# Quick start

> Create a form, copy your access key and paste one HTML snippet. Your form is live in about three minutes.

Source: https://docs.formclick.io/html-forms/quick-start

This guide takes you from nothing to a working contact form. You need a Formclick account and any web page you can edit.

### Step 1: Create a form in your dashboard

Sign up or log in and create a new HTML form. Give it a name such as “Website contact”. Notifications go to your account email until you change the recipients.

### Step 2: Copy your access key

Open the form’s **Connect** tab and copy the access key. It is a UUID that tells Formclick which form a submission belongs to.

### Step 3: Paste the form into your page

Replace `YOUR_ACCESS_KEY` with the key you copied, and keep the `formclick.min.js` script below the form. Keep the field names; add as many extra fields as you like.

```html title="index.html"
<form action="https://api.formclick.io/submit" method="POST">
  <!-- Replace with the key from your form's Connect tab -->
  <input type="hidden" name="access_key" value="YOUR_ACCESS_KEY">

  <input type="text" name="name" placeholder="Your name" required>
  <input type="email" name="email" placeholder="you@example.com" required>
  <textarea name="message" placeholder="Your message" required></textarea>

  <button type="submit">Send</button>
</form>

<!-- Handles submit, file upload, loading state and success/error messages. -->
<script src="https://cdn.formclick.io/formclick.min.js"></script>
```

### Step 4: Submit a test

Open the page, fill in the form and press **Send**. The submission appears in your dashboard straight away and the notification email follows within seconds.

## Always include the Formclick script

Every Formclick form sample ends with the same two lines. Paste them once, just before `</body>`. The script submits the form in the background, uploads files, shows a loading state on the button and displays the success or error message inline.

```html
<!-- Handles submit, file upload, loading state and success/error messages. -->
<script src="https://cdn.formclick.io/formclick.min.js"></script>
```

_Animation: with formclick.min.js the form submits in the background, the button shows "Sending…", then an inline success message appears and the form resets. With formclick.min.js: no reload, a loading button and an inline success message._

> **Note:** Forms with `<input type="file">` only work with the script. Without it, other forms still submit and show the Formclick confirmation page.

> **Testing locally:** Forms work from `localhost` and `file://` pages, so you can test before deploying. Autoresponder emails are only sent for submissions from a public website.

## Next steps

- [Customise the email](https://docs.formclick.io/html-forms/email-notifications): Set the subject line and sender name.
- [Redirect after submit](https://docs.formclick.io/html-forms/redirects): Send people to your own thank-you page.
- [Stop spam](https://docs.formclick.io/html-forms/spam-protection): Add the honeypot field in one line.