Send submissions to Salesforce

Each new submission creates a Lead in Salesforce. Your Salesforce admin sets up the connection once, and this page is the guide for both of you: the admin's setup, then connecting and choosing what each form sends.

What it does

Once your Salesforce admin has done the one-time setup below, you connect Salesforce from the CalcForms web portal. Then, for each form you want, you match its answers and results to Lead fields, send a test, and switch it on. From then on, every new submission of that form creates a Lead right after it arrives: submissions from your public form link, from private invites you send, and from quotes you save in your internal view. Salesforce needs a last name and a company for every Lead.

Sending goes one way, from CalcForms to Salesforce. CalcForms creates Leads, and a retry of the same submission updates the Lead it already made, never a second one. It reads only what it needs to connect and to list your fields: the org's name, the name and permissions of the user it runs as, and the Lead fields that user can fill. It does not read your Leads or any other records, and it never deletes anything in Salesforce.

There is nothing to install from a marketplace. CalcForms connects through a small app your admin creates in your own org, running as a dedicated user your admin gives access to Leads only. If you are the one connecting CalcForms, Copy setup steps for your admin on the Connect Salesforce page copies a short version of the setup, with a link to this page.

Sending to Salesforce is part of CalcForms Pro.

What is sent, and when

Each new submission of a form you switched on, and each test you send, goes from CalcForms to Salesforce:

CalcForms reads only these from Salesforce:

• Only what you match is sent. Every other answer and result stays in CalcForms.
• Empty answers are never sent, so a blank answer never erases a value already on the Lead.
• Numbers are sent as plain numbers, never formatted. A result your form shows as a percentage is calculated as a fraction, so 80% is sent as 0.8, and a Salesforce Percent field shows that as 0.8%. Send such a result to a Number or Text field instead.
• While Pro is active and sending to a CRM is available to your account, about once a week CalcForms asks Salesforce for a fresh access token, to check that the connection still works. No Lead data moves in that check.

Before you start

Who can connect

CalcForms needs Salesforce's API, which Enterprise-class editions include:

Salesforce changes edition names; check Salesforce's own API access page if yours is not listed.

Sandboxes of the editions that can connect work too: choose Sandbox when you connect.

What you need

• A Salesforce admin for the one-time setup below.
• CalcForms Pro. While Pro is not active, new submissions are not sent; each one shows Not sent, and Try again sends it once Pro is active again.
• A last name and a company for every Lead. For each form, either an answer, such as a Last name question, or fixed text. Company starts as the form's name, or as your form's company answer when CalcForms recognizes one.

Set up Salesforce (your admin, once)

Screens as of September 2026. All of this happens in Setup, in your own org. If you have a sandbox, you can set it up there first; the steps are the same.

1. Create an integration user

Create a new user that only CalcForms uses, for example named CalcForms Integration. Give it the user license Salesforce Integration and the profile Minimum Access - API Only Integrations. With that profile the user works through the API only and cannot sign in to Salesforce's screens. Leads CalcForms creates show this user as their creator.

Then assign the user the permission set license named Salesforce API Integration, which lets a permission set give this user more access (step 2).

The Salesforce Integration license comes with Enterprise, Unlimited, Performance and Developer Edition orgs. If your org has none to give, or step 2 cannot give this user access to Leads, use a regular Salesforce user with a minimal profile instead. It needs the API Enabled permission and the access in step 2, nothing more, and it takes a full Salesforce license.

Do not use an admin account. When the user CalcForms runs as has Modify All Data or View All Data, CalcForms still connects but warns that a dedicated integration user is safer.

2. Give it access to Leads

Create a permission set for CalcForms, for example named CalcForms Lead access. In it:

• on the Lead object, give Read, Create and Edit;
• give Edit access to each Lead field you want CalcForms to fill, such as Last Name, Company and Email, your own custom fields, and the CalcForms Submission ID field from step 3.

If Salesforce asks which license the permission set is for, choose Salesforce API Integration. Assign the permission set to the integration user. CalcForms lists only the Lead fields this user can create and edit, so a field missing from Match fields usually needs Edit access here.

3. Add the CalcForms Submission ID field to Lead

In the Object Manager, open Lead and add a new custom field:

• type Text, length 40;
• field label CalcForms Submission ID, which gives the API name CalcForms_Submission_ID__c. Keep that name exactly;
• tick Unique and External ID;
• make it editable for the integration user (step 2).

CalcForms writes each submission's number into this field, so a retry updates the Lead it already made instead of making a second one. The field does not appear in Match fields; CalcForms fills it itself.

4. Create the app

In Setup, use the Quick Find box to open App Manager, and create a new External Client App:

• name it CalcForms and enter a contact email;
• set Distribution State to Local;
• in its OAuth settings, enable OAuth, choose only the api scope, and turn on the Client Credentials Flow;
• if Salesforce asks for a callback URL, enter https://forms.badabingapp.cc/admin/crm. CalcForms never uses it with this flow.

Save the app.

5. Set the app's policies

In Setup, open External Client App Manager, find the CalcForms app, and edit its policies:

• turn on the Client Credentials Flow here as well;
• set the Run As user to the integration user's username;
• set the app's IP relaxation to relax IP restrictions. CalcForms does not send from a fixed IP address, so an IP restriction on this user, such as Login IP Ranges on its profile, would block it.

Save the policies.

6. Send the three values

In the app's OAuth settings, use Consumer Key and Secret to see the consumer key and consumer secret; Salesforce may ask you to verify your identity first. Then open My Domain in Setup and copy your org's My Domain address, such as acme.my.salesforce.com, or acme--uat.sandbox.my.salesforce.com for a sandbox.

Send the My Domain, the consumer key and the consumer secret to the person connecting CalcForms through a password manager, never by email or chat.

Connect Salesforce

1. Sign in to the web portal, open a form, and choose Settings, then Send to Salesforce, then Connect Salesforce. You can also open the CRM page directly at /admin/crm and choose Connect Salesforce.
2. Choose Production or Sandbox, to match the org your admin set up.
3. Paste the My Domain, the consumer key and the consumer secret, and choose Connect Salesforce.

CalcForms then runs these checks in order and shows the result of each. Nothing is saved until every check passes; a warning still passes.

When every check passes, Salesforce is connected and you go back to where you started: the form's Send to Salesforce page, or the CRM page. The CRM page shows the connection, for example "Connected to Summit Insurance Group (Salesforce, Production) as calcforms@summit.com since Sep 23, 2026", with the date in your browser's format, and "Key ending 4F2A". CalcForms stores the key and the secret encrypted, never shows the secret again, and deletes both when you disconnect. It also keeps your org's address, which is not a secret: the links to your Leads in the portal use it.

If your admin makes a new secret, choose Replace key and secret on the CRM page and connect again. Connecting a different Salesforce org switches sending off on every form until you set each form up again.

Choose what a form sends

Open the form's Send to Salesforce page: in the portal, Settings, then Send to Salesforce, or the form's link in the Forms list on the CRM page.

Match fields

The table opens with Required by Salesforce: Last name and Company. For each, choose one of your form's text answers or Fixed text.

• Last name. Salesforce needs a last name. If your form asks for a full name, the whole name goes here; CalcForms does not split names. When the answer is empty on a submission, the Lead's Last Name is Unknown.
• Company. Salesforce needs a company. The first time you set up a form, Company is Fixed text with the form's name as it is then, or your form's company answer when CalcForms recognizes one. If you choose an answer and it is empty on a submission, the form's current name is sent.

Then come your form's answers and results. For the first one, Your customer's email, CalcForms matches the Lead's Email field for you. If your form also has an email question (one of the email type, or one labelled Email, E-mail, Your email, Your email address or Email address), that question is not listed, because the form already collects your customer's email separately, and its answer is not sent. The exception is a question you already chose a property for, which stays listed so you can change it. For every other row, choose a Lead field or Don't send. The Example column shows what your latest submission would send. The page refuses a field of the wrong kind: a number goes to a number, text or picklist field, a date to a date, text or picklist field, a yes or no answer to a checkbox, text or picklist field, and text to a text or picklist field. A picklist that only allows its listed choices refuses any other answer when it is sent (the submission shows Failed with the picklist message below), so match such an answer to a text field unless every possible answer is one of its choices.

The first time you set up a form, before anything is saved for it, CalcForms matches the rows it recognizes for you. It matches an answer, or a result your customer sees, when its label is the same as a Lead field's and the kind fits. It also matches a text answer with a common contact label, such as Telephone to Phone or Zip code to Zip/Postal Code. For the required rows, it matches a text answer that asks for the last name or the company, such as Last name, Full name or Company name, when the form has one. When it has matched a row, the page says "CalcForms matched the rows it recognized. Check each one before you send a test." Nothing is saved until you choose Save changes or Send a test. No new submission is sent until a test goes through and you switch the form on.

The list holds the Lead fields the integration user can create and edit. Lookup fields and compound fields such as Address are not in it, but their parts, such as Street and City, are. Text longer than a field allows is cut to the field's length. If a question is later removed from the form, for example when you change the form in ChatGPT, its row moves to No longer on this form and nothing is sent for it. Saving your changes clears it.

Private results

Results marked Private are hidden from your customer on the form. On this page they start as Don't send and are never matched for you. You can still send one, for example a margin your sales team should see, but anything you send is visible to everyone who can see the Lead in Salesforce.

Options

Three boxes under the table, all on to start with:

Send a test

Send a test saves your changes and sends your latest submission to Salesforce as a real Lead; before the form has a submission, it sends your fixed text and the defaults above. Every test of a form updates the same test Lead, whose CalcForms Submission ID starts with test-, so delete that Lead in Salesforce when you are done. The result shows under the button, for example "Sent a test Lead for sam@example.com to Salesforce.", with a link to open the Lead in Salesforce.

Switch it on

Send new submissions to Salesforce stays off until Last name and Company are filled and a test goes through; until then the page says "Fill the rows Salesforce requires and send a test first", and while a required row is empty it says which, for example "Fill the rows Salesforce requires and send a test first. Still empty: Last name, Company." Then switch it on and choose Save changes. Only submissions that arrive after that are sent; submissions from before are not sent. Switching it off stops sending right away, and anything still waiting to be sent for that form is not sent.

What happens to each submission

Once a form has been set up to send to Salesforce, the portal shows a Salesforce column in the form's submissions, and each submission shows a Salesforce line with one of these:

Retries. If Salesforce does not answer, is briefly busy, or reports that your org has used its API allowance, CalcForms tries again after 1 minute, 5 minutes, 30 minutes, 2 hours, 12 hours and 24 hours: 7 tries over about a day and a half. Retries are picked up every 10 minutes, so the early ones can take a little longer. When Salesforce refuses the Lead, for example because of a duplicate rule or a validation rule, trying again would not help, so the submission shows Failed at once with the reason. After you fix the cause, Try again sends it again, and starts the retries over if Salesforce does not answer.

A retry or Try again updates the Lead CalcForms already made for that submission, never a second one. If the Lead was converted in the meantime, the submission counts as Sent and the converted records are left as they are.

Daily limit. Each form can make at most 200 sends of public submissions in a 24-hour period, and HubSpot and Salesforce share that limit: a public submission sent to both counts twice, so a form that sends to both reaches it after 100 public submissions. The period starts with the form's first try to send a public submission to a CRM after the previous period ended, and ends 24 hours later. A public submission counts on its first try, even a first try that finds Salesforce disconnected and waits for you to reconnect it, and again each time you choose Try again on it. So does a submission your customer finishes after choosing Save and come back later on your public form, because it is a public submission. Automatic retries, invites you send and quotes from your internal view do not count. Submissions over the limit show Not sent, with Try again.

Edits and deletions. Edits to a submission after it was sent are not sent again. Deleting a submission or a form in CalcForms deletes nothing in Salesforce.

Disconnect

On the CRM page, choose Disconnect under Salesforce and confirm. CalcForms then:

• asks Salesforce to revoke the access token it was using,
• deletes the consumer key, the consumer secret and the My Domain address it stored for the connection,
• switches sending to Salesforce off on every form, and
• marks anything still waiting to be sent as Not sent.

Leads already created stay in Salesforce, and each sent submission keeps its link to its Lead. Your matched fields are kept, so after you connect again, send a test and switch each form back on.

You can disconnect even when Pro is no longer active, and when sending to Salesforce is not available for your account. In both cases the CRM page shows a Disconnect Salesforce button. If sending is not available for your account while Pro is active and Salesforce is still set up in CalcForms, the portal says "Sending to Salesforce is not available for your account right now. You can still disconnect it.", with a Disconnect Salesforce link to the CRM page. When HubSpot is set up too, it reads "Sending to HubSpot and Salesforce is not available for your account right now. You can still disconnect them."

The consumer key and secret stay valid in your org until your admin deletes the app. To revoke access completely, your Salesforce admin can delete the CalcForms app in Salesforce.

If your admin deletes the app, makes a new secret, turns off its Client Credentials Flow or deactivates the integration user before you disconnect, or a sandbox is refreshed, CalcForms notices the next time it sends, or at its weekly check while Pro is active and sending to a CRM is available to your account. The portal then says "Salesforce is disconnected. New submissions wait until you reconnect it." Connect again with the current values to send what is waiting, or disconnect in CalcForms, which deletes the stored values and marks what is waiting as Not sent.

Troubleshooting

Every message below is the exact sentence CalcForms shows.

Connecting

Sending

Not sent

Support

Email hello@badabingapp.cc with the form's link and the submission number, for example #1042 from the portal. For help setting it up, email us or book a 30-minute onboarding call; see /support.