Keep a text-file archive of every contact submission
Each contact form response becomes a timestamped text file in Dropbox, giving you a plain-text backup you can search and keep.
New submission on your contact form
Create a text file in Dropbox containing the submitted answers
One-directional. A submission triggers the action — nothing is written back into your form.
An archive is worth having when the thing it backs up is unavailable. Exports are fine until you need last March's enquiry in the middle of a migration, and then the flat file wins: no login, no query, just a folder of text.
Operations teams reach for this one. It costs nothing to run, Dropbox search reads inside .txt files, and a year of contact enquiries takes up less room than one screenshot. Treat it as the second copy — the responses view in formformform stays the working record.
Setting it up
- 1
Publish the Contact Form template, or point the Zap at whichever contact form is already collecting enquiries on your site.
- 2
Create a Zap in Zapier with formformform as the trigger app and the New Submission trigger, then select that contact form.
- 3
Add Dropbox as the action app, choose Create Text File, and connect the Dropbox account that holds your operations folders.
- 4
Set a dated folder path such as /Archive/Enquiries/2026, so a year of files never sits in one flat list.
- 5
Name each file with the submission date first and then Full Name, keeping the date at the front so the folder sorts chronologically.
- 6
Write the body as one labelled line per answer — name, email, phone, subject — with Message last so long text sits at the bottom.
- 7
Submit a test enquiry, open the file in Dropbox to confirm the line breaks survived, then turn the Zap on.
What maps where
Using the Contact Form as the starting point. These are its real fields — swap in your own and the mapping works the same way.
| Form field | Dropbox |
|---|---|
| Full Name | Second half of the file name, after the submission date |
| Email Address | Labelled line in the file body |
| Phone Number | Labelled line in the file body |
| Subject | First line of the body, and the phrase Dropbox search usually matches on |
| Message | Final block of the file, kept last so long text does not push the details down |
Variations worth knowing
Add a Zapier path or filter on Subject and send each type to its own folder: /Archive/Billing, /Archive/Press, /Archive/General. Anyone hunting for last quarter's press enquiries opens one folder instead of scrolling through a year of mixed files.
Swap Create Text File for Create or Append to Text File and point every submission at a file named for the current month. You end up with twelve files a year rather than several hundred, at the cost of per-response file names.
If something isn't arriving
Dropbox stores exactly what Zapier sends. Insert real line breaks between fields in the Zapier content box rather than relying on how the preview looks, and add a blank line before Message so the body stays readable in any editor.
That happens when the file name has no unique part. Put the submission timestamp in the name, not just the date, so two enquiries on the same day from the same person write two separate files instead of one.
Frequently asked questions
Does this replace exporting responses?
No, it runs alongside the export. Responses stay in formformform where you can filter and search them, and Dropbox holds a plain-text copy that survives independently. Most teams keep both and still use the export when they need a spreadsheet.
How far back does the archive go?
From the day you switch the Zap on. Zapier only sees submissions made after the Zap goes live, so anything earlier needs a one-off export from your responses view, dropped into the same Dropbox folder by hand.
Should I archive an end-to-end encrypted form this way?
No. Encrypted forms exist so the answers stay unreadable outside formformform, and writing them into a plain text file defeats that. Use this archive for ordinary enquiry forms, and leave sensitive submissions in the encrypted form where they were collected.
Related automations
- Append every support request to a running log
Every help desk submission appends a line to one shared Dropbox text file, so the team reads the day's requests in order.
- Collect vendor artwork details into the event folder
Vendor registrations write a per-vendor record into the event's Dropbox folder, with booth details and a link to their artwork.
- Create a project folder when a new client onboards
A completed onboarding form creates a Dropbox folder named for the client and project, ready before the first call.
- File every property disclosure as a written record
Each completed property disclosure writes a dated text record into the Dropbox folder for that address.
- Save every job application as a candidate file
Every careers form submission writes a candidate file into a shared Dropbox Applicants folder, named for the role and the applicant.
- Archive every submission as a dated text file
Each submission becomes a dated text file in one shared Drive folder, readable by anyone with access to it.
Build the form first
The automation needs somewhere to fire from. Publish a form, connect it once, and every submission from then on runs this flow.
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