Skip to content
Verifill
Menu
User guide · version 3.79.2

How to use Verifill.

Start with the first steps in pictures: ten steps, each illustrated by a picture, to know how to fill in your forms. The rest of the page covers each topic in depth, for when you need it.

See the first steps Try it on our form Install Verifill Download this guide (single file)

The downloaded file contains everything, text and images, and opens in any browser, with no connection.

01First steps, in pictures

Ten steps, each illustrated by a picture. Follow them in order the first time: in five minutes, you will know how to fill in your forms. The numbers on the pictures match the explanations right below them. Click a picture to enlarge it.

Step 1

Install Verifill and pin its icon

Install Verifill from your browser's store, using the “Install Verifill” button on this site. Installation is free and takes a few seconds. Then carry out the following operation, just once:

My form https://… V Extensions V Verifill
  1. Click the puzzle piece, to the right of the address bar.
  2. Click the pin next to Verifill.
  3. Verifill's V now stays in your toolbar. That's what you will click.
Step 2

Open Verifill on your form

Go to your form's page, then click the V. A window opens, on the “Fill” tab.

The Verifill window when it opens, on the Fill tab.
  1. The bell keeps the day's messages: a message gone from the screen can be found there.
  2. The form Verifill works on.
  3. Five tabs. To fill in a form, the first one is enough.
  4. Click here to start.
Step 3

Let Verifill analyse the form

Click “1. Analyze fields”. Verifill reads the page and shows you what it understood. Nothing is written into your form yet.

The field list after the analysis.
  1. How many fields were found on the page.
  2. Uncheck a field to leave it empty.
  3. What Verifill will write: here, a first name. Pick another rule in the menu if needed.
  4. Want one precise value? Type it here: it will be written as is.

Your choices are kept for this screen: next time, there will be nothing to redo.

Step 4

Fill

Scroll to the bottom of the window and click “2. Fill checked fields”.

The Verifill window after filling.
  1. The button that fills in the form.
  2. The summary: how many fields were filled, and how many meet what the site requires.
  3. “Live tracking”: if new fields appear later, they are filled too.
Step 5

Check the result on the page

Every filled field is outlined in a colour. You can see at a glance what was done.

The filled form, each field outlined in a colour.
  1. Green: the value meets what the site requires.
  2. Blue: a choice in a list, a button or a checkbox.
  3. Purple: a value that comes from you, or a copy. Here, the confirmation repeats the email address.

Two other colours can appear:

  • Orange: a value suggested by Verifill, worth a quick check.
  • Red: a field the site may reject. Examine it before submitting the form.

You stay in control from start to finish: Verifill writes, you review, and you are the one who submits the form.

Step 6

Keep Verifill open: the panel

The window closes as soon as you click in the page. To keep Verifill open while you work, press Ctrl + Shift + V. The panel appears inside the page and stays there.

The Verifill panel, open inside the page.
  1. Grab this bar to move the panel.
  2. Analyze the fields, as in the window.
  3. Fill.
  4. Open the full tool beside the page, already set on this form.
  5. The orange dot: no backup is in place yet. One click leads to the full backup.
  6. Close the panel. Ctrl + Shift + V closes it too.

It is the most comfortable way to fill in a multi-step form: the panel stays on screen from one step to the next.

Step 7

Use your own values

By default, Verifill composes realistic values. To use yours, open the “Values” tab.

The Values tab.
  1. Import an Excel, CSV or JSON file. One row is one test person, one column is one form field.
  2. Or declare a value once and for all: it will be written wherever that word appears.
Step 8

Replay a fill

Want to run exactly the same test again the next day, or after the site is updated? Everything is in the “History” tab.

The History tab.
  1. Every fill is kept here, with all its values.
  2. Click “export”: this fill is saved to a file.

Then, in the “Values” tab, click “Import a file (CSV / Excel / JSON)” and select that file.

The dataset created from the history.
  1. The file becomes a dataset. At the next “Fill”, each field gets exactly the same value back.

With Verifill Enterprise, several fills can be exported together: each one becomes a row, and “Use one row per fill” replays them one after the other.

Step 9

Choose the language

Verifill uses your browser's language. To change it, open the “Settings” tab.

The Settings tab: language and theme.
  1. The orange dot on “Settings”: no backup is in place yet (section 09).
  2. Language: “Automatic” (your browser's), Français or English.
  3. Theme: light, dark, or your computer's.
Step 10

For those who write automated tests

“Selectors” tab, “Analyze” button: for each field, a line of code already checked on the page.

The Selectors tab.
  1. Choose your test's language.
  2. How robust the line is: robust, ambiguous or fragile.
  3. Copy the line and paste it into your test.

You don't write tests? You can ignore this tab: everything else works without it.

You now know the essentials. The rest of this guide covers each topic in depth, section by section, for when you need it.

02Reading the field list

Each line presents three elements, and leaves you in control of all three. Your settings are kept for this screen: next time, there is nothing to redo.

The field list: scope, checkbox, rule and exact value of each field.
  1. “Forms only” leaves search bars and filters aside: almost always the right choice. “Whole page” includes everything else.
  2. The checkbox: uncheck a field to leave it empty, this time and the next ones.
  3. The rule: what Verifill understood the field to be. Change it in the menu, and your choice becomes the right answer for that field.
  4. The exact value: whatever you type here is written as is.
A drop-down in the field list: its options menu.
  1. A drop-down: the menu offers the page's real options, plus “Random”.
A checkbox in the field list: check or uncheck.
  1. A checkbox: “Check”, “Uncheck” or “Random”.

At the bottom, “Reset settings” erases what you set for this screen, and nothing else. A confirmation states exactly what will be removed.

03The panel: Verifill always within reach

The extension window closes as soon as you click in the page: handy for setting up, inconvenient for working. The panel addresses precisely this need.

To open it

Ctrl + Shift + V, on the page where your form is. The same shortcut closes it.

The panel appears inside the page, top right, and stays there. Grab its title bar to move it if it is in the way, and use “Close” to hide it. You can click anywhere in the form, scroll, or move to the next step: it stays in place.

All the essentials, inside the page

The panel carries the “Fill” tab in compact form, and opens the full tool in one click.

The Verifill panel inside the page: analyse, fill, options, sources, learn, and the five full-tool buttons.
  1. Analyze fields, then Fill: as in the window.
  2. “Only fill empty fields” and “Live tracking”, for multi-step journeys.
  3. The three value sources, shared with the window.
  4. Fill in a screen by hand, then click here: Verifill remembers the whole screen for next time.
  5. The full tool, in a separate window already set on this form: the same one as the icon's.
  6. Settings: backup, language, memory. The orange dot means no backup is in place yet.

It is most valuable in a multi-step journey: you fill in step 1, click “Next” in the page, step 2 appears, and the panel is still there.

For anyone writing tests, it is the most comfortable way to work: the page stays in front of you, the “Selectors” window beside it. You spot a field in the page, read its verified selector in the window, copy it, then paste it into your test.

The panel and the window share the same settings: what you check in one is reflected in the other.

On Edge, extension shortcuts are not assigned by default. The “Settings” tab shows, under “Appearance”, the shortcut actually assigned, and where to choose one.

04Using your own values

By default, Verifill composes plausible values. That is perfect for a trial, but you often want to use yours: your test address, a case number, an organisation name. This is set in the “Values” tab, once and for all.

“Custom fields”

You declare a keyword and the value to write: as soon as a field carries that word in its label, your value is used, on this site and on others. It is the simplest way to impose your data once and for all. The free version lets you declare up to 5; Verifill Enterprise sets no limit.

Declaring a custom field in the Values tab.
  1. The field's name, to find your way.
  2. The words that point to it in a label, separated by commas.
  3. Where the value comes from: a list, a pattern or a numbered sequence.
  4. Your values, one per line: random or in order.
  5. Save: the field works on every site.

“Learning mode”

Fill in a screen by hand, then click “Learn the current form”: Verifill remembers what the screen shows, field by field, lists and checkboxes included, and reproduces it next time. A password is never kept. This is the solution when the values are too specific for any rule. The free version remembers up to 3 forms; Verifill Enterprise sets no limit.

Learning mode, right after a form has been learned.
  1. The summary: how many values are new, how many are updated.
  2. This form is learned: its values will come back at the next fill.
  3. Each learned value can be read, corrected and deleted here, one by one.

The three sources, and their order

Under the field list, “Value sources” shows three switches: “Dataset”, “Learning”, “Custom fields”. They indicate where values may come from. A value you typed yourself on the field's line takes precedence over everything else; these sources come next; the rule comes last.

05Filling many times, with different data

If you have to create twenty test records, you do not want the same values twenty times. Import a dataset: a CSV, Excel or JSON file where each row is one profile.

The rule is simple: one column per field, one row per profile. The column name should resemble the field's label; Verifill matches them itself, and tells you which columns it recognised.

A three-profile dataset, loaded in the Values tab.
  1. Paste a table: the first row holds the column names. A file can be loaded too, with the button at the top of the tab.
  2. Load it.
  3. Verifill shows the profiles and columns it read.
  4. The row used at the next fill: one complete, consistent profile.
  5. “Use one row per fill”: each fill takes the next row.

Radio buttons, checkboxes and database exports

A group of radio buttons is filled in three ways: a column named after the group, holding the option ("Title" = "Mrs"); a column named after the option, holding yes ("Mrs" = checked); or a column you map to the group yourself. A checkbox reads yes or no: checked, yes, x or 1 tick it; no, unchecked or 0 untick it. A column may also carry the field's technical name, as in a database export ("civilite" = "madame", "email", "date_naissance"): it comes before any word resemblance. Two columns with the same name go, in page order, to the two fields that read them.

You can keep several datasets, one per test case, to switch between them.

The free version uses the first 5 rows of a dataset, and says so on screen. Verifill Enterprise uses them all.

Replay a fill from the history

A fill exported from the “History” tab, then imported here, becomes a dataset: one row per fill, one column per field. At the next fill, each field gets exactly the same value back. It is the safest way to re-run a test identically (see step 8 of the first steps).

A dataset applies to the fields whose column exists; the others keep being filled by the rules. A partial dataset is therefore enough: the form is still filled in completely.

06Dynamic screens, and multi-step journeys

Many modern applications reveal fields later: one choice uncovers others, a next step appears without the page reloading. Two settings, under the field list, handle these situations.

“Live tracking”

Verifill keeps observing that same tab for the duration you choose, from one to ten minutes, and fills fields as they appear, without any action on your part. This is the setting to tick for a multi-step journey.

“Only fill empty fields”

No field that already has a value is overwritten. This is useful when you come back to a step you already filled in. Checkboxes are always handled: “unchecked” is a value, not an absence of value.

The “Only fill empty fields” and “Live tracking” settings in the Fill tab.
  1. “Only fill empty fields”: nothing already entered is overwritten.
  2. “Live tracking”: fields that appear later are filled in turn.
  3. How long Verifill watches the page: from one to ten minutes.
The live tracking indicator, at the bottom right of the page.
  1. While tracking, an indicator stays at the bottom right of the page.
  2. One click on “Stop” ends the tracking at once.

Embedded frames are handled like everything else: if the form sits inside a frame, Verifill locates it and writes into it.

The panel (section 03) makes all of this even more comfortable: it stays on screen from one step to the next.

07Selectors, and the test script

This part is for people who write automated tests. Everyone else can move on: the tool is complete without this tab ever being opened.

In the “Selectors” tab, “Analyze” provides, for every field and button, a way to target it in a test: in CSS, in XPath, or in JavaScript. Every selector is replayed on the page before being shown to you: it matches that element, and only that one.

The top of the Selectors tab: scope, analysis, collection and test language.
  1. The scope, as in the Fill tab.
  2. “Analyze”: every selector is replayed on the page before being shown to you.
  3. Go through your screen's tabs: each one is analysed on the way and added to the list.
  4. “My test is in”: Robot Framework, Python with Selenium, or JavaScript.

Next to each selector is a label: robust, ambiguous or fragile. It is not an opinion, but the result of the replay. An id that changes on every page load is recognised as such and replaced by a stable marker: precisely what makes a test fail the following week for no visible reason. On our try-it page, the “Username” field is such a case:

The “Username” field's row in the Selectors tab.
  1. The robustness, measured by replaying the selector on the page.
  2. The line ready to paste into your test. Its changing id is set aside: Verifill targets the field by its name.
  3. The other ways to target this field, with their robustness: pick the one that suits you.
The bottom of the Selectors tab and the script export button.
  1. “Export the script”: a complete, ready-to-paste script for the screen on display.

With Verifill Enterprise, the script covers the whole journey Verifill followed, in the order visited, and selectors can also be exported as JSON.

The most comfortable method: open the panel with Ctrl + Shift + V, then its “Selectors” button. The list opens in a separate window, the page stays in front of you, and you copy on one side what you paste on the other.

08Finding what was filled

The “History” tab keeps every fill: the date, the screen, the value written into each field, and where it came from. It is the tab to open when someone asks which data you tested with.

The History tab: filters, export and fills.
  1. Filter by date.
  2. Or jump straight to a day.
  3. The export format: CSV, Excel or JSON.
  4. Every fill, with the value written into each field and where it came from.
  5. “export”: this fill goes into a file, ready to be replayed from “Values” (section 05).

Verifill Enterprise also exports the whole history, or everything the filter shows, and replays several fills at once.

History cleanup: space used, deletion before a date, full clearing.
  1. “Cleanup & space used”: the space used on this computer, and what uses it.
  2. Delete everything before a date.
  3. Or clear the whole history, after confirmation.

09Back up, and change computer without losing anything

Everything Verifill remembers lives in your browser: your per-form settings, your values, your datasets, the selector memory and the history. That means two things: nobody else sees it, and nobody else backs it up. A few minutes, just once, are enough to protect yourself.

The recommended method: automatic backup

01

Open “Settings”, section “Full backup”

Click the Verifill icon, then the “Settings” tab, and open “Full backup”. As long as no backup is in place, an orange dot leads you there; from the panel, the “Settings” button gets you there too.

02

“Choose the folder…”, once

Your browser asks you to allow access to that folder: accept. Choose a folder that is already synchronised by your organisation or your usual file service. That is what makes the backup useful: it travels with the rest of your documents. The section guides you in three steps: folder chosen, permanent access, copy in place.

The Full backup section, on a computer with no backup yet.
  1. The orange dot: no backup is in place on this computer yet.
  2. The three setup steps: the next one is always shown.
  3. “Choose the folder…”: the only action to take, just once.
03

Let the extension work

From then on, the extension copies your data there after each fill, automatically, into one file per day that gathers your settings, your selectors and the day's history. There is nothing left to do, and nothing to look for in your downloads.

04

On another computer: the same folder

Install Verifill and choose the same folder. Verifill recognises your backup there, writes nothing to it, and offers “Load this backup”: your settings, your selectors and your history come back, then the automatic copy resumes.

The chosen folder already holds a backup: Verifill offers to load it, replace it or cancel.
  1. What the folder already contains, and the date of that backup. Nothing has been written to it.
  2. “Load this backup”: on a new computer, everything comes back.
  3. “Replace with this computer”: the old backup stays in the folder, under a dated name.
  4. “Cancel”: the folder is not kept.

When the browser asks again for permission to write to the folder, click “Restore access” and choose “Allow on every visit”: it will not be asked again. Nothing is lost in the meantime: everything stays in the extension and is caught up when it resumes.

The single file, for a dated copy

Under “Manual backup”, “Back up to a file” writes everything into a single file that you keep wherever you wish, and “Restore…” reads it back. This is useful before a significant change to your settings, or to pass your configuration to a colleague. “Restore…” also accepts several files at once: select the daily files of a backup folder together, and they are gathered into a single restore.

Manual backup: back up to a file, and restore.
  1. “Back up to a file”: everything, in a single file.
  2. “Restore…”: one file, or several at once (select them all with Ctrl + A).

View and erase what is kept

Still in Settings, “All the memory, by address” lists, site by site, what Verifill remembers for each address (selectors, learned values, screen settings) and lets you erase part or all of it. The fill history is managed in the “History” tab: one fill, everything before a date, or the whole history. Files already written to your backup folder stay as they are: a backup never loses anything on a single click.

All the memory, by address: what Verifill keeps for the try-it page's address.
  1. Find an address by typing part of its name.
  2. Each address, with what it keeps: selectors, learned values, screen settings.
  3. “forget” erases a single part, after confirmation.
  4. “forget all” erases everything the address keeps.

10The most frequent questions

A field stayed empty: why?

Three points to check, in this order. Was it checked in the list? Is it outside the form, like a search bar (switch the scope to “Whole page”)? Does it appear only after a choice (tick “Live tracking”)? In all three cases, one setting is enough, and it is kept afterwards.

I want a different value in this field

Two options, your choice. Change the field's rule in its menu if the type is wrong; type the exact value on its line if it is one precise piece of data. Both are kept for this screen, and next time there is nothing left to do.

I want to run exactly the same test again

Export the fill from the “History” tab, then import that file in “Values”: at the next fill, each field gets the same value back. That is step 8 of the first steps.

The site expects a value that already exists in its records

That is the case of a number that must match an existing record. Enter it as an exact value, or load a dataset with the matching column: Verifill will use your rows one by one.

Nothing happens when I click the icon

Browsers reserve their own pages (those starting with chrome:// or edge://, the extensions page, the store) and allow no extension there. Open your form in an ordinary tab, and everything works again.

I changed computer

Section 09 is designed for this: on the new computer, choose the same backup folder, then “Load this backup”. Everything is restored.

A message disappeared before I could read it

Success messages clear themselves after a few seconds, so as not to clutter the screen. They stay in the bell, at the top of the window: the day's list, most recent first, emptied every day. Errors stay on screen.

The open bell: the day's messages.
  1. The bell: its number counts the messages not read yet.
  2. The day's messages, with their time.
How do I report a problem to you?

In “Settings”, “Diagnostics” section, the “Copy the report” button puts on your clipboard everything we need to reproduce the situation: version, browser, settings, and your last few fills. Paste it into an email.

The Diagnostics section of the Settings tab, and the Copy the report button.
  1. “Copy the report”: the report goes to your clipboard, nothing is sent.
  2. What the report contains, spelled out: read it before sending.

11The practices that save the most time

Six habits that, once adopted, change how you use the tool.

  • Pin the icon on day one, and remember Ctrl + Shift + V. These are the two actions you will perform most often.
  • Set up each screen once, carefully. The minutes spent correcting a rule on the first visit come back to you on every later visit.
  • Declare your recurring values in “Custom fields”: they will serve on every site, not just today's.
  • Tick “Live tracking” as soon as a journey has several steps. It is the most valuable setting in the tool.
  • Point at a backup folder as soon as you start using the tool regularly, not on the day you change computer.
  • Export the fill that works: imported back later, it replays the same test identically.

And if a form gives you difficulties, report it to us: it joins our test collection, and the engine improves for everyone.

See also: What the extension does with your data · The plans · Write to us