This field is required. custom message (2026 version)

[edwinnieves1956 (Edwin Nieves)]

How can I change the custom message GF displays when a user misses entering data on a required field. I have seen old posts that recommend using the free “Custom Error Messages for Gravity Forms” in WordPress but that plugin as 0 stars and has a message “This plugin hasn’t been tested with the latest 3 major releases of WordPress. It may no longer be maintained or supported and may have compatibility issues when used with more recent versions of WordPress. Try searching for a similar plugin.”.

Any suggestions?

[chrishajer (Chris (Gravity Forms))]

On the Appearance tab for each field, there is a “Custom Validation Message” input. You can type your validation message there, which will replace the “This field is required.” message when the field is not filled out.

This is what it looks like in the form builder:

And when you submit the form with no value in the field, this is how the validation message appears:

Let us know if you need anything else.

[edwinnieves1956 (Edwin Nieves)]

Well, I’ll be. It was in front of me all the time; I just I didn’t understand the wording on the field. However, now I have another issue. The first field error correctly adds my message; but it also uses the default. See images.

[edwinnieves1956 (Edwin Nieves)]

Ignore my last comment. I decided to use a regular text field to capture the persons’ full name instead of using Last Name and now it works.