Managing entries within WordPress can be helpful, but sometimes, it’s easier to analyze the data outside of WordPress, and Excel is one of the best options. Excel offers an easier way to create reports, analyze data, and share insights to better manage your team and save hours of unnecessary labor. Another popular format is the computer-separated values (CSV) file, though this method can have some limitations:
- Standard CSV exports can be hard to read and problematic to open
- Users can too easily type CSV separators into input fields, skewing your entire export
- Often, you don’t need every field from every form, but a CSV export grabs everything
- Raw submission data can take hours to aggregate manually
How to export WordPress forms with Excel Export
To export WordPress form entries into an Excel Open XML Spreadsheet (XLSX), you must have an active Store Submission action that saves data to your WordPress. Follow these steps to export your data:
- Install and activate Excel Export, and make sure you have the ZipArchive PHP module to run this add-on.
- Find the Ninja forms menu on your WordPress dashboard, and select Excel Export. Choose the form from the Select a Form drop-down list.
- Filter the submissions and fields you want to include and pick the Excel file type — .XLSX OR .XLS. To filter the fields, mark a checkbox next to the field(s) you want to export. Excel Export will grab data only from the fields you’ve indicated.
- You can also set the order of your fields in the Excel columns or rows by dragging and dropping them in the order you want.
- If you want to export all your submissions, select the form, choose the file type and click Download Excel file.
- You can filter submissions by date or fields and conditions to quickly search large volumes of data.
- Once you’re set on the details you want to include in your export, click the Download Export File button. The download should begin immediately.
Monthly, quarterly, or annual reports are ridiculously easy to generate, as are any time period you might need to export data from. For example, to get a monthly report, add two conditions — “Submission date” >= “2025-03-01” and “Submission date” >= “2025-03-31.” If you prefer other spreadsheet applications, check out our guides on connecting Ninja Forms to Google Sheets or Airtable.
If you need assistance, you can count on Ninja Forms’ exceptional technical support personnel. We will help you figure out any issues as soon as possible and make the most of your WordPress website’s integrations.
Take control of your exported data with Excel Export
Excel Export gives you full control over the data you pull from your WordPress forms submissions. Selectively choose the fields, the form, and the date range that you want. Pull that data into a .xlsx or .xls spreadsheet file with the push of a button. There’s no limitations set natively by the add-on, so you can export whatever you like, whenever you like it.
From the convenience of a single page in your WordPress dashboard, you can:
Export from any of your WordPress forms in any date range
Excel Export can grab data from any of your WordPress forms submissions. You have the added convenience of defining the date range of the data you want. Monthly, quarterly, or annual reports are ridiculously easy to generate, as are any time period you might need to export data from.
Selectively export data by specifying the fields you need while exempting others
You’re not always going to want every field on every export. Select only the data points you need simply by marking a checkbox next to the field(s) you want to export. Excel Export will grab data only from the fields you’ve indicated. You can also order the fields you do export into rows simply by dragging and dropping them into place from the dashboard view.
Export as .xlsx or .xls files
Whether it’s for compatibility, the use of macros, or whatever specific reason you may have, Excel Export is capable of generating a spreadsheet in either format. You can set worries about conversion after-the-fact aside.
Ready for a simpler way to export WordPress form entries to Excel?
Excel Export gives you full control over the data you pull from your WordPress form submissions. No limitations are set natively by the add-on, so you can export whatever you like whenever you want it.
Purchase our Ninja Forms plug-in with add-ons, or download the free version and reclaim your time!
What advanced filtering options are available for the WP forms Excel Export extension?
Beyond date ranges, you can filter submissions based on specific field values using conditions like “CONTAINS,” “IS EMPTY,” “GREATER THAN,” “LESS THAN,” and more to target very specific subsets of your data for export.
Can I schedule automatic exports of my form data?
While the Excel Export WP forms add-on doesn’t have built-in scheduling, you can achieve this using the Scheduled Submissions Export add-on. With this add-on, you can schedule hourly, daily, or weekly report exports that you can email to recipients in CSV format.
Can I adjust rows and columns in my form export to Excel?
You can adjust rows and columns in your form export to excel just by dragging and dropping fields into the order you want in the export settings. Each field will become a column, and each for submission will export to excel as a new row.
Can I filter submissions for specific values, and only export those submissions?
Yes, your submission settings include a filtered search. You can choose to include only the filtered submissions in your export to Excel.
What type of support is available to Ninja Forms customers?
We have a dedicated support team standing by to help with anything you may need. We’re available 9am-4pm EST, Mon-Fri, and strive to answer all customer requests within 24 hours.
How do Ninja Forms licenses work?
Licenses are subscription based and will auto-renew each year unless cancelled. If cancelled, you may still use your extensions but will no longer receive important updates or support once the license expires.
Can I get a demo or trial of Ninja Forms add-ons before I buy?
We don’t have a demo or trial version of our add-ons, but we do offer a 14 day full refund policy for any reason whatsoever.
Changelog
3.3.5 (12 January 2023)
Fixes:
- Export filter was not correctly
- Remove deprecate codebase
- Remove archived PHPExcel package
Other:
- Automate testing
3.3.4 (15 March 2022)
Bug Fixes:
- Replace Array output with correct fieldset repeater columns
3.3.3 (10 January 2022)
Bug Fixes:
- Fix deprecated curly brace issue in PHP 8
3.3.2 (10 September 2020)
Bug Fixes:
- Fixed error that was limiting exports to 200 rows.
3.3.1
- improved compatibility with file uploads
- improved backend CSS
3.3
- added filters
- Changed PHP-Excels TMP dir
- load fields by id instead of key
3.1
- made fields sortable
- save field settings
- fixed error if Ninja Forms is disabled
- use admin labels if available
3.0.1
- Fixed capabilities filter
3.0
- Updated to work with NF THREE
1.6
- Fixed handling of single quotes
- Added support for Ninja Forms file-uploads extension
1.5
- Freeze header row
- Automatic column width
1.4
- Fixed a bug exporting more than 26 Columns to Excel (A-Z, AA, AB, AC, …)
- Added choice for XLS and XLSX file type to increase compatibility
1.3 (21 September 2015)
- Fixed compatibility with Multipart forms
1.2 (1 September 2015)
- Preserve leading zero for numbers entered as text
- Added ID column
1.1 (10 August 2015)
- Added batch processing to export thousands of submissions. Tested up to 25000 entries on a shared hosting with limited memory and limited execution time.
1.0.1 (8 July 2015)
- Fixed a bug with empty fields
1.0 (7 July 2015)
- Initial Release