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September 6, 2023

How to Properly Configure Your WordPress Email Settings

Are you wondering how to configure your WordPress email settings?

The default WordPress email settings are not always reliable and can lead to many sending errors and email delivery problems. This means that you and your customers may not receive emails sent from your WordPress website.

In this article, we will show you how to properly configure your WordPress email settings.

Why Do WordPress Email Settings Not Work Properly?

The default email settings on your WordPress website use the PHP mail () function to send emails about form submissions, account activation, and more.

However, your website may experience email delivery problems if your hosting provider’s mail server is not properly configured. Plus, many popular email services like Gmail can flag these messages as spam.

This means that when an email is sent from your website to your user, it may end up in the spam folder of their email account, or it may never reach their inbox at all.

Luckily, you can get past this problem by properly configuring your WordPress email settings. To do this, you will need to use an SMTP service or plugin.

What Is SMTP, And How Can It Fix Email Settings in WordPress?

SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) is a standard protocol for mail transmission. Unlike the PHP mail () function, SMTP uses proper authentication to send and receive email messages.

By using an SMTP service on your website, you can get high deliverability rates, avoid the spam folder, and make sure that your emails reach the user’s inbox immediately.

To properly configure your WordPress email settings, you will need to use a popular SMTP service provider like SendLayer, Brevo (formerly Sendinblue), or SMTP.com. These service providers are easy to use and allow you to safely send emails from your WordPress site.

Once you have chosen a service provider, you will have to connect your WordPress website to your mail server.

This is where the WP Mail SMTP plugin comes in.

It is the best WordPress SMTP plugin on the market that allows you to send emails via SMTP. It comes with powerful features like email logs, email controls, priority support, and more.

The premium version of the plugin can even integrate with popular SMTP service providers like SendLayer and Brevo and any WordPress hosting company that offers email accounts.

Having said that, let’s see how to properly configure your WordPress email settings.

How to Properly Configure Your WordPress Email Settings

It is super easy to configure your WordPress email settings using the WP Mail SMTP plugin and an SMTP service provider.

For this tutorial, we will be using SendLayer, which is the best SMTP service provider on the market.

Step 1: Create an Account with SendLayer

First, you need to visit the SendLayer website and click the ‘Get Started With SendLayer’ button.

This will take you to the Pricing page, where you can select a plan that suits your needs.

However, if you don’t want to buy SendLayer yet, then you can click on the ‘Try our SendLayer free trial (send up to 200 emails)’ link at the bottom.

Click on the link to start free SendLayer trial

This will take you to the ‘Checkout’ page, where you will have to provide your email account, password, and payment details.

Once your account sign-up has been created, just click the ‘Continue to Dashboard’ button.

Step 2: Add Your Domain For Authorization

Next, you will need to authorize your domain name to allow email servers to recognize you as a verified sender.

This means that the email sent from your account after authorization won’t end up in the spam folder of your users.

To do this, click the ‘Add Domain’ button in the top right corner of the screen.

This will open up a new page on your screen where you need to type your website domain name into the field.

Once you’ve done that, just click the ‘Add Domain’ button.

Add your domain name to connect it with SendLayer

SendLayer will now automatically generate five types of DNS records for your domain.

Now, you have to copy and paste these records into your website’s DNS settings one by one.

To find these DNS settings, you must go to the WordPress hosting account dashboard for your website. The exact location of the DNS settings will depend on your hosting provider, but SendLayer provides some documentation to help you out.

Upon adding all of the DNS records in your hosting dashboard, simply check the ‘I have added these DNS records and am ready to proceed’ box at the bottom of the SendLayer page.

After that, click the ‘Verify DNS Records’ button to continue.

Keep in mind that it can take up to 48 hours for the DNS record changes to take effect.

To check your domain authorization status, head over to your SendLayer dashboard and click the ‘Settings’ tab in the left column.

Once you are on the Settings page, switch to the ‘DNS Records & Settings’ tab from the top.

If your DNS settings have been verified, you will now see a green symbol in the Status column for each type of DNS record.

Step 3: Copy the SendLayer API Key

Now that you have authorized your domain name, it’s time for you to copy the API key for your SendLayer account. This API key will allow you to connect the SMTP service with your WordPress website.

To do this, click on the ‘Settings’ tab in the left column of your SendLayer dashboard. Next, switch to the ‘API Keys’ tab from the top of the page.

Once you are there, click the ‘Show API Key’ link and then copy the key into your clipboard.

Step 4: Set Up the WP Mail SMTP Plugin on Your WordPress Website

Once you have created a SendLayer account and copied the API key, head over to your WordPress website’s dashboard.

Next, you need to install and activate the WP Mail SMTP plugin. For detailed instructions, you may want to see our beginner’s guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Note: Keep in mind that you will need the pro version of the WP Mail SMTP plugin to connect it with your SendLayer account.

Upon activation, you need to head over to the WP Mail SMTP » Settings page from the WordPress admin sidebar.

Once you are there, add the license key for your plugin next to the ‘License Key’ option. You can find this information on your account page on the WP Mail SMTP website.

Type your WP Mail SMTP license key into the field

After that, scroll down to the ‘From Email’ section and add the admin email that you want to use to send emails to your users.

If you want the From Email to be the same across your entire site, then simply check the ‘Force From Email’ box.

After that, type the name that you want to use to send emails next to the ‘From Name’ field.

For example, if you have an online store, then you can use your store’s name in this field. This way, users will immediately know who is sending them a message.

For detailed instructions, you may want to see our tutorial on how to set up WP Mail SMTP with any host.

Add from email and from name into the fields

After that, scroll down to the ‘Mailer’ section and choose the SMTP service that you want to connect with your WordPress site.

For this tutorial, we will be choosing the ‘SendLayer’ option.

Once you do that, a new ‘SendLayer’ tab will open up on the screen.

Here, you have to paste the API key that you copied earlier from the SendLayer dashboard. If you were unable to copy the key before, then you can just click the ‘Get API Key’ link to be directed back to your SendLayer account.

Once you are done, simply click the ‘Save Settings’ button to store your changes.

You have now successfully connected WP Mail SMTP with SendLayer.

Step 5: Send a Test Email

To check if your SMTP service provider and the plugin are working properly, you can easily send a test email.

To do this, switch to the ‘Email Test’ tab from the top of the WP Mail SMTP settings page.

Once you are there, simply add an email account that you have access to in the ‘Send To’ field. After that, go ahead and click the ‘Send Email’ button.

Once the email has been sent, you will see a success message on your screen.

Next, check the inbox for that email address where you will see the test email that you just sent.

WP Mail SMTP and SendLayer will now eliminate your email deliverability problems by making sure that your emails are sent to your users’ inboxes and don’t end up in the spam folder.

Next Steps: How to Grow Your Email List

Now that you have properly configured your WordPress email settings, it’s time for you to start growing your email list.

Building an email list is extremely important as email marketing is a cost-effective way to bring back your customers and increase conversions.

To do this, you can create popups using OptinMonster that will be displayed on your website as targeted email signup forms.

Similarly, you can also build a lead magnet page, create an email newsletter, or offer content upgrades. For more detailed tips, you may want to see our beginner’s guide on tested and easy ways to build your email list.

You can also host giveaway contests using RafflePress which is the best giveaway plugin on the market.

This way, users that are interested will have to sign up on your website to enter the giveaway which will help build your email list. For details, you may want to see our tutorial on how to run a successful giveaway/contest in WordPress.

We hope this article helped you learn how to properly configure your WordPress email settings. You may also want to see our tutorial on how to use a free SMTP server to send WordPress emails and our expert picks for the best email marketing services for small businesses.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post How to Properly Configure Your WordPress Email Settings first appeared on WPBeginner.

January 10, 2022

How to Send a Test Email From WordPress (The Easy Way)

Do you want to test whether your WordPress website is successfully sending email?

WordPress sends emails to you and your site users for many different reasons, from passwords reset emails to purchase receipts. That’s why it’s so important to test whether your website is sending email reliably.

In this article, we’ll show you how to send a test email from WordPress to make sure there are no problems with your email configuration.

Why Test That Your WordPress Email Is Working Reliably?

All too often we hear that users have trouble with WordPress not sending emails. That’s a problem because you rely on email to keep your website running smoothly.

For example, your site sends emails to welcome new users, reset lost passwords, send order forms, and notify you when a new user registers or someone fills in your contact form.

There are a few things that you can do to improve your WordPress email reliability. For example, we recommend you send your email through a reliable SMTP service provider and set up logs of the emails sent by your website so you can monitor their success.

When you first set up your WordPress website or SMTP service, it’s smart to confirm that your website’s email is working correctly by sending a test email.

With that being said, let’s look at how to send a test email from WordPress.

How to Send a Test Email From WordPress

The first thing you need to do is install and activate the WP Mail SMTP plugin. For more details, see our step by step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

After that, you will need to configure the plugin to work with your SMTP mailing service. The WP Mail SMTP wizard will take you through the process step by step, or you can follow our guides on how to set up WP Mail SMTP with Sendinblue, Gmail, Microsoft Outlook, Amazon SES, or your web host.

Configure WP Mail SMTP to Work With Your SMTP Mailing Service

Once you have finished setting up WP Mail SMTP, you can send a test email to make sure it is configured correctly.

To do that, you need to head over to WP Mail SMTP » Tools in your admin menu, where you’ll see the ‘Email Test’ page. By default, the test email will be sent to your site’s admin email address, but you can change this by typing a different email address into the ‘Send To’ field.

We recommend you keep the ‘HTML’ setting in the ‘On’ position, but if you want to send a plain text email, then you can switch it off.

Once you’re happy with the settings, simply click the ‘Send Email’ button, and a test email will be sent to the address you entered.

Viewing the Email Test Results

After WP Mail SMTP attempts to send the test email, it will give you immediate feedback on whether the test was successful or not.

If your WordPress email was set up correctly, then the test email was sent without any problems. You will see a ‘Success!’ notification displayed on the screen.

Now you’ll want to check and see if the test email actually did arrive at the email address it was sent to.

You should find an email like the one below in your inbox. If you do, congratulations! Email is working properly on your WordPress site.

However, if there are problems with your email configuration, then the test email will not be able to be sent at all.

You’ll be shown a message that describes the error or problem, along with some steps you can take to resolve it.

After following the steps to fix the issues, you should send another test email to confirm that your WordPress email is now working.

If the Domain Settings Need to Be Changed

Even if the test email was successful, you may have received a notification listing some issues. That’s because the test checks that your ‘from’ address’s domain is configured correctly in your DNS records.

This can improve the deliverability of your email, so that it doesn’t get blocked or sent to the spam folder.

The notification will list and explain any issues, and provide links to step by step guides that will help you configure your DNS records correctly.

Once you’ve finished fixing the issues, you should send another test email to make sure that everything is working properly now.

If You Need Professional Help

Many beginners find that configuring their WordPress email is tricky. Luckily, if you can’t get WordPress email working on your own, then you can ask an expert to set it up for you.

The good news is that a WP Mail SMTP Elite license includes White Glove Setup. This means that someone from their expert team will configure your email settings for you.

We hope this tutorial helped you learn how to send a test email from WordPress. You may also want to learn how to get a free email domain, or check out our list of must have plugins to grow your site.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post How to Send a Test Email From WordPress (The Easy Way) first appeared on WPBeginner.

September 8, 2020

How to Change Sender Name in Outgoing WordPress Email

Do you want to change the default sender name and email address for outgoing WordPress emails?

By default, WordPress uses ‘WordPress’ as the sender name for all outgoing WordPress notification emails. This doesn’t look very professional, and you may want to change that to your business name.

In this article, we will show you how to easily change the default sender name and email address in outgoing WordPress emails.

Why You Should Change the Default Sender Information in WordPress?

WordPress sends several email notifications to the site administrator as well as other users on your website.

This includes very important email notifications such as forgot password emails, website error and recovery emails, new user registration, and more.

By default, it uses ‘WordPress’ as the sender’s name and a non-existent email address (wordpress@yourdomain.com) as the sender email.

Many spam filters block your WordPress emails believing it to be spam. Sometimes it does not even make it to the spam folder.

For more on this topic, take a look at our guide on how to fix WordPress not sending email issue.

The outgoing email notifications are important, and you should use your own brand and email address. This increases the authenticity of your brand and increases name recognition among your users.

For instance, if you run an online store, then you would want customers to get email notifications with your store name as the sender.

See our guide on how to get a free business email address for your website in 5 minutes.

Having said that, let’s see how to change the default sender name and email address in outgoing WordPress email notifications.

Method 1. Changing Default Sender Name and Email using WP Mail SMTP

This method is easier and recommended for all WordPress users.

For this method, we’ll be using the WP Mail SMTP Pro plugin. It is the best WordPress SMTP plugin on the market, used by over 1 million website owners.

This plugin allows you to easily change the default sender name and email address for outgoing WordPress emails. It also helps you fix the WordPress email deliverability problem.

First thing you need to do is install and activate the WP Mail SMTP Pro plugin. For more details, see our step by step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, you need to visit WP Mail SMTP » Settings to configure plugin settings. Under the Mail section, you can simply enter the email address and the name you want to use to send WordPress emails.

Below that you can find the options to set up an SMTP server to send WordPress emails. By default, the plugin will use PHP method provided by your WordPress hosting company which is less reliable.

We recommend using any of the listed SMTP services to properly send WordPress emails for higher guaranteed deliverability.

If you choose an SMTP service, then follow the on-screen instructions to connect the plugin with your SMTP service provider.

Don’t forget to click on the ‘Save Settings’ button to save your changes.

Test Your WordPress Emails

WP Mail SMTP Pro also allows you to test your WordPress email settings. Simply go to the WP Mail SMTP » Settings page and switch to the ‘Email Test’ tab.

From here, you just need to provide an email address that you can access and then click on the ‘Send Email’ button.

The plugin will now send a test email to the address you provided. You can check your inbox to make sure that you can receive WordPress emails, and it has the correct sender name and sender email address.

WP Mail SMTP works with all popular WordPress plugins like WooCommerce, WPForms, and more.

For more detailed instructions, you may want to see our article on how to use SMTP to send WordPress emails.

Method 2: Changing Default Sender Name and Email using a CB Change Mail Sender

This method is only recommended if you don’t use an SMTP service, or the first method is not working for you.

Using this method does not improve your WordPress email deliverability or make it easier to troubleshoot email issues. However, if your WordPress emails are working, then it will allow you to change sender name and email address.

First thing you need to do is install and activate the CB Change Mail Sender plugin. For more details, see our step by step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, you will notice a new menu item labeled CB Mail Sender in your WordPress admin bar. Clicking on it will take you to plugin’s settings page.

You will need to enter the name and email address you want to be used for outgoing WordPress emails.

Don’t forget to click on the save changes button to store your settings.

That’s all, your WordPress notification emails will now show the name and email address you entered in plugin settings.

There is no method provided by the plugin to test your email settings. You can do that by performing actions that generate WordPress notification emails like creating a new user, requesting a password reset, and more.

Method 3: Manually Change Sender Name and Email Address

This method is not recommended for beginners. This method requires you to paste code into your WordPress files. It also does not fix any email deliverability issues and is harder to troubleshoot.

If you are new to adding code in WordPress, then take a look at our beginners guide on pasting snippets from web into WordPress.

You will need to add the following code in your theme’s functions.php file or a site-specific plugin.


// Function to change email address
function wpb_sender_email( $original_email_address ) {
    return 'tim.smith@example.com';
}

// Function to change sender name
function wpb_sender_name( $original_email_from ) {
	return 'Tim Smith';
}

// Hooking up our functions to WordPress filters 
add_filter( 'wp_mail_from', 'wpb_sender_email' );
add_filter( 'wp_mail_from_name', 'wpb_sender_name' );

This code simply replaces the default WordPress sender name and email address with your custom sender name and email address.

You can test this by adding a new user, changing passwords, or any other action that sends a WordPress notification email.

We hope this article helped you learn how to change the sender’s name and email address in outgoing WordPress emails. You may also want to see our guide on the best bulk email marketing services to bulk send email to all your users, and our comparison of the best WordPress page builder plugins to customize your site without any code.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post How to Change Sender Name in Outgoing WordPress Email appeared first on WPBeginner.

April 21, 2020

How to Fix WordPress Not Sending Email Issue

One of the most commonly asked questions on WPBeginner is how to fix WordPress not sending email problem.

Many of our beginner level users ask us why their contact form plugin is not sending emails, or why they are not seeing any WordPress notifications.

In this article, we will show you 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.

Even if your hosting is configured to use it, many email service providers like Gmail and others use a variety of tools to reduce email spam. These tools try to detect that an email is really coming from the location that it claims to be from.

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, etc), it may not even make it into the recipient’s spam folder let alone inbox.

This is why we recommend not using WordPress to send your email newsletter.

This is also the reason why we 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 proper authentication which leads to high email deliverability.

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

You can use it to connect with any popular SMTP services like SendinBlue, Gmail (G Suite), Office365, Amazon SES, etc.

With that said, let’s take a look at how to fix the WordPress not sending email issue.

Installing the WP Mail SMTP Plugin

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.

First, install and activate the WP Mail SMTP plugin. If you’re not sure how, see our step by step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Next, click on WP Mail SMTP in your WordPress dashboard to configure the plugin settings.

You will need to start by entering the name and business email address you want your site’s emails to come from. Make sure you use the same email address here that you’ll be using for your SMTP mailing service.

You can choose to force emails to use this name and email address, even if other plugins (like WPForms) have different settings. WP Mail SMTP will override the other plugins’ settings.

After that, you need to choose a SMTP mailing service for your site.

For the sake of this tutorial, we’re going to setup SMTP using Sendinblue. If you’d prefer to use Gmail or Office365, then we’ve got instructions on those later in this article as well.

To finish setting up WP Mail SMTP, you’ll need to create an account with Sendinblue. We’ll move on to that next, and then come back to finalizing the setup on WP Mail SMTP.

Sending WordPress Emails using Sendinblue

Sendinblue is a popular email service provider. They let you send a large number of emails with high deliverability.

You can use Sendinblue to send up to 300 emails per day for free which is more than enough for most small websites.

These could be emails from your contact form, new user account details, password recovery emails, or any other emails sent through your WordPress site.

First, you’ll need to go to the Sendinblue website to create an account. Click the ‘Sign up free’ button to set up your account.

Once you’ve created an account, you’ll see your Sendinblue dashboard. If you didn’t complete your profile during the setup stage, you’ll be prompted to do so here.

Next, you’ll need to contact the support team to ask them to verify your account, so you can send emails through Sendinblue.

We recommend contacting the support team at this stage as it can take around 24 hours for them to verify your account. You can move on with the other steps while you’re waiting.

Go to sendinblue.com/contact and write a message that includes:

A request to activate your account
Your site’s URL
A note that you’ll be sending transactional emails. If you also want to use Sendinblue for your email newsletter, then you’ll need to state that you’ll be sending marketing emails too.

You may be asked for further information. If not, you should receive an email from Sendinblue letting you know that your account has been approved.

Once you’ve sent your message to the contact team, you can move on to add your domain name to the site.

Remember, you don’t need to wait for a reply before moving on with the next stage of this tutorial.

Setting Up a Subdomain for Your Website

First, you’ll need to set up a subdomain. This is like a separate section of your site. We suggest using mail1.yourdomain.com.

Note: Your WordPress host may not allow you to use mail as your subdomain, which is why we’ve put the 1 in there too.

To add your subdomain, log in to your web hosting account and find the Domains section of your control panel.

For the sake of this tutorial, we’ll demonstrate how to do that on our example hosting account on Bluehost. After you login, go to Domains » Subdomains.

You can then type in your subdomain and click ‘Create’.

If you’re using other hosting companies or if your DNS is managed at domain registrar like Domain.com or GoDaddy, then follow their respective instructions.

After you have created the subdomain, you will need to add it in your Sendinblue account.

Adding Your Subdomain to Sendinblue

In your Sendinblue account, go to ‘Settings’ then find ‘Your Senders’ and click the ‘Configure’ button:

Next, click on the ‘Domains’ tab and then click the ‘Add a New Domain’ button.

Enter the entire subdomain (e.g. mail1.yoursite.com) and check the box next to “I would like to use this domain name to digitally sign my emails (SPF, DKIM, DMARC)”.

Next, click ‘Save’, and you’ll see a popup with several DNS records listed.

These lines of code let Sendinblue authorize your domain name.

Tip: Don’t worry if you close this popup by accident. You can get back to it by clicking the ‘Authenticate This Domain’ button next to your subdomain:

Open up a new browser tab and log back into your web hosting account. You need to find your domain and open up the DNS records.

In Bluehost, you do this by going to Domains » My Domains then clicking ‘Manage’ next to your domain.

You’ll need to add 3 of TXT records provided by Sendinblue here.

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

Then, 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 if you used something different for your subdomain. Record Type may not be required. TXT Value might also be called TXT data: it’s the first, long piece of code in the Sendinblue details. TTL could be 24 hours or 86400 seconds (both are equivalent to 1 day). If you’re using GoDaddy, set it to 1 hour.

Once you have added the first record, click ‘Save’.

Next, you need to add the second record. Complete it as follows:

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

Once you’re done, click ‘Save’.

After saving that, you need to add the third record. Complete it as follows:

Host Record: mail1
Record Type: TXT
TXT Value: Copy this from Sendinblue. It’s the third piece of code.
TTL: 1 day

Once you’re done, go ahead and save that record too.

Warning: Sendinblue also has a fourth piece of code for a DMARC record. You don’t need this, and we strongly recommend skipping it unless you’re experienced with DMARC configuration.

After you’ve added your records, go back to Sendinblue. For each record, click the button ‘Record Added. Please Verify It.’ It may take 24-48 hours before Sendinblue is able to verify your records, but it’s often much quicker.

If nothing happens when you click that button, the records can’t yet be verified. Check again later and see if they’ve been verified. Once they have, you’ll see the word ‘Configured’ next to the records in green:

You can keep going with this tutorial while you wait for the verification to take place.

Finishing Setting Up WP Mail SMTP to Use Sendinblue

Go back to your WP Mail SMTP settings in your WordPress dashboard. You should have already entered the From Email and From Name, but if not, you can do that now.

Leave the ‘Return Path’ checkbox unchecked as this option isn’t used by Sendinblue.

Next, click on ‘Sendinblue’ for your mailer.

You’ll need go to your Sendinblue account to find your API key. Just click on the link below the ‘API Key’ box and your Sendinblue account dashboard will open up at the right place, in a new tab.

Copy the v3 API key from this page.

Congratulations. You’ve now set everything up. The final step is to send a test email to make sure everything is working.

Go to the ‘Email Test’ tab of WP Mail SMTP and enter an email address to send an email to. This will default to the site’s admin email. Click ‘Send Email’.

You should see the message ‘Test HTML email was sent successfully!’ Check your inbox to see whether it’s arrived. It’ll look like this:

Note: If your Sendinblue account isn’t yet activated, you’ll get the message: [permission_denied]: Unable to send email. Your SMTP account is not yet activated.

Alternative Ways to Fixing WordPress Email Issue

As you can see from the WP Mail SMTP plugin’s list of mailer options, you don’t have to use Sendinblue. While it’s our top free recommendation, there are other options that you can use including Office 365, Gmail / G Suite, Amazon SES, etc.

Using Gmail or G Suite with WP Mail SMTP to Fix WordPress Emails

If you have a Gmail or G Suite account, then you can use that to send your emails. You won’t need to enter your email login details in WordPress when you’re using the WP Mail SMTP plugin.

To use Gmail or G Suite, set up WP Mail SMTP as shown above, and then click the ‘Google’ option for your mailer.

You will need to check the ‘Return Path’ box.

After that you will be asked to enter a ‘Client ID’ and ‘Client Secret’. To get these details, you’ll need to create a web application in your Google account. Don’t worry if that sounds a bit daunting. You can find full instructions in this article on using Gmail to send your WordPress emails.

Note: You can use this process with a regular Gmail account, but your email deliverability will be much better if you are using G Suite. See our guide on how to setup a professional email address with Gmail and G Suite.

There are a couple of key drawbacks to using Gmail or G Suite, however.

One is that you may need to contact your web host to get them to install the right certificate to get it working.

Another is that if you change the email address in the future, you’ll need to go through the entire process again. This will include creating a new web application.

Using Office 365 / Outlook with WP Mail SMTP to Fix WordPress Emails

If you use Microsoft Office 365 or Outlook for your regular email account, then you can also use that to send out emails through WordPress. This isn’t a recommended option, though, because it’s less secure.

You’ll need to set up WP Mail SMTP as above, then click the ‘Other SMTP’ option. This will open up a form to complete. Fill it out using the following settings:

SMTP Host: smtp.office365.com
Encryption: TLS
SMTP Port: 587
Auto TLS: (leave switched on)
Authentication: (leave switched on)
SMTP Username: Your Office 365 account email address
SMTP Password: Your Office 365 account password

A key problem with this method is that it requires storing your password in plain text within WordPress. This isn’t secure and your password will be visible to any other administrators on your account. You can use the instructions in the WP Mail SMTP app to record it in your wp-config.php file instead.

For more details, see the detailed guide on how to setup Outlook with WP Mail SMTP.

Using Amazon SES with WP Mail SMTP to Fix WordPress Emails

Amazon AWS platform has a Simple Email Service (SES) that you can use to fix the WordPress email issue.

The best part about Amazon is that it lets you send up to 62,000 emails every month for free. The downside is that the setup is a bit more challenging for beginners which is why we don’t recommend it as our preferred option.

But as you can imagine, a lot of professionals and experts use Amazon SES for their WordPress email SMTP service, so we couldn’t write an article without mentioning it.

If you’r interested in setting up Amazon SES with WordPress, then see the full instructions on how to setup Amazon SES with WordPress.

Whatever mailer you decide to use, always remember to use the ‘Test Email’ tab to ensure that emails are being successfully sent.

You must make sure to check your inbox too, and confirm that you’ve received the test email.

We hope this article helped you learn how to fix WordPress not sending email issue. You may also want to see our list of the most common WordPress errors and how to fix them.

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