‹Blog

How to Send Confirmation Emails from Airtable Forms

FE
Filla Editorial•beginner•Mar 16, 2026

How to Send Confirmation Emails from Airtable Forms

When someone fills out a form on your behalf — applies for a program, registers for an event, submits a project intake — the first thing they expect is a confirmation. A simple "Got it, here's what you submitted."

Native Airtable forms don't send confirmation emails. There's no setting for it anywhere.

This guide explains the gap, covers the full confirmation email setup in Filla, and shows how to use variable text to send personalized, useful confirmation emails automatically.

Need confirmation emails from your Airtable forms? Filla sends automatic confirmation emails with custom subject lines, full answer summaries, and edit links — directly after each submission. Start free →

Why confirmation emails matter

A confirmation email is not just a courtesy. It does several things:

Confirms the submission was received. Respondents who don't get a confirmation assume something went wrong. They resubmit. You get duplicate records.

Gives respondents a record of what they submitted. For applications, registrations, orders, or contracts, respondents need to see what they entered — for their own records and to spot errors.

Provides an edit link for corrections. If the respondent made a mistake, a confirmation email with an edit link lets them fix it without contacting you.

Reduces support inquiries. "Did my form go through?" is one of the most common support questions after any form submission. A confirmation email eliminates it.

What native Airtable forms offer (and don't)

Native Airtable forms show a thank-you message after submission. You can customize the text. That's the entire post-submission capability.

There is no way to:

  • Send an email to the respondent's email address after they submit
  • Include a summary of their answers in the email
  • Personalize the subject line with their name or other submitted values
  • Include a link to edit or review their submission
  • Set a custom reply-to address

If you want any of this, you need a separate tool — typically an Airtable automation that triggers on record creation and sends an email via an integration. That requires setting up the automation, connecting an email provider, and maintaining the mapping when your fields change.

Filla's confirmation email feature is built into the form. No automations. No integrations. No maintenance.

Setting up confirmation emails in Filla

Step 1: Create your form

Sign up at app.filla.io/signup, connect your Airtable base via OAuth, and build your form. Your form must have at least one Email field — this is the address the confirmation will be sent to.

Step 2: Open Form Settings > Notifications

In the Filla form editor, click the gear icon (Form Settings) in the top toolbar. Navigate to the Notifications tab.

You'll see two sections: Confirmation Email (sent to the respondent) and Submission Notification (sent to your team). This guide covers Confirmation Email.

Step 3: Enable the confirmation email

Toggle Enable confirmation email on. The settings expand.

Step 4: Select the email field

In the Email field picker, select the form field that contains the respondent's email address. This is the field whose value receives the confirmation.

If your form has multiple email fields (for example, both a primary email and an alternate), you choose which one receives the confirmation.

Step 5: Write your subject line

The subject line supports variable text — you can insert any form field value into it using @field references.

Examples:

  • Your application is confirmed — static, straightforward
  • Application confirmed for @First Name @Last Name — personalized with the respondent's name
  • Order #@Order Number received — pulls in the order number field value
  • Registration complete: @Event Name — pulls in the event name from a select field

Variable text makes the subject line feel like a transactional email from a proper system, not a generic form tool.

Step 6: Write your email body

The body is a rich-text editor with the same variable text support. Write whatever you want here — welcome text, next steps, contact information, legal notices.

Use @ references anywhere in the body to pull in submitted field values:

Hi @First Name,

Thank you for submitting your project intake. We've received your request and will be in touch within 2 business days.

Project type: @Project Type
Timeline: @Timeline
Budget: @Budget Range

Your project manager will reach out at this email address to schedule a kickoff call.

The email is personalized for every respondent based on what they submitted.

Step 7: Set a reply-to address (optional)

Enter a Reply-to address. When the respondent replies to the confirmation email, their reply goes to this address rather than to a no-reply sender.

Use this when you want respondents to be able to follow up by replying to the confirmation — for example, if you want questions to go to a team inbox like intake@yourcompany.com.

Step 8: Include an answer summary

Toggle Include answers summary on. Filla appends a formatted table of all submitted field labels and values to the email body.

This is particularly useful for:

  • Application forms where respondents want to review what they submitted
  • Order forms where the receipt is the answer summary
  • Event registrations where attendees want to see what they registered for

The summary table is generated automatically from the submission data — you don't need to manually reference every field.

Toggle Include edit link on. Filla appends a direct link to the respondent's submitted record in the email. When they click it, the form opens pre-filled with their submitted data.

This is valuable for:

  • Forms where respondents might need to update information later (event dietary preferences, project scope changes)
  • Long applications where a respondent might want to review their submission
  • Any form where you've set up record editing and want respondents to know they can update their answers

The edit link is generated from the per-record URL system in Filla. It bypasses the login page and opens the form directly on the respondent's record.

Email verification: confirming respondents own their address

Filla also lets you verify that the respondent actually owns the email address before the form submits. This is separate from the confirmation email — it's a pre-submission gate.

How it works: Enable Verify email with a one-time code on any Email field in the field settings. When the respondent enters their email and moves forward, Filla sends a 6-digit code to that address. The form displays a code entry field. The respondent must enter the correct code before they can proceed.

Why use it: For applications, registrations, or any form where fake email addresses are a problem. OTP verification confirms:

  1. The email address exists and receives mail
  2. The respondent has access to that inbox
  3. The submitted email is one they can actually receive the confirmation at

The code expires after a configurable number of minutes (default: 10). If the respondent doesn't enter it in time, they can request a new code.

When to use email verification:

  • Grant and scholarship applications (prevents fake submissions)
  • Event registrations where the confirmation email is the ticket
  • Forms that grant access to content or resources after submission
  • Any form where duplicate or fake email addresses are a known problem

Blocking low-quality email addresses

Filla's email field settings include two additional filters:

Block free email providers. Toggle this on to reject emails from Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, Outlook.com, iCloud, and 30+ other free providers. This ensures you only collect business or custom domain emails — useful for B2B lead forms.

Block disposable emails. Toggle this on to reject temporary email addresses from services like Guerrilla Mail, Mailinator, 10-minute-mail, and similar. These are addresses respondents use to get through a form without giving a real address.

Both filters work at the field level. You can apply them to the email field in any form, independently of whether confirmation emails are enabled.

Submission notifications to your team

While the confirmation email goes to the respondent, Submission Notifications go to your team.

In Form Settings > Notifications > Submission Notification:

  • Enable notifications: Toggle on to send a notification email on every submission.
  • Recipient emails: Add one or more team email addresses.
  • Include all fields: Toggle on to include every field value in the notification. Toggle off to select specific fields to include.

Submission notifications are useful for:

  • High-value intake forms where the team needs to act immediately
  • Applications where a reviewer should know a new one arrived
  • Order forms where fulfillment needs to start

Confirmation email vs. Airtable automation

Some Airtable power users build confirmation emails using Airtable's own automation system with a "Send email" action. This works, but has trade-offs:

Filla confirmation email Airtable automation email
Setup Form settings, no coding Automation builder, field mapping
Variable text @field references in subject and body Template fields in Airtable automation
Answer summary One toggle Manual — reference each field
Edit link One toggle Build formula field, reference in email
Maintenance Auto-syncs when fields change Re-map when fields change
OTP verification Built in Not available

The Airtable automation approach gives you more flexibility in the email platform (you can use a connected email service), but adds setup and maintenance overhead. For straightforward confirmation emails directly from the form, Filla's built-in option is simpler and more automated.

FAQ

Do native Airtable forms send confirmation emails?

No. Native Airtable forms display a thank-you message after submission but do not send any email to the respondent. To send confirmation emails automatically after an Airtable form submission, use Filla. Filla's confirmation email is configured in Form Settings > Notifications and sends to the respondent's submitted email address immediately after the record is saved to Airtable.

Can I include the respondent's submitted answers in the confirmation email?

Yes. In Filla's confirmation email settings, toggle Include answers summary on. Filla generates a formatted table of all submitted field labels and values and appends it to the email body. You can also include specific field values anywhere in the body using @field variable references — for example, "Hi @First Name, your order #@Order Number has been received."

Can I send the confirmation email from my own domain?

The confirmation email is sent from Filla's email infrastructure by default. The "from" address uses Filla's domain, but you can set a reply-to address to your own domain. When respondents reply to the confirmation, the reply goes to your reply-to address. Custom "from" domain configuration (full white-label sending) depends on your Filla plan.

What happens if the respondent enters an invalid email address?

If OTP (one-time code) verification is enabled on the email field, an invalid or non-existent email address will fail to receive the OTP code — the respondent can't complete verification and can't submit. Without OTP verification, Filla validates the email format (correct @ and domain structure) but does not confirm the address exists. If the email is syntactically valid but doesn't receive mail, the confirmation will bounce silently.

Can I send confirmation emails to multiple addresses?

The confirmation email goes to the email field the respondent fills in. If you need a copy sent to another address (e.g., a team inbox), use Submission Notifications — a separate setting that emails your team every time someone submits.

Set up confirmation emails for your Airtable form →