How to Use the Smart Complete Feature

Check out this article if you want to learn how to use the "Smart Complete" feature to attach dynamic data to your forms' fields

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Written by Thrive Themes
Updated over a week ago

The "Smart Complete" feature is available, if you add a "Lead Generation" element, or a Contact Form to your page, as well as when you set up other types of forms, such as opt-in gates in Thrive Quiz Builder, or lockdown forms in Thrive Ultimatum.

This feature is useful if you want to attach dynamic data to the fields of the forms that you create. Doing this could help you in auto-filling the fields with known data, in achieving a more advanced segmentation, and in collecting more dynamic data about your users.

The "Smart Complete" feature can be used in the same way for each of the forms that you create with Thrive Architect elements, with Thrive Quiz Builder, and with Thrive Ultimatum.

Note:โ€‹ I will use the field of a "Lead Generation" element as an example, but please keep in mind that the steps of using this feature are the same for each form you create.

These are the steps you can take if you want to use the "Smart Complete" feature:

Activate Smart Complete on a field

While you are setting up the fields of the Lead Generation element (as described in this article) you can edit each field separately.

The "Smart Complete" feature is part of the editing option of the fields. Click on the "Edit" option (pencil icon) next to the field you want to activate the "Smart Complete" on:

A drop down will open with the options you have for editing the field. Besides the basic options ("Field Type", "Placeholder" and "Required" field), you will see the "Autofill Settings" section. Click on it to open it:

Then, this section will open, and you can start setting everything up:

Select & set up the variable type

First, you will have to select what variable type you want to set up for the field. These "Variable Types" represent the dynamic data that you want to get filled automatically when a user completes the respective field of the "Lead Generation" element.

Click on the "Select Variable Type" option to open its drop-down:

You will see the available variable types that you can use in the drop-down that opens:

In order to use either of these, all you have to do is to click on the respective variable type and then set it up, using its specific options.

Here is what each of these types stands for and how you can set them:

URL QueryString

You can use this variable type if you want to add a certain variable (dynamic data) to the link of the page, where the form is on and then you want that variable to be auto-filled when someone completes the field with the "URL QueryString" of the form.

To do this, first, you need to add the variable to the preview link of the page, by using this format: &[variablename]=[variablevalue]

Keep in mind that the brackets are not needed, they are only there to showcase this better, but you do not need to use them.

Then, after you have added the variable to the link, select the "URL QueryString" variable type and complete the "Variable name" with the variable value that you have added to the link:

This way, once, you finish the setup, when the form is completed by someone, the field with "URL Query String" will be auto-filled with the value of the variable, just as you wanted.

POST Variable

This variable type is related to the variables that come through a POST request to the page. Choose this variable type, if there is a specific variable, that you know comes through a POST request, and you want that variable to be filled in automatically in the field you are editing.

Then, type in the name of the variable in the "Variable name" field that appeared:

If you do this, whenever someone will complete the form, the field will be auto-completed with the variable you have added here.

You can choose this variable if you want to receive user cookie data. After you choose the option from the list, type in the name of the variable in the "Variable name" field below the option:

If you need more information about what cookies are being used by Thrive Products, please take a look at this article.

User Data

This variable type will auto-fill the field with information about the users who will complete the form created with the "Lead Generation" element.

After you select the "User Data" variable type, you will have to choose the exact dynamic data you want auto-filled, with the help of the "Select User Data" option that appeared. Click on it to open it:

A drop-down will open with the available user data that you can choose from:

You will have to select one of these, based on what you want to be auto-filled in the respective form field. For instance, if you want the field to be auto-completed with the IP address of the user who completes the form, then choose "IP Address".

Similarly, if you want the form field to be auto-filled with the browser type of the user, then click on "Browser".

All the other user data that you can choose here refers to the information (such as WordPress username, email address, role, etc.) about the already existing users of your website, who can be found at the "Users" menu of your WordPress admin dashboard.

Therefore, please keep in mind that if someone completes the form, who is not already an existing user of your website, then the "User Data" field will be completed with the "Default value", that you set up as described here.

Content

This variable type is useful if you want the field to be auto-filled with information about the page/post where the form that is being completed can be found on.

After you select this variable type, click on the "Select Content Value" field that appeared:

This will open a drop-down with the options you can choose from:

Choose one of the available options, depending on what you want to be auto-filled in the field. This can be the ID, the Title, the Content Type (which is page or post), or the URL of the post/page on which the form, that will be completed, is displayed on.

Source

This variable data represents the source, where the user who is completing the form has come from. After you select this variable type, the "Select Source Value" field will appear, click on it to open it, and then click on the one option that is there the "Referring URL" option:

Choosing this will mean, that after you finish the setup, whenever someone will complete the form, this field will be auto-filled with the URL of the page where the user has come from and landed on the page where he/she is currently completing the form.

Shortcode

With this variable type, you can render a shortcode and display a text next to it, automatically in the field you are editing. All you have to do is to enter the text and the shortcode in the field that appeared after you have selected the "Shortcode" variable type:

Once this is done and you finish the setup as well, when someone will complete the form, the field will be automatically completed with the text and the shortcode will be rendered.

Time and Date

This variable type comes in handy if you want to know when was the form completed, but at the same time, you do not want the users to have to fill in the field with the time and date. After you have selected the "Time and Date" variable type, click on the "Select Format" field:

This will open the drop-down with the available formats you can choose from. Simply click on the one you like:

This way, after you finish the setup, when someone will complete the form, the field will be auto-filled with the time and date of the form completion, in the format chosen by you.

Hide Field if Value Exists

Next, for the first variable types from the list, you can also activate the "Hide field if value exists" option:

If you do that, when someone has previously completed the respective field, it will not be shown again, when they complete the form the next time:

Set a Default Value

The last part of the "Autofill Settings" is the "Default Value" section:

Completing this section is necessary for cases when the "Autofill Settings", along with the variables and their values, that you will apply to the field, cannot be found or rendered.

If that happens, the default values will be displayed in the field. Simply enter the "Default Value" that you want to appear in the field in such cases in the "Default Value" section:

Save the Smart Complete settings

After you have set up every aspect of the "Smart Complete" of the field as well as the way the field should be displayed for the users (Name, Placeholder, etc.), click on the "Apply" button from the bottom right corner of the drop-down:

This will apply everything that you have set up to the field. Then, you can continue with customizing the other fields of your form.

Once you finish setting up and customizing the entire form, do not forget to save it, by saving the changes of the page/post that the form is on.

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