---
title: "Submission Context Tracking - Convert Forms"
description: "Every time someone submits a form, Convert Forms automatically records context about that submission: who sent it, where they came from, what device t"
url: "https://www.tassos.gr/docs/convert-forms/submission-management/context-tracking"
date: "2026-07-04T10:16:35+00:00"
language: "en-GB"
---

[ Home ](https://www.tassos.gr/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=24&Itemid=1088) / [ Convert Forms ](https://www.tassos.gr/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&id=43) / [ Submission Management ](https://www.tassos.gr/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&id=150)

#  Submission Context Tracking

Every time someone submits a form, Convert Forms automatically records context about that submission: who sent it, where they came from, what device they used, and which campaign brought them in.

Without this, capturing details like the visitor's IP or the page a form was submitted from meant building it by hand: add a hidden field for each value, wire each one to a Smart Tag (`{ip}`, and so on), then repeat the whole setup on every form you run. With numerous forms, that's the same busywork over and over, and a single form where you forgot a field loses that data for good.

Now it happens with no setup on your part, the same way on every form, with no hidden fields, Smart Tags, or third-party tracking tools to add or maintain. You also get details you'd rarely wire up by hand, like the country, device, and referrer.

![Viewing Tracked Data](https://www.tassos.gr/images/2026/06/Viewing_Tracked_Data.png?v=1)

## [What Convert Forms tracks](#what-convert-forms-tracks)

These are the context values Convert Forms records for every submission.

- **User ID**: The Joomla user ID of the submitter, when logged in (0 for guests).
- **Visitor ID**: An anonymous identifier for the visitor who submitted the form.
- **IP Address**: The IP address the submission was sent from.
- **Country Code**: The two-letter country code of the visitor, resolved using the geolocation feature.
- **Page Title**: The title of the page where the form was submitted.
- **Source URL**: The full URL of the page where the form was submitted.
- **Referrer URL**: The page the visitor came from before submitting.
- **User Agent**: The raw browser user-agent string.
- **Device**: The device type detected: Desktop, Mobile, or Tablet.
- **Operating System**: The operating system detected from the user agent.
- **Browser**: The web browser detected from the user agent.

This page covers the submission's **context**. The submission's own identity (its ID, status, form, and submitted/modified dates) is shown separately in the Status card on the [edit screen](https://www.tassos.gr/docs/convert-forms/submission-management/edit).

## [What's available to you as an admin](#what-s-available-to-you-as-an-admin)

From those stored values, Convert Forms derives a fuller set of details and presents them in the backend, grouped for readability. Here's the complete set you can see and work with.

### [Visitor](#visitor)

 | Detail | Description |
|---|---|
| Visitor ID | An anonymous identifier for the visitor who submitted the form, independent of any Joomla login. It comes from the [*nrid* cookie](https://www.tassos.gr/docs/convert-forms/security/cookies) set by the Tassos Framework. |

### [Joomla Account](#joomla-account)

Looked up from the stored user ID. Captured only when the submitter is logged into your Joomla site.

 | Detail | Description |
|---|---|
| Joomla Account ID | The Joomla user ID of the submitter, when logged in. |
| Joomla Account User Name | The username of the submitter, when logged in. |
| Joomla Account Name | The full name of the submitter, when logged in. |
| Joomla Account Email | The account email of the submitter, when logged in. |

### [Location](#location)

Country Name is derived from the stored country code, so it works even if IP storage is turned off. Country detection uses the geolocation feature. See the [Geolocation Setup Guide](https://www.tassos.gr/docs/common/features/enable-geolocation-features-in-tassos-gr-extensions).

 | Detail | Description |
|---|---|
| IP Address | The IP address the submission was sent from. |
| Country Code | The two-letter country code of the visitor. |
| Country Name | The country name, derived from the country code. |

For more on the IP address, including how to show it as a column and how to switch it off for GDPR, see [Tracking the User's IP Address](https://www.tassos.gr/docs/convert-forms/submission-management/ip-address).

### [Device](#device)

 | Detail | Description |
|---|---|
| Device Type | The device type detected: Desktop, Mobile, or Tablet. |
| Operating System | The operating system detected from the user agent. |
| Browser | The web browser detected from the user agent. |
| User Agent | The raw browser user-agent string. |

### [Source & Campaign](#source-campaign)

This is where lead attribution lives. Source Domain, Source Path, Referrer Domain, and the UTM parameters are all parsed from the stored Source and Referrer URLs.

 | Detail | Description |
|---|---|
| Source URL | The URL of the page where the form was submitted. |
| Source Domain | The domain of the page where the form was submitted, parsed from the source URL (without www). |
| Source Path | The path of the page where the form was submitted, parsed from the source URL (without the domain or query string). |
| Referrer URL | The page the visitor came from before submitting. |
| Referrer Domain | The domain the visitor came from before submitting, parsed from the referrer URL (without www). |
| Source Page Title | The title of the page where the form was submitted. |
| UTM Source | The utm\_source campaign parameter from the landing URL (e.g. google, newsletter). |
| UTM Medium | The utm\_medium campaign parameter from the landing URL (e.g. cpc, email). |
| UTM Campaign | The utm\_campaign campaign parameter from the landing URL. |
| UTM Term | The utm\_term campaign parameter from the landing URL (paid keywords). |
| UTM Content | The utm\_content campaign parameter from the landing URL (A/B variant). |

## [Viewing the submission context](#viewing-the-submission-context)

All the context for a submission lives in one place: the **Submission Context** card on the submission's [edit screen](https://www.tassos.gr/docs/convert-forms/submission-management/edit). Open any submission and you'll find it there, grouped for readability.

![Viewing Tracked Data](https://www.tassos.gr/images/2026/06/Viewing_Tracked_Data.png?v=1)

1. Log in to your Joomla backend.
2. Go to **Components → Convert Forms → Submissions**.
3. Click the submission's **ID** to open it.
4. Look under the **Submission Context** card.

## [Showing context as columns](#showing-context-as-columns)

Any of these details can be added as a column in the Submissions list, so you can scan them across submissions without opening each one.

![Submission Tracked Data](https://www.tassos.gr/images/2026/06/Submission_Tracked_Data.png)

1. Go to Components → Convert Forms → Submissions
2. Select a form from the filters at the top
3. Click **Columns**.
4. Search for the detail you want (for example, *UTM Source* or *Country*) and move it to the **Shown in table** section.
5. Click **Save**.

For the full walkthrough, see [Customizing Submission Columns](https://www.tassos.gr/docs/convert-forms/submission-management/customize-columns).

## [Exporting context](#exporting-context)

When you [export your submissions](https://www.tassos.gr/docs/convert-forms/submission-management/export), you can include any of these context details in the export file. The export dialog groups the columns into **Submission Identity**, **Form Fields**, and **Submission Context**, so you can pull source, campaign, device, or location data into a spreadsheet for analysis.

![Export Submissions Properties](https://www.tassos.gr/images/2026/06/Export_Submissions_Properties.png?v=1)

## [Outputting context with Smart Tags](#outputting-context-with-smart-tags)

Every context value is available as a Smart Tag, so you can drop it into a notification email, the form's confirmation message, a redirect URL, a PDF, a webhook, or anywhere else Convert Forms accepts Smart Tags. Output the whole context block at once, or pull a single value like the country, IP, device, or campaign.

For the complete list of tags, see [Submission Context Smart Tags](https://www.tassos.gr/docs/convert-forms/features/smart-tags#submission-context-smart-tags).

## [Disabling IP tracking for GDPR](#disabling-ip-tracking-for-gdpr)

The visitor's IP address is the one context detail you can switch off. If your privacy policy requires you not to store IP addresses, set **Store IP Addresses** to **No** in the component options. The steps are in [Tracking the User's IP Address](https://www.tassos.gr/docs/convert-forms/submission-management/ip-address). The remaining details are captured automatically.

## [Troubleshooting](#troubleshooting)

### [Country Code and Country Name are empty](#country-code-and-country-name-are-empty)

Convert Forms resolves the visitor's country from their IP address through the geolocation feature. If that feature isn't set up, there's no country to record, so both Country Code and Country Name stay empty even though everything else is tracked.

Enable it by following the [geolocation setup guide](https://www.tassos.gr/docs/common/features/enable-geolocation-features-in-tassos-gr-extensions). Country data is only recorded for submissions received after geolocation is enabled, so older submissions won't be backfilled.

### [The IP address is missing](#the-ip-address-is-missing)

If the IP field is blank, IP storage is most likely turned off. Convert Forms lets you disable it for GDPR, and while it's off no IP is recorded. Check **Store IP Addresses** in the component options, covered in [Tracking the User's IP Address](https://www.tassos.gr/docs/convert-forms/submission-management/ip-address).

IP tracking arrived in **v5.2.0**. On a fresh install the option is switched on automatically. If you updated from an earlier version, it stays off so the update doesn't change what you store without warning, and you'll need to turn it on manually.

### [The referrer is empty](#the-referrer-is-empty)

Referrer URL only has a value when the browser sends one. Visitors who type your address directly, arrive from a bookmark, or come from a site that strips the referrer (common when moving from an HTTPS page to an HTTP one) leave nothing to record. That's expected, not a bug.

### [UTM parameters are empty](#utm-parameters-are-empty)

The UTM details are read from the campaign parameters on the landing URL, such as *utm\_source* and *utm\_medium*. If the link the visitor clicked didn't carry them, there's nothing to capture. Tag your ads, emails, and campaign links with UTM parameters before they point to your site.

### [Device, OS, or browser shows as unknown](#device-os-or-browser-shows-as-unknown)

These are detected from the visitor's user-agent string. Bots, scripts, and uncommon or masked browsers don't always send a recognizable one, so the value can come back empty or unknown. The raw User Agent is still stored if you need to inspect it.

### [Older submissions have no context](#older-submissions-have-no-context)

Tracking happens at the moment a form is submitted. Submissions collected before you updated to a version that records a given detail stay empty, and Convert Forms doesn't backfill past entries.

### [The context details aren't listed in the Columns or Export dialogs](#the-context-details-aren-t-listed-in-the-columns-or-export-dialogs)

Both the Columns picker and the export options only appear once you've selected a single form in the Submissions list filters. Pick a form first, then the context details show up as choices.

 Last updated on Jul 3rd 2026 12:07