Sender name

Submission emails all come from the same SilentForms sending address, so in a busy inbox they look alike. The from_name field changes the name your mail app shows next to them, so you can tell at a glance which site or form a message came from.

Add the field#

Put a hidden from_name input in the form:

<form action="https://silentforms.com/api/submit" method="POST">
  <input type="hidden" name="accessKey" value="YOUR_ACCESS_KEY_HERE">
  <input type="hidden" name="from_name" value="Acme Studio website">

  <label for="name">Name</label>
  <input id="name" type="text" name="name" required>

  <label for="email">Email</label>
  <input id="email" type="email" name="email" required>

  <label for="message">Message</label>
  <textarea id="message" name="message" required></textarea>

  <input type="checkbox" name="botcheck" style="display: none;" tabindex="-1" autocomplete="off">
  <button type="submit">Send</button>
</form>

The email now shows the sender as "Acme Studio website via SilentForms". fromName is accepted as an alternative spelling, which is handy when your JavaScript builds the body from camelCase variables:

const data = Object.fromEntries(new FormData(form));
data.fromName = 'Acme Studio website';

Like the other special fields, from_name is removed from the submission data, so it does not appear as a row in the email, in webhooks or in the dashboard.

What changes and what does not#

The value is cut at 100 characters and line breaks are turned into spaces.

Why the address stays the same#

It would be tempting to make submissions look like they come from your own domain, or from the visitor. Mail providers check every message against the sending domain's SPF and DMARC records, which list the servers allowed to send for that domain. SilentForms' servers are not on your domain's list, and certainly not on the visitor's, so a message claiming to be from either would fail those checks and land in spam or be rejected outright.

Changing only the display name keeps the real sending address, so the checks pass and the email arrives. The "via SilentForms" suffix makes it clear who actually sent the message, and stops a form from being used to impersonate someone in your inbox.

To answer the visitor you do not need their address in the From line: hit Reply and the reply goes to the address they typed into the form.

Name per form or per site#

If you run several forms, give each a distinct name so they sort themselves:

• "Portfolio: contact"
• "Portfolio: commissions"
• "Shop: returns"

Use the same name across every page of one form. Combined with a subject, the sender name is usually all you need to scan an inbox without opening anything.

Filter submissions into a folder#

Every SilentForms email shares the same sending address, so a filter on the address alone catches all of your forms at once. That is a good start if you want everything in one folder. To separate forms, add a condition on something that differs between them:

• Subject. A fixed prefix such as "[Commissions]" in the subject field is the most reliable condition, because every mail app can filter on the subject line.
• Sender name. Many mail apps also match the From field against the display name, so "Shop: returns" can work as a filter word. Test it on one message before relying on it.

In Gmail, open a submission, choose "Filter messages like this" from the message menu, adjust the conditions and pick a label. In Outlook, create a rule from the message (right-click, then Rules) and choose a folder. Menu names vary a little between the web, desktop and mobile apps, so check your mail app's help if you cannot find them.

Next steps#

• Email subject: the most dependable way to filter submissions.
• Reply-To address: where your replies go.
• Troubleshooting: if emails are going to spam.