Troubleshooting¶
The notification arrives with the tag text instead of the value¶
The tag was left unreplaced. Causes, most common first:
No listing was in context¶
DMS attaches the listing ID to forms rendered where a listing exists — a vehicle detail page, or a search result row. A form on a general contact page, a landing page, or a blog post has no vehicle attached, so listing tags pass through as literal text.
Keep a separate, tag-free notification (or a separate form) for general enquiries.
The tag belongs to a different listing type¶
Tags are grouped by type in the DMS Custom Fields panel. A Boats category tag on a form used with Cars has nothing to resolve against.
Check the tag came from the heading matching the type the form is shown on.
The category slug changed¶
Category tags are built from the category's slug. Renaming a category can change its slug, which orphans any tag already saved in a notification.
Re-drag the tag from the panel after renaming categories.
The tag has no value on that listing¶
An empty category on a listing produces nothing to substitute, and the tag is left in place rather than replaced with a blank. If a specific field is frequently empty, either fill it in on your listings or leave it out of the notification.
The DMS Custom Fields panel doesn't appear¶
- Confirm both plugins are active — Gravity Forms and this extension — and that your DMS license is Starter or higher.
- Check you're editing a notification, not the form fields. The panel is added below the Message field in Settings → Notifications.
- Check you have listing types with categories. A type with no categories contributes no tags.
- Check the browser console for JavaScript errors from other admin plugins, which can stop the panel being inserted.
The panel is empty after switching notifications¶
The panel re-inserts itself when Gravity Forms loads a different notification. If it appears empty, reload the page — the tag list is generated when the admin screen loads.
UTM tags are always empty¶
UTM values come from the URL the visitor is on, falling back to DMS's stored UTM data.
- Test with UTM parameters present — visiting a listing directly, with no campaign parameters anywhere in the visit, gives nothing to record.
- Check DMS's UTM tracking is working. The fallback relies on DMS having stored the values earlier in the visit; a cookie-blocking setup or a very aggressive privacy plugin can prevent that.
- Remember these describe how the visitor arrived, not the form. Direct traffic legitimately has no source.
Only some tags replace, others don't¶
Mixing types is the usual cause — for example a [dms_title] that resolves next to a [dms_category_vin] from a different type, which doesn't.
Confirm every tag in the notification came from the same type's heading in the panel.
Two forms on one page get the same listing¶
Both forms are on the same listing page, so both correctly receive that listing's ID. This is expected on a VDP.
On a page showing multiple listings, forms take the ID of the listing container they sit inside — placing a form outside any listing container there leaves it without one.