UUID generator
Version 4, generated in your browser. Nothing is sent anywhere.
Using this as a form ID?
Paste the UUID above into a form's action and it accepts submissions immediately, with no account. Submit it once, then claim the form to see what came in.
<form action="https://f.bootform.com/" method="POST">
<input name="email" type="email" required>
<textarea name="message" required></textarea>
<button type="submit">Send</button>
</form>Keep it to yourself until you have claimed it. A form ID is the only thing needed to claim a form, so anyone who has it and claims it first receives what people send you. Held submissions are kept for 48 hours.
What this is
A UUID is a 128-bit number written as 32 hexadecimal characters in five hyphen-separated groups, like 11111111-1111-4111-8111-111111111111. Version 4 means almost all of those bits come straight from a random number generator, so you can mint one without asking anybody for permission and still be confident nobody else will ever produce the same value.
These are generated by your own browser, using the crypto.randomUUID() function built into it. That matters for two reasons. The values never travel over the network, so nobody, us included, sees what you generated. And they come from your operating system's cryptographic random number generator rather than something like Math.random(), which is predictable enough that it should never be used for an identifier anyone might try to guess.
How likely is a collision, really
Not likely enough to plan for. A version 4 UUID has 122 random bits, which is about 5.3 undecillion possible values. You would need to generate roughly 2.7 quintillion of them before reaching a one-in-a-billion chance of seeing the same one twice. For comparison, generating a billion UUIDs per second for a century gets you nowhere near that.
This is the whole point of the format. It lets separate systems, with no coordination between them and no central authority handing out numbers, each invent identifiers and safely assume they will never clash.
Formatting options
Different ecosystems expect the same value written differently, so the options above cover the common ones:
| Option | Looks like | Where you see it |
|---|---|---|
| Default | 11111111-1111-4111-8111-111111111111 | The canonical form. Use this unless something demands otherwise. |
| No hyphens | 11111111111141118111111111111111 | Compact storage, URL paths, some database columns. |
| Uppercase | 11111111-1111-4111-8111-111111111111 | Common in .NET and older Microsoft tooling. |
| Braces | {11111111-1111-4111-8111-111111111111} | Windows registry keys, COM GUIDs, some config files. |
A UUID is case-insensitive, so the uppercase and lowercase forms are the same identifier. Systems that compare them as plain strings will disagree, which is why the canonical form is lowercase and why it is worth sticking to it.
The values shown in this table are illustrations, printed on a public page and therefore known to everyone who reads it. Use the generator above for anything real.
Using a UUID as a BootForm form ID
This generator lives on a form backend's website for a reason.
BootForm identifies each form by a UUID. Point an HTML form's action at https://f.bootform.com/ followed by one, and it starts accepting submissions straight away, before you have created an account. Submit the form once and you get a link to claim it, which creates your account and delivers everything already sent.
Two things worth knowing before you use one that way:
- Keep it private until you have claimed it. The form ID is the only credential involved in claiming a form. Anyone who has it and claims it first receives what people send you. Do not publish one in a public repository, a screenshot, or a tutorial.
- Claim it the same day. Submissions to an unclaimed form are held for 48 hours, counted from the first one, and then deleted.
If you want a readable identifier like contact-form rather than a UUID, that is a vanity slug, available on Pro and above.
Questions people ask
Are these UUIDs really unique? They are not guaranteed unique in a mathematical sense, since nothing coordinates them. They are unique in a practical sense: the chance of a repeat is so small that every system in wide use today treats it as impossible.
Do you log or store what I generate? No. The generation happens entirely in your browser and no value is ever sent to us. You can confirm this by opening your browser's network tab and pressing Generate.
What is the difference between a UUID and a GUID? Nothing meaningful. GUID is Microsoft's name for the same 128-bit identifier. The two terms are used interchangeably, and a value from this page works anywhere either is expected.
Which version should I use? Version 4 for almost everything, which is what this page generates. Version 7 is worth knowing about if you are using UUIDs as database primary keys, because it begins with a timestamp and therefore sorts chronologically, which indexes far better. If that is your situation, look it up specifically.
Is it safe to use one as a secret? A version 4 UUID has enough entropy to be unguessable, so it works as a capability token. But treat it like a password: anything that can be read from a public page is no longer secret. This is exactly the trap described above for form IDs.