Our “Topics from the Trenches” was empty of content this month. Maybe next time.

A Few Quick Announcements

WordPress 6.0 is scheduled for release May 24.
WordCamp Montclair, NJ is still on for June 25, 2022. It will be the first in-person WordCamp since February 2020. It is being held at Montclair State University.
Our June meeting is on the 3rd Saturday of the month, on June 18. PACS will stay virtual through the remainder of this program year. The 2022-2023 year is still up in the air.
I am still actively soliciting ideas for future meetings.

Topics from the Trenches

Anyone, anyone? Yes, in the back!

Nothing this month.

Topic of the Month (TOTM) – How to Fix WordPress Not Sending Email Issue

How to Fix WordPress Not Sending Email Issue

Common Question in Support

One of the most commonly asked questions in Support is how to fix WordPress not sending email problems. Website Owners ask why their contact form plugin is not sending emails, or why they are not seeing any WordPress notifications.

Let’s look into how to fix the WordPress not sending email issue, so your website can send emails more reliably and bypass the spam folder.

Why You’re Not Getting Emails from Your WordPress Site

The most common reason for emails going missing is that your WordPress hosting server is not properly configured to use the PHP mail() function or your host does not provide email with your hosting plan.

Email service providers (Gmail, Yahoo, AOL) use tools to reduce email spam. The tools try to confirm the actual source address of the email.

From email address = wordpress@mysite.com <- This is a spoofed address.

Emails sent by WordPress websites often fail this test

This means that when an email is sent out from your WordPress site (contact form plugin, admin notification), it may not even make it into the recipient’s spam folder let alone the inbox

I recommend everyone to use SMTP for sending emails in WordPress

What is SMTP?

SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) is the industry standard for sending emails

Unlike the PHP mail() function, SMTP uses authentication for higher email deliverability

WP Mail SMTP

WordPress has a WP Mail SMTP plugin that configures your WordPress site to send emails using SMTP instead of the PHP mail() function.

We discussed it a few months ago when talking about Dashboard tools. Tools to help simplify the WordPress backend

Why Use WP Mail SMTP?

Connect with popular SMTP services
- SendinBlue
- Gmail (Google Workspace)
- Office365
- Amazon SES
Today we will use Sendinblue

Installing the WP Mail SMTP Plugin is an exercise left to the viewer.

Whatever SMTP service you choose, you’ll need to have the WP Mail SMTP plugin installed on your site.

This lets you switch WordPress from using the built-in PHP mail() function to using your SMTP service.

Configure the WP MAIL SMTP Plugin

Click on WP Mail SMTP in your WordPress dashboard to configure the plugin settings

WP SMTP MAIL Plugin Mail Settings

Enter name and email address you want your site’s emails to come from
Use the same email address that you will use for your SMTP mailing service

Entering the name and email address that you want your WordPress emails to come from

More WP SMTP MAIL Plugin Mail Settings

You can choose to force emails to use this name and email address, even if other plugins (like WPForms or Contact Form 7) have different settings.

WP Mail SMTP will override the other plugins’ settings.

Choose a SMTP mailing service for your site

We are going to setup SMTP using Sendinblue
The plugin can accommodate Gmail or Office365, or others

Select Sendinblue as your mailer in WP Mail SMTP

Create Sendinblue Account

Finish setting up WP Mail SMTP by creating an account with Sendinblue
Sendinblue has a good free level starter plan
Left as an exercise for the viewer

Sending WordPress Emails using Sendinblue

Send emails with high deliverability
Use Sendinblue to send up to 300 emails per day for free
eg. Emails from contact form, new user account details, password recovery emails, order confirmation, or any other emails sent through your WordPress site

Sendinblue Dashboard

Once you’ve created an account, you’ll see your Sendinblue dashboard.

One More Step Before Continuing With Sendinblue

Setting Up a Subdomain for Your Website

A subdomain is like a separate section of your site
- eg. mail1.example.com.
Your WordPress host may not allow you to use mail as your subdomain.
- Hence ‘mail1’
Log in to your web hosting account and find the Domains section of your control panel.

Domains and Subdomains? Where?

Not going to demo this today
Log into your host
- Searching for domains or subdomains to set it up
Left as …. 🙂

Adding Your Subdomain to Sendinblue

Go to ‘Settings’ | ‘Your Senders’ and click the ‘Configure’ button:

Configuring your sender settings in Sendinblue

Add Domain To Sendinblue

Click on the ‘Domains’ tab
Click the ‘Add a New Domain’ button

Enter Full Subdomain

Enter the entire subdomain (e.g. mail1.example.com)
Check

“I would like to use this domain name to digitally sign my emails (SPF, DKIM, DMARC)”.

Authenticate The Domain

Click ‘Save’, and you’ll see a popup with several DNS records listed.
Allows Sendinblue to authorize your domain name.

Update DNS Zone At Host

Log back into your web hosting account (use new browser tab)
Find your domain DNS records
Add 3 TXT records provided by Sendinblue.

TXT Records?

Scroll down to find the TXT section of your DNS records.
It will look something like this:

TXT Record Details

Click ‘Add Record’.
Complete the first record as follows:

**Host Record:** `mail._domainkey.mail1`  
**Record Type:** TXT  
**TXT Value:** Copy this from Sendinblue.  
**TTL:** 1 day

Tips: Host Record might be called Host or Name by your web host.
Change ‘mail1’ to match your new subdomain. Record Type may not be required.
TXT Value may show as TXT Data.
TTL could be 24 hours or 86400 seconds. If using GoDaddy set to 1 hour.

Click ‘Save’
Add second TXT record

**Host Record:** `mail1`  
**Record Type:** TXT  
**TXT Value:** `v=spf1 include:spf.sendinblue.com mx ~all`  
**TTL:** 1 day

Save the 2nd record
Add third TXT record and save it

**Host Record:** `mail1`  
**Record Type:** TXT  
**TXT Value:** Copy this from Sendinblue.  
**TTL:** 1 day

Warning: Sendinblue shows 4th piece of code for DMARC record.
You can skip it unless you’re experienced with DMARC configuration.

Return to Sendinblue

Click ‘Record Added. Please Verify It’
It may take 24-48 hours before Sendinblue verifies your records
Usually much quicker
You will see the word ‘Configured’ next to the records in green

Records Verified and Configured

Sendinblue DNS TXT records once they've been verified

Finishing Setting Up WP Mail SMTP to Use Sendinblue

Return to WP Mail SMTP settings
Enter the From Email and From Name, if not already done
Leave the ‘Return Path’ checkbox unchecked
Click on ‘Sendinblue’ for your mailer

Sendinblue API Key

Go to Sendinblue account to find API key
Click link below ‘API Key’ box to open Sendinblue account dashboard

Copy the v3 API key

Congratulations
Everything is set up
Send a test email

Send a Test Email

Visit ‘Email Test’ tab of WP Mail SMTP
Enter an email address to send an email to
Click ‘Send Email’

Test HTML email was sent successfully!

Check your inbox to see whether it’s arrived.

Test Worked

It’ll look like this:

Alternative Ways to Fixing WordPress Email Issue

WP Mail SMTP plugin’s list of mailer options has other services including:
Office 365, Gmail / Google Workspace, Amazon SES

Your Website Now Can Send Email Successfully

Increased email deliverability, not guaranteed
Authenticated email from a known sender

That’s All Folks!

That was about it.

See you next month.

Resources & Links Referenced

Notes & Questions

Alas, I forgot to hit the ‘Record’ button!