Once you get into the habit of logging into your WordPress dashboard every day to check your website forms, you are going to notice something exciting: the leads start piling up!
However, if you have a busy website, looking at a massive, unending list of form submissions can quickly become overwhelming. If you can’t remember which person you already emailed and which one is a brand-new inquiry, your dashboard stops being helpful and starts causing stress.
The good news is that Gravity Forms has a built-in feature that allows you to treat your website backend exactly like a standard email inbox. With a few clicks, you can visually organize your leads, clear out the clutter, and focus only on the customers who need your immediate attention.
Here is how to use the “Read/Unread” trick to keep your dashboard perfectly organized.
Spotting the Difference: Read vs. Unread
When you navigate to Forms > Entries in your WordPress dashboard, Gravity Forms uses simple visual cues to show you what demands your attention—just like Gmail or Outlook.
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Unread Entries (Bold Text): Any lead that you haven’t opened yet will stand out in bold, dark text, and it will have a small, colored indicator dot next to it. This is your website saying, “Hey! Look here, this is a fresh lead!”
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Read Entries (Normal Text): Once you click on an entry to view the message, the text automatically shifts to a lighter, normal weight, and the dot disappears. This tells you at a glance that the lead has already been opened.
The Pro Trick: Managing Leads in Bulk
You don’t have to click into every single entry one by one just to tell the website you’ve handled it. If you’ve already downloaded your weekly Excel spreadsheet or responded to a batch of clients from your email inbox, you can clean up your WordPress dashboard all at once using Bulk Actions.
Here is how to do it in three easy steps:
1. Check the Boxes
On the left side of your entries list, you will see a little checkbox next to each person’s name. Click the boxes next to the entries you want to update.
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Tip: Want to select everything on the page? Click the master checkbox at the very top of the column header to select all of them instantly.
2. Open “Bulk Actions”
Look just above your list of leads for a dropdown menu that says Bulk Actions. Click it.
3. Choose Your Action & Apply
From the dropdown list, select Mark as Read. Then, click the Apply button right next to it.
Instantly, all those bolded, urgent-looking leads will relax into normal text, clearing your mental clutter and leaving only the genuinely new leads highlighted.
Bonus: How to “Star” Your Most Important Leads
Just like putting a star or a flag on an important email in your regular inbox, you can “star” entries in Gravity Forms.
Next to each entry on your list, you will see a faint outline of a star. If a high-value client reaches out, or if a lead requires a complex follow-up that you don’t want to forget, simply click that star icon. It will light up yellow.
Later, you can use the filtering tools at the top of the page to show only your starred entries, creating an instant, high-priority to-do list right inside your website.
Clean Dashboard, Clear Mind
Managing your website leads doesn’t have to feel like extra homework. By using the checkboxes and Bulk Actions to mark items as read, you can keep your WordPress backend looking clean, organized, and professional.
When you log in tomorrow morning, you’ll know precisely who is new and exactly where to start your workday.
If you want us to help you set up custom filters, or if you want to learn more about how to navigate your form settings, the team at Orlando Web Wizard is always in your corner. Happy formatting!
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