, resulting in the error.

We have now added a fallback option that switches from OpenAI's GPT-5.2 to Google's Gemini 2.5 after 10 seconds. In some cases, this can increase the time it takes for the final response (due to the switch), but it's less likely to fail again because of the previous error.

Custom delimiter for the multiple choices field

We added a new option for the "Multiple-Choice" field. It is now possible to choose a different delimiter for exports. This includes Google Sheets, Airtable, HubSpot, CSV and Excel exports.

By default, the delimiter is a semicolon (;). You can now choose between semicolon (;), comma (,) and pipe (|).

⚠️ Possible breaking change
We have removed the space after the delimiter. Before the change, multiple values would be added like this: Value A; Value B - now it's Value A;Value B. Of course, if you change the delimiter, it will be Value A|Value B or Value A,Value B.

Shortcut change for connections

With the recent UI update, we introduced additional shortcuts to quickly add pages, connections and tags to forms. Oddly enough, we used CMD+C / Win+C to add a connection. Obviously, that prevented people from actually copying stuff while editing a form... 🙈 The new shortcut is CMD+G / Win+G.

Our Airtable integration is now available. No need to fiddle with third-party automations anymore.

Simply connect your Airtable account via API token, sync your bases and fields and add a connection to your form(s). You'll be ready in less than 5 minutes. To get started, read this help article.

Deftform is nearing its 2-year anniversary, and we felt that a refreshed interface for the backend would be a proper way to celebrate. Last year, we launched a platform called tinydub and were uncertain if people would miss the standard sidebar/content combo. We shipped a very slim interface that was easy to grasp, and it turns out people like it.

So we decided to take the same step of removing the sidebar for Deftform. At first, it felt a little worse to navigate, but as with all new things, it sometimes just takes some time to get used to before realizing it's the better choice. That's what we felt with the current redesign. It's cleaner, easier to grasp, and avoids unnecessary design choices.

We hope you like it. If not, we hope you'll get used to it. :)

Improved AI Assistant

Aside from the design update, we've also improved our AI Assistant. The previous version worked most of the time but often failed to create fields accurately and occasionally generated nonsense.

The newer version now has access to 90% of the form fields and can also create pages. In our tests, it generated much better suggestions and failed significantly less often. We hope this improved experience is reflected in the real world when our customers use it.

Fillable PDF

We also added an option to generate a fillable PDF. Personally, we don't see the real use case here when you can use a digital form, but many people requested it, and we tend to ship what's requested enough. When editing a form, you can now find a "Generate PDF" button at the bottom, which allows you to create a fillable PDF that you can share. 🤷‍♂️

Today, we released an update that extends the existing redirect functionality. In addition to defining a global redirect, it's now also possible to define conditional redirects.

You can read more about conditional redirects in this help article.

Our direct MailerLite integration is now available. No need to use third-party automations anymore.

Simply connect your MailerLite account via API token, sync your fields and groups and add a connection to your form(s). You'll be ready in less than 5 minutes. To get started, read this help article.

Today, we're releasing the first two POST endpoints for our API. These will allow you to add responses to a form and also update form settings.

Yes, we know... you're waiting for a way to create forms and fields via the API. It's coming, but due to internal logic it's a little more complicated. So we're currently rebuilding some of the internal logic to make this process of building API endpoints for this easier. Again, it's coming, we haven't forgotten about this.

The two new POST endpoints are:

• https://deftform.com/api/v1/forms/{form_id}/response
• https://deftform.com/api/v1/forms/{form_id}/settings

You can read more about API requests in our help center.

Responses added via the API will have a small "API" badge visible:

Today's update primarily focuses on under-the-hood improvements, aiming to improve overall performance and stability. In addition to these optimizations, we've also extended a feature and addressed several bugs.

Redirect URL parameters

This has been on the wish list for many of our customers and we're happy to finally release this. It's now possible to add field parameters to the redirect URL. We updated the dedicated help article to reflect this addition.

Default value for "Hidden" fields

It is now possible to set a default value for the "Hidden" field type. You can still pre-fill it via a URL parameter and any default value will then be overwritten.

Fixes and improvements

As mentioned in the beginning, this update was mainly for things not visible to our customers. We had to rebuild a few core functions to make them more performant. Deftform has been growing a lot this year and we now handle lots of submissions on a daily basis and stumbled upon a few bottlenecks which we haven't noticed before.

We also fixed a handful of smaller bugs, specifically an issue with font rendering in PDF exports and a recurring issue (for some) when bulk deleting completions.

Today's update features a new CAPTCHA option, along with improvements and fixes.

Cloudflare Turnstile

It is now possible to protect forms with Turnstile. Since Cloudflare only allows 10 hostnames, you will need to bring your own keys. Turnstile is free to use and a good alternative to Google reCAPTCHA.

We still recommend using ALTCHA, as it's the most privacy-friendly option.

Custom opt-in checkbox value

We added support for a custom opt-in value. When adding the Opt-in checkbox to your forms, the value was always "Accepted". So when you looked at the responses within the dashboard, via webhook, API, Google Sheets or PDF, it would always use this value.

Now you can use your own value. You cannot use any formatting for this and the length is limited to 200 characters.

Fixes and maintenance

This update, as always, includes bug fixes, minor improvements to both the backend and frontend, and regular maintenance updates.

Today's update introduces the ability to attach files to the "Thank you" emails sent to respondents.

Within the form settings, you'll find a new section called "Email attachments," where you can upload up to two files, each with a limit of 4 MB.

We have set this limit because emails should generally not exceed 8-10 MB. If you need to share larger files, we suggest uploading them via a third-party service and simply adding a link to the "Thank You" email.

This new feature is great for sign-up magnets, where you encourage people to sign up by offering a free PDF guide or similar incentives. Please note that the form requires an active email field to send confirmation emails to respondents.

Today, we released an addition many of you have asked for: bulk archive and bulk delete.

While it was possible to archive and delete responses before, it had to be done one by one. We're happy to introduce the bulk action option now.

Select one or more responses to archive, delete or export them.

New color option for custom styles

We also added a new color option when creating/editing a custom form style. You can now set a secondary text color. This is used for text entered in the "Subtext" field and when using the rating labels.

Today's update includes improvements, additions and fixes.

More efficient exports

We completely rebuilt our export process, giving a much smoother experience. If your form had not too many responses, exports were usually downloaded within 2-5 seconds. For larger exports, this either took much longer, or even failed after a couple of seconds.

Exports are now handled in a background job, which allows admins to keep working in the admin area without having to wait for the download to start. Once the export is ready, an email will be sent with the export attached.

Better upload handling

We also improved file uploads on forms. It was always possible to submit a form while a file was still being processed. That was leading to some failed/incomplete uploads. Submitting a form is now disabled while one or more uploads are still being processed.

Translation for 404 page

Due to increased demand, it is now possible to translate the text displayed on 404 pages (when a page is not found). This feature is available only for custom domains. The text can be changed within the workspace settings. It's currently not possible to remove the illustration.

What else?

We added Sora as a new font. It's available when creating or editing form styles. We now also show a little indicator in the fields list if a field has conditions or validations added.

Fixes

We also fixed a handful of bugs, most notably in the Google Sheets sync when scopes have been invalid or incomplete. We now also show an indicator in the "Connections" settings to display whether an account is correctly connected (i.e., all necessary scopes are enabled) or not.