If you are planning to resolve WordPress not sending emails Issue read our step-by-step guide. We are also offering some tips to fix It with Most Used Contact Form Plugins.
A typical issue website owners may face is that WordPress does not send emails properly or sends them.
The majority of the managed WordPress hosting providers, counting Web hosting, don’t offer email hosting. But, this doesn’t imply that you cannot send emails from your WordPress setup. Usually, when you attempt to resolve the WordPress not sending emails problem, it is not a fault on the server. However, email is set up wrongly on the WordPress setup, or there is a compatibility issue.
The present post discusses how to recognize why WordPress cannot send emails to you or the users. It also shows how to resolve it. You may be running a standard WordPress website or a WooCommerce store. In both cases, the below post will help you to fix the emails not sending issue.
The post also discusses a few of the most famous contact form plugins and recognizes the exact reason behind the problem. Let’s get started:
Why Isn’t WordPress Sending Email?
There are specific reasons you may face problems with WordPress unable to send emails. They include:
- Emails Are Sending but Going to Spam
- Your Server Is not configured correctly
- Your Contact Form Plugin is Sending ‘Spoof’ Emails
Now let’s go through how to recognize which of these may create the issue:
Emails Are Sending but Going to Spam:
Before performing any other tests, you need to ascertain that the emails from WordPress are not reaching spam.
If a user mentions to you that WordPress does not send emails, the reason may be the emails are going inside spam.
Inquire them to look at their spam folder for emails within the system. Few email clients may recognize emails from WordPress as spam since they are automated.
2. Your Server Isn’t Configured Correctly:
A typical reason why WordPress is not sending emails is your server is not configured for sending.
The web servers are not developed for sending emails. Your server may not be configured to utilize the PHP mail() function.
It is worth noting that you can effortlessly check if this is the cause of the problem and resolve it.
How to Test Whether the Server Is Sending Email?
The foremost thing you can carry out is to execute a test on your WordPress website through the free Check Email plugin.
It is an essential plugin created to test whether your WordPress installation and/or server could send emails or not.
After being installed, follow the below path in your WordPress dashboard.
Tools > Check Email
Now enter your email address to send a test to, and then click on ‘Send test email.’
Now you would notice a confirmation.
Verify your email client to know whether you have received the test email or not. The subject line would mention “Test email from https://yourdomain.com.”
Besides, make sure to look at your junk mail or spam folder. If you got an email, it suggests that WordPress can send emails on your web server.
If the emails are still not received, it would probably be a misconfiguration with your contact form plugin or an incompatibility issue. To get assistance, you can contact the plugin developer. Mention to them that you executed the above test and that the email automatically works on your WordPress setup. Alternatively, you can follow the following steps for using any one of the famous contact form plugins.
It is easy to know whether it is a compatibility issue or not if you are a Web hosting customer and possessing HHVM. Such users can momentarily switch to PHP 7 to examine the compatibility issue. It is pretty easy to switch to PHP 7 in your MyWeb hosting dashboard. Once the test is done, you can resume to HHVM.
When Web hosting customers or those customers with some other hosts face connection problems, they can try an alternative port. The reason can be that host blocking the port.
Web hosting utilizes the Google Cloud Platform. By default, this platform blocks outbound connections on port 25. As per Google, the outbound SMTP port remains block because this port is vulnerable to a considerable amount of misuse. For that case, you can try using an alternate port like 2525. The ports 587 and 465 are unlocked at Web hosting.
3. Your Contact Form Plugin is Sending ‘Spoof’ Emails:
If you have performed the above tests and your server is already configured to send emails, then the problem is with the plugin that sends emails from your WordPress website.
Most probably, it would be a contact form plugin.
The contact form plugins deliver emails that are occasionally recognized as spoof emails by the email clients. They are identical to the spam emails, and the email clients will ensign them as suspicious.
The contact form emails area may be occasionally visible as a spoof. The reason is they are delivered from a different address compared to the one added to the From: field inside the email you get.
Hence, if you have configured your contact form to fill the From field through the email address of the individual who fills out the form, however, the email originates from your WordPress site, then the problem is unique. The problem is your email client will be mistrustful of the email and may mark it as a spoof.
The problem may occur if emails are sent to and from identical email addresses. Hence, if the situation is that your forms plugin sends out emails from your admin email id and you too configured to deliver them to the particular address, certain email providers may not prefer it. This kind of issue is less probable than the ‘spoof’ emails problem.
For contact forms, usually, the receiver of the notification email will be you. The same suggests that you can modify the settings within your contact form plugin to solve the problem. Moreover, you can quickly test whether the emails are received or not.
Contact Form Plugins Affected:
A contact form plugin can be influenced due to the above issue. Below are specific plugins you may face the problem with:
- Contact Form 7
- Ninja Forms
- Gravity Forms
- Happy Form
- Jetpack Contact Form
- weForms
- Formidable Forms
The below section discusses how to resolve the problem of emails not sending out for every contact form. First of all, let’s learn about how you fix the problem of WordPress not delivering emails for each of the reasons we recognized.
How to Prevent WordPress Emails from Going to Spam?
1. Whitelist the Email Address:
If email reaches spam, inquire your users to whitelist all your emails by including your email address into their list of contacts.
If the email is moved to the inbox in Gmail, it implies that emails from the particular address will not spam in the future. It is pretty safe to add the address to contacts.
2. Use a Safer Email Address:
It may be necessary to assess the email address from which your website is sending the email. As a default, it is vital to evaluate the admin email address. If contact@, info@, sales@, or anything similar, the email providers may consider it spam.
Make sure to try altering the email address and let it appear something more professional. Also, make sure any emails delivered to the particular address are switched to your standard address to ensure you don’t miss out on any replies. It is easy to do the same with the creation of an alias of your email address.
3. Set up Email Authentication:
Your domain name may not be authenticated correctly for your email. This can be a reason for WordPress emails reaching spam.
How to Set Up SMTP in WordPress to Send Email?
After executing the email test above, you may find that the emails are not being sent from your site. If this is the issue, then you have to use a third-party SMTP provider. Subsequently, connect it with your site to make sure it resumes sending the emails.
SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) relocates emails over networks. Hence, if your server is not correctly configured to deliver emails, it makes it possible.
There are plenty of SMTP providers to opt from. The free ones are also included in the choice. So, it would help if you dedicated some time.
How to Configure Your Forms Plugin to Send Email Correctly?
The situation arises that your server is configured for sending emails, but there is still an issue with entries to forms not being sent. It may mean that you have to alter the settings for the condition.
Let’s learn about what to do for each of the famous forms of plugins to let such emails again.
For every of these form plugins, it is assumed that you have attempted to add SMTP to your site. If not, your server is already sending emails (and you already checked the spam folder), but still, the emails are unable to send.
Fix Contact Form 7 Not Sending Emails:
Contact Form 7 is the most famous free WordPress form plugins. It is one of the oldest plugins.
To fix the email not sending issue, modify the address from which your emails are sending out.
Within your WordPress admin, follow the below path:
Contact > Contact Forms
Choose the form you created and then open the ‘Mail’ tab.
Confirm that the ‘From’ field possesses the admin email address of your website instead of the email address input within the form. The same can be used in the ‘Reply to’ field only.
Ensure not to use the same email addresses for the ‘From’ and ‘To’ fields. Try to use a different email address compared to the one you already use for your site.
Now save your changes.
Examine the result after completing the form on your own.
Fix Gravity Forms Not Sending Emails:
One of the most famous and highly esteemed top-notch form plugins is the Gravity Forms. The possibilities are less to come across problems with emails not delivering from this plugin than the one with Contact Form 7. The plugin documentation shows in-depth guidance.
Try out the options in the documentation in sequence until the issue gets solved.
Fix Ninja Forms Not Sending Emails:
Ninja Forms supports both free and premium versions both. There are plenty of add-on plugins. The WordPress repository lets you freely download them.
If you face problems associated with emails with Ninja Forms, it is recommended to use the SendWP plugin.
The intention behind the design of SendWP is to let SMTP start functioning on your server. The same can be done using free plugins. If the problem is not related to your server not delivering email, SendWP cannot solve it.
If you want to stay away from paying $9/month for SendWP, implement the below email troubleshooting guide within their documentation.
Fix HappyForms Not Sending Emails:
HappyForms plugin comes in a free and premium version both. It includes a help guide, but it does not discuss the solution of emails not sending.
To modify the email address from which Happy Forms are being sent, you can change email settings for a form separately. The procedure is the same as with Contact Form 7.
Follow the below path:
HappyForms > All Forms
Now choose the form you wish to edit. You will see an interface opened up, and it appears like the Customizer.
Now open the ‘Email’ tab.
From there, you can modify the ‘To’ and ‘From’ addresses for notifications as well as confirmations. So, you can make sure spoof emails are not being sent.
After the changes are implemented, click the ‘Update’ button present at the top and review your form.
Fix weForms Not Sending Emails:
weForms plugin also supports free and premium versions. This plugin allows you to organize the plugin to use email through an assortment of email providers. The collection includes WordPress, SendGrid, etc.
There is a troubleshooting guide available to solve the email not sending out the issue. Ensure to follow the guide properly to recognize the cause of the problem and let your emails resume working again.
Fix Jetpack Contact Form Not Sending Emails:
If the Jetpack plugin runs, you may be using the basic contact form provided along with it. This is easy to do with adding a form block to a post or page in WordPress.
Jetpack comes with limited options for configuration, unlike the dedicated forms plugins. However, you can alter the address to which emails are sent.
Since Jetpack does not use a field from the form within the To or From field, the chances of problems associated with emails are fewer. If the problem occurs, the reason will be you are delivering emails to and from an identical address.
After the form is added, click on the editing icon over it. Next, you will see a dropdown menu. Use it to alter the address to which forms are being sent.
If you wish to alter the address from which forms are sent, you need to modify the admin email address for your site.
Fix Formidable Forms Not Sending Emails:
Formidable Forms plugin supports a free and premium version. If you are facing emails not sending contact forms in this plugin, then official documentation advises adding SMTP to your website.
Have you done it, and still things are not working? Well, it is perhaps because your emails got marked as ‘spoof’ emails. The reason is they are being sent out from an address that is not the exact sending address.
Within the WordPress admin, follow the below path:
Formidable > Forms
Now choose the form you wish to edit. Next, you click on the ‘Settings.’ tab available at the top. ‘Actions & Notifications’ tab is present at the side; click on it. From there, open the ‘Email notification’ meta box.
Now you can change the address from which the notification emails are sent and from. As a default, it uses the admin email address for both and not an email address used from the form.
To modify the address for which the emails are sent, you need to edit the ‘To’ field and manually enter the email address you wish to use.
The changes will be saved in the settings screen as you continue doing. Hence, make sure you confirm that you entered correctly.
If your emails are unable to send via WordPress, such typical problems can be the root causes.
Summary:
Occasionally WordPress cannot send emails, and you may struggle with what the cause is. This problem is one of the most typical WordPress errors. It can be since the emails are reaching spam, or your server is not configured for sending emails, or maybe the settings of your contact form demand changes.
The above guide assists you in evaluating the reason why your WordPress site cannot send emails and lets you fix it. Soon, you must see your emails working correctly.