There are three types of files that the Email Form PHP script can save to: comma, tab, and formatted. Saving to a file requires the name of a file. You’ll need to create that file before the web server can save data to it.

The easiest file format to write to is a comma or tab file that can then be imported into a desktop database such as FileMaker or Access, or into a spreadsheet such as Excel.

<? $formDatabaseType = "tab"; //or comma or formatted $formDatabaseFile = "/Users/account/Documents/dbfilename"; ?>

For comma and tab databases, you should specify a $formOrder to ensure that the data is always written in the same column order. The $formDatabaseFile must be owned by your account and writable by the web server (group www or other). If the $formDatabaseFile is empty, the mailer will write the column names to the file before writing the field data.

A timestamp and the IP address of the submitter will also be written for comma and tab-delimited files.

The default format is tab-delimited.

If you specify a formatted type, you’ll need to also set the $formBody as the custom body. It works the same as it does for custom e-mail messages.

You can create an empty file using the File Manager. You’ll need to switch to the “advanced” view. Make sure that you set “other” to have write access on the file after you create it! You should also never create such a file inside your Sites or public_html folder. Put it in your Documents folder or some other folder outside of your web site.