General
The form's identity, embed code, notification timestamp, status, and retention settings.
General is the default tab when you open the form editor. It holds the things that don't belong to any other tab: what the form is called, whether it accepts submissions right now, and the embed code your HTML form needs.
Form name
The form's internal label, up to 80 characters. It's shown in the Forms list, in the Inbox's form selector, and at the top of the editor — but it never appears in submission emails. Pick something that helps you tell forms apart at a glance.
API key
The form's unique identifier. It's shown read-only with a copy button. Use it as the URL suffix when posting to https://api.staticforms.dev/submit/<API_KEY> or as the value of an accessKey field if you're using the legacy POST style.
Treat the key as a public identifier
The API key isn't a secret — it appears in every embed snippet, which lives in your page's HTML. Static Forms uses domain restriction and captcha (configured in Security) to prevent abuse, not the key itself.
HTML embed snippet
Expand the embed block to get a ready-to-paste HTML form pointed at your endpoint. It looks like this:
Status
Toggle status off to pause the form without deleting it — paused forms reject submissions with a clear message. Useful while you migrate, while you wait for a captcha key, or any time you want the endpoint temporarily inactive.
Notification timestamp
The Timezone field controls how this form's submission time appears in notification emails. Choose an IANA timezone such as America/Edmonton, or select Use account timezone to inherit the form owner's setting. If the owner has not configured one, the form uses UTC.
Notification emails always label the timezone, for example Received on Friday, August 21, 2026 at 11:04 AM MDT. Static Forms uses the owner's setting—not the submitter's browser—so everyone reading the notification sees the same time.
Show submission timestamp is enabled by default. Turn it off to omit the “Received…” line from notification emails. Custom template {{date}} values remain timezone-aware even when that line is hidden.
Account default vs form override
New forms copy your account timezone when they are created. A timezone saved here is a form override and stays unchanged if you later edit the account default. Clear this field when you want the form to follow the owner's current account timezone instead.
Data retention
Controls how long stored submissions are kept before they're automatically deleted. Free keeps them for up to 1 year, which is also the default; Starter, Pro, and Agency keep them forever by default. Every plan can shorten the window per form — down to 30 days — if you would rather hold less data.
With unlimited retention, submissions are never removed automatically. If you configure a finite retention period instead, it's enforced via a background TTL — once a submission passes the threshold it's permanently removed. Changing the retention period applies to both existing and future submissions for this form, so shortening it deletes what already falls outside the new window.
Inbox history
Retention is not the same thing as what your inbox lists. On Free, the inbox, its CSV export and the API show the most recent 30 days; on Starter, Pro, and Agency they show everything you have stored.
Nothing is deleted at the 30-day mark — submissions behind it stay stored for the full retention period above, and they reappear in your inbox the moment you move to a paid plan. Your GDPR account export (Settings → Export data) always contains everything held, regardless of plan.