How to prefill form fields with student ID?

We're embedding Jotforms onto our Wordpress pages - users will log in, then work through forms for example, to answer questions about a student (they have to enter the student ID and name); I want to pre-fill that student ID and name on each form they then select to complete.

Example:

1. click on 'New Assessment' page which opens a new assessment Jotform to enter student info (ID, name, etc.) and a few other fields.
2. hit submit and go to 'areas of concern' wordpress page which has buttons that lead to additional Jotforms.
3. I would like to pre-fill/populate the student ID and name on every page in Wordpress (if possible - but this may be a Wordpress issue) and form. I've tried the prefill from form and table prefill options with no luck (maybe I'm missing a step?).
4. when they finish all the forms with that student ID, we hope to then have a PDF created from all the forms they completed

Hi Heather,

Thanks for reaching out to Jotform Support. We have a Spreadsheet to Form Widget that you can use to import your data. Let me show you how to use it:

1. Create a spreadsheet with your data structured like you see below. Make sure that the column names in the spreadsheet match the field names on the form, and include a unique column, like an ID, so the data can be distinguished.

2. In Form Builder, click on the Add Form Element menu on the left side of the page.

3. Click on the Widgets tab, search for the Spreadsheet to Form widget and add it to your form.

4. In the menu on the right side of the page, upload your data file. (You can simply drag & drop your excel file to the Upload File area.) 

5. Then, click on the Downward Arrow icon in the Access Code Column option and select the unique column.

6. You can also customize texts used in the widget. After you complete everything, click on the Update Widget button at the bottom right of the menu.

Now, when people fill out your form and enter the unique code from the spreadsheet, the corresponding fields will automatically populate when they click Auto Complete Fields. Check out my screencast below to see how it works:

As for your other question, I've moved that to a new thread. You can check that out here.

Give it a try and let us know if you need any help.

We're not importing from a spreadsheet. Users will add the data on the Jotform, then move through subsequent Jotforms, so this won't work.

Hi Heather,

Will you be prefilling the succeeding forms with the Student ID and Name that was entered from the first form? If yes, you need to embed the prefilled form URL to your webpage. You can replace the default src attribute of the iframe embed with the prefilled link you want to use. The enclosed part is the src of the iframe embed that you will replace with the prefilled link.

Give it a try and let us know how it goes.

thank you - I'll play around with this to see if it works. Even if they have to enter a student ID and have the rest populate, that will work.

I'm struggling with understanding how to do this pre-fill. I created a student profile form with the thinking that the user would fill that form out, then when they click on the next form they want to complete, the student ID and name will pre-populate for them. I believe the pre-fill SRC trick above will work, but I'm lost as to how to proceed in doing that.

I should mention we are using WordPress and using the Automatic Jotform Online Forms plug-in.

Hi Heather,

Thanks for reaching out to Jotform Support. To prefill form fields like Student ID and Name from one form to another when embedding forms on your WordPress pages, you can use Jotform's URL Parameters feature to pass data between forms.

Let me walk you through the process:

1. Use the Form Prefill Tool: Go to the Field Prepopulator and select "Populate Fields". Authorize the app if prompted.
2. Select Your Form: In the Form Picker dialog, choose the form where you want to prefill data, then click Continue.
3. Set Prefill Values: On the next page, enter the prefill values for your form fields such as Student ID and Name.
4. Generate Prefilled URL: Click "Generate URL" at the top and copy the provided prefilled link.
5. Embed Prefilled Form in WordPress: Replace the default src attribute of the iframe embed code in your WordPress page (using the Automatic Jotform Online Forms plugin) with the prefilled URL you generated. This will load the form with the Student ID and Name fields pre-populated.

This method allows users to fill the first form, then when they move to subsequent forms, the Student ID and Name can be passed via URL parameters and prefilled automatically.

For more detailed guidance, you can check these helpful resources:

• How to Prepopulate Fields to Your Jotform via URL Parameters
• How to Prefill Form Fields with Data from Another Form with Form Prefill

Give this a try and let us know if you need any further help with the prefill setup or embedding process.

The field pre-populator won't work for what I'm trying to do. Seems the feature I need doesn't exist because every pre-fill option I've tried doesn't work. I can't be creating a custom URL for each user every time they create a new student profile - it needs to be an automatic function.

Steps:

1. User logs in - goes to Student Profile form - adds a new student
2. after submitting new student profile - directed to the ATAG Home Screen form
3. select button for next form they want to complete - student ID and name auto-populate (for example, they click on AT Consideration.

When returning to continue forms for a student, enter student ID and the name fields populate.

I'm thinking the URL option is not going to do what I want since everything I'm seeing leads to having to send a custom link with the field info populated in that URL.

Hi Heather,

Thanks for reaching out to Jotform Support. I understand you need Student ID and Name to carry across multiple WordPress-embedded forms without creating a custom link per user. You can make this fully automatic by letting the first form build the link with field tags and pass those values forward; no manual URL building is needed. Here’s how to set it up:

1. First form → build the link automatically. In Settings → Thank You Page → Redirect to an external link, use your WordPress hub page with query parameters, for example: https://your-site/atag-home/?studentId={studentId}&studentName={studentName}
2. Those {…} tags are replaced at submit time, so each submission forwards the student data automatically.
3. WordPress pages → keep passing values to each form. On your “Areas of Concern” page, make each Jotform button or embed use the same query string. If you’re using the iFrame embed, set its src to: https://form.jotform.com/FORM_ID?studentId={studentId}&studentName={studentName}

If the plugin doesn’t expose the src, add those parameters to the link that opens the form or configure the embed so it uses the page’s query string.

Give it a try and let us know how it goes.

Awesome! I was just playing around with adding action buttons on the Thank you page with the prefill form feature, which I think would work (in theory), but this is so much easier.

This seems to be working great, however...

One more question (I hope my last) - when I use the studentName={studentName} it places the full name into the first name field (I used the full name input field). I've tried several different options to get the name to populate to the first and last name fields with no luck, what am I missing?

Hi Heather,

You would need to use extra first and last parameters to separate the Full name into the First and Last name fields. See the sample below:

https://form.jotform.com/FORMID?studentName[first]={studentName:first}&studentName[last]={studentName:last}

Doing this will break down the name field and pass it accordingly to your Full Name field. See the sample below:

Give it a try and reach out again if you have any other questions.

That worked - I was so close, but not close enough. Thank you!