Upgrade from the previous PayPal integration for LGL Forms to the new one

In this article:

Why you should upgrade from the previous PayPal integration

In November 2024, LGL Forms launched a rebuilt PayPal integration. This new integration uses PayPal Complete Payments, an updated and much improved version of PayPal. If you are using the previous integration in LGL Forms, there are several reasons to switch to the new version.

The previous PayPal integration has one significant drawback, which is that it supports recurring donations only when the donor uses a PayPal account for the transaction (as opposed to the option to check out with a credit card "as guest"). 

At the same time, there are several significant benefits to the new version, PayPal Complete Payments:

  • The requirement to be logged into a PayPal account to set up a recurring donation has been resolved, so now donors can check out as a guest using their credit card for recurring donations.
  • Donors can now complete the transaction using Venmo. On the final screen, they will see a Venmo QR code, which they can use to complete the transaction on their phone.
  • Donors can now complete a donation using Google Pay (this option is unfortunately not available for recurring donations, however).

How to know if your LGL Forms account is using the previous PayPal integration

In your LGL Forms area, go to Admin > Payment Accounts. There you will see the payment processors you have connected to your LGL Forms account. If you have one or more PayPal accounts, you will see them listed. The “Provider” column will list "PayPal" for those. The “Name” column is editable, so the name can vary, but if you left the name on the default value, “PayPal #1” will be listed for the previous version and “PayPal CP #1” for the newer version.

The most accurate and reliable way to see if you are using the new version of PayPal or the previous one is to edit a form that uses PayPal. The options displayed below the payment processor selector will tell you if your connected payment processor is the new PayPal Complete Payments version or the previous PayPal version:

The PayPal Complete Payments version displays Venmo and Google Pay as options, as you can see in this screenshot:

The previous PayPal version does not show Venmo or Google Pay as options, and will include a red warning message about recurring donations:

How to update your LGL Forms PayPal integration so it uses PayPal Complete Payments

Our help article Enable your LGL Forms account to accept PayPal payments provides step-by-step instructions on how to connect a PayPal Complete Payments account in LGL Forms.

Once you’ve connected your PayPal Complete Payment account, you’ll want to update all of your forms that previously were set to use the previous PayPal account so that they will now use the new PayPal Complete Payments account. You can do that by editing the forms and changing the Payment account selection: