Installing Formcierge (Free & Pro)

You will need: a WordPress site (version 5.8 or later) with admin access, and a user account with the **Administrator** role. If you are installing the Pro version you will also need your **license key** — find it in your account dashboard at formcierge.com after purchasing. Keep that page open in another browser tab.

Log into your WordPress admin and go to **Plugins → Add New**. In the search box in the top-right corner, type **Formcierge** and press Enter. The Formcierge plugin card will appear in the results. Click **Install Now**, then click **Activate** once the installation finishes. The plugin is now active on your site.

If you purchased the Pro license, log into formcierge.com and download the **formcierge.zip** file from your account → Downloads. In your WordPress admin, go to **Plugins → Add New → Upload Plugin**. Click **Choose File**, select the downloaded ZIP, then click **Install Now**. After installation completes, click **Activate Plugin**.

Go to **Plugins → Installed Plugins** and scroll until you see **Formcierge** in the list. Its row will be highlighted and an **Active** badge (or blue row) will indicate it is running. You will also see a new **Formcierge** menu item in the left sidebar of your WordPress admin.

In the WordPress admin sidebar, hover over **Formcierge** and click **Settings** (or go to Formcierge → Settings). This is the global configuration page for the plugin. The **License** section at the top is where you enter your Pro key — Free users can skip the next step.

In the **License** section, paste your license key into the **License Key** field — it looks like a long string of letters and numbers (e.g. `xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx`). Click **Save & Activate**. Formcierge connects to the licensing server and, within a few seconds, the status badge changes from *Inactive* to **Active** in green. Pro features are now unlocked.

The Settings page has several tabs across the top. **General** controls the form submission table and date formats. **Email** sets the default sender name and address for notification emails. **AI** is where you add an OpenAI or Google Gemini API key to enable AI-powered form generation. **SMTP** lets you send emails through a custom mail server instead of the default WordPress mailer.

Installation is complete. Click **Formcierge → Add New** in the left sidebar to open the form builder and start creating your first form. The builder opens with a blank canvas — you will learn how to use every part of it in the next tutorials.