Invouq logo

How to Fix the “WordPress Not Sending Emails” Issue (Step-by-Step)

Invouq 'IQ' logo device
Fix WordPress email sending issues with Post SMTP to ensure reliable email delivery. FREE video.
WordPress not sending emails issue can be very frustrating. Image of a man with his hand to his forhead, massaging a headache.

You’re not alone if you’re experiencing issues with WordPress not sending emails. Many WordPress users encounter this problem, especially when using contact forms or sending order confirmations. The frustrating part? No error messages, no log files—just silence.

In this guide, I’ll show you how to troubleshoot and fix the problem using Post SMTP to connect WordPress with Gmail. You’ll be able to reliably send emails that land in inboxes, not spam folders.

We’ll walk through:

Full Video

Why We Have a “WordPress Not Sending Emails” Issue

Out of the box, WordPress isn’t configured to send emails effectively. It tries to use PHP’s mail() function, which isn’t reliable for transactional emails.

Here’s why:

  • No Authentication: Emails sent via PHP mail lack the necessary authentication, which causes them to be flagged as spam.
  • Poor Deliverability: Many hosting providers block outgoing email by default to prevent spam.
  • No Error Messages: You won’t get an error notification when an email fails, making troubleshooting difficult.

Solution: Use an SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) plugin like Post SMTP to authenticate and send your emails through a secure provider like Gmail.

Why Post SMTP is the Best Solution

Post SMTP is a reliable and feature-rich plugin that ensures your emails get delivered. It supports multiple SMTP services, but we’ll focus on connecting it to Gmail because:

  • Gmail Improves Deliverability: Google’s servers are less likely to be flagged as spam.
  • Free to Use: Emails sent via Gmail API are free at low to moderate volumes, making them perfect for small businesses and consultants.
  • Works with Popular Plugins: Post SMTP integrates seamlessly with Contact Form 7, Elementor, Gravity Forms, WPForms, and more.
Pro Tip: If you prefer a more professional sender email (like orders@yourdomain.com), consider using services like SendGrid, Mailgun, or Amazon SES.

Step 1: Installing Post SMTP

First, we’ll install and activate the Post SMTP plugin.

  1. Go to your WordPress Dashboard.
  2. Click Plugins > Add New.
  3. Search for Post SMTP.
  4. Install and activate the plugin by Saad Iqbal.
WordPress add plugin screen showing Post SMTP - WP SMTP Plugin eith Email Logs

Step 2: Setting Up Gmail API

We need to set up the Gmail API to send emails using Gmail.

1. Create a New Project in Google Cloud Console

  • Visit Google Cloud Console.
  • Click Create Project and name it something like Post SMTP.
  • Click Create and wait for the project to initialize.
Google Cloud Console create a new project screen

2. Enable Gmail API

  • Go to APIs & Services > Enable APIs & Services.
  • Search for Gmail API and click Enable.
Google Cloud Console screen showing that the Gmail API is enabled.

3. Set Up OAuth Consent Screen

  • Navigate to OAuth Consent Screen.
  • Choose External as the user type.
  • Add your email as the support contact and save.

4. Create OAuth Credentials

  • Go to Credentials and click Create Credentials > OAuth Client ID.
  • Select Web Application.
  • Add your Authorized JavaScript Origins and Redirect URIs provided by Post SMTP.
  • Click Create and copy your Client ID and Client Secret.
Google Cloud Console screen showing oauth client information

Step 3: Connecting Post SMTP to Gmail

Once we have the Gmail API credentials, it’s time to connect them to WordPress.

  1. Go to Post SMTP > Setup Wizard.
  2. Select Gmail API as your mailer.
  3. Enter your Client ID and Client Secret.
  4. Authorize your site to send emails using your Gmail account.
PostSMTP Oauth client credentials

Success Message: After authorizing, you should see a green success message:
“OAuth 2.0 authorization was successful.”

Step 4: Sending a Test Email

To confirm that everything works properly, send a test email.

  1. In the Post SMTP settings, go to the Test Email section.
  2. Enter an email address and click Send.
  3. Check your inbox to verify that the test email arrived.
Post SMTP successful test email

Common Issues and Troubleshooting

If you encounter problems after setup, check these common issues:

1. Email Not Arriving?

  • Check your Spam Folder.
  • Wait a few minutes and try again.
  • Ensure the OAuth consent screen is correctly configured.

2. Invalid Credentials Error

  • Double-check your Client ID and Client Secret.
  • Make sure the redirect URI matches exactly.

3. Authentication Error

  • Relaunch the setup wizard from the Post SMTP dashboard and reauthorize the connection to your Gmail API.
The Post SMTP 'Connect to Gmail API' button. Click to authorize your connection to Google.

Alternatives to Gmail for Email Sending

If Gmail isn’t the right fit for your website or if you need a more professional sender address, consider these alternatives:

  • SendGrid: High email deliverability with API access.
  • Mailgun: Ideal for developers needing detailed email analytics.
  • Amazon SES: Low-cost, scalable email sending.

Final Thoughts

You’ve successfully fixed the “WordPress not sending emails” problem by setting up Post SMTP with Gmail. Whether you’re using Contact Form 7, Elementor, or WooCommerce, your WordPress site is now equipped to send emails reliably.

Thanks for following along!

Please Share:

Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
LinkedIn

Related Articles

An ACF frontend form in WordPress shown on a laptop screen.
WordPress

How to Add ACF Frontend Form in WordPress (With Free Code)

Want to let clients or contributors add posts without touching the confusing WordPress dashboard? Learn how to add an ACF frontend form in WordPress using simple shortcodes.. This step-by-step guide with free code shows you how to create clean, user-friendly submission forms that work with any page builder.

Read More »

Privacy Policy

Welcome to our Privacy Policy, it was last updated on September 21, 2021.

We are Endolyne Technology Services LLC, d.b.a Invouq. Our website address is https://www.invouq.com.

You can reach us by email at hello@www.invouq.com and via postal mail at:
P.O. Box 47172
Seattle, WA 98146

It is our policy to respect your privacy regarding any information we may collect while operating our website. This Privacy Policy applies to https://www.invouq.com (hereinafter, “us”, “we”, or “https://www.invouq.com”). We respect your privacy and are committed to protecting personally identifiable information you may provide us through the Website. We have adopted this privacy policy (“Privacy Policy”) to explain what information may be collected on our Website, how we use this information, and under what circumstances we may disclose the information to third parties. This Privacy Policy applies only to information we collect through the Website and does not apply to our collection of information from other sources.

This Privacy Policy, together with the Terms of service posted on our Website, set forth the general rules and policies governing your use of our Website. Depending on your activities when visiting our Website, you may be required to agree to additional terms of service.

Website Visitors

Like most website operators, we collect non-personally-identifying information of the sort that web browsers and servers typically make available, such as the browser type, language preference, referring site, and the date and time of each visitor request. Our purpose in collecting non-personally identifying information is to better understand how our visitors use our website. From time to time, we may release non-personally-identifying information in the aggregate, e.g., by publishing a report on trends in the usage of our Website.

We also collect potentially personally-identifying information like Internet Protocol (IP) addresses for visitors making a purchase, taking a course, opting-in to receive emails, leaving a message, creating an account, and for users leaving comments on https://www.invouq.com blog posts. We only disclose IP addresses under the same circumstances that we use and disclose Personal Data as described below.

Gathering of Personally-Identifying Information (Personal Data)

Certain visitors to our websites choose to interact with us in ways that require us to gather Personal Data. The amount and type of information that we gather depend on the nature of the interaction. For example, we ask visitors to provide their name and email address or process a sale or in exchange for valuable information and resources. We may ask for address information if we need to deliver a physical product to you. You may also voluntarily provide information such as your address in your account area should you choose to do so. Personal Data may include, but is not limited to: Email address, Name, Address, State, Province, ZIP/Postal code, City, Cookies, and Usage Data.

For users that register on our website (if any), we also store the personal information they provide in their user profile. All registered users can see, edit, or delete their personal information at any time (except they cannot change their username). Website administrators can also see and edit that information.

Children’s Privacy

Our Service does not address anyone under the age of 18 (“Children”). We do not knowingly collect Personal Data from anyone under the age of 18. If you are a parent or guardian and you are aware that your Children has provided us with Personal Data, please contact us. If we become aware that we have collected Personal Data from children without verification of parental consent, we take steps to remove that information from our servers.

Legal Basis for Processing Personal Data Under General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

If you are from the European Economic Area (EEA), our legal basis for collecting and using the Personal Data described in this Privacy Policy depends on the data we collect and the specific context in which we collect it.

We may process your Personal Data because:

  • We need to perform a contract with you
  • You have given us permission to do so
  • The processing is in our legitimate interests and it’s not overridden by your rights
  • For payment processing purposes
  • To comply with the law

Your Data Protection Rights Under General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

If you are a resident of the European Economic Area (EEA), you have certain data protection rights. We aim to take reasonable steps to allow you to correct, amend, delete, or limit the use of your Personal Data. If you wish to be informed of what Personal Data we hold about you and if you want it to be removed from our systems, please contact us.

In certain circumstances, you have the following data protection rights:

  • The right to access, update or to delete the information we have on you.
  • The right of rectification. You have the right to have your information rectified if that information is inaccurate or incomplete.
  • The right to object. You have the right to object to our processing of your Personal Data.
  • The right of restriction. You have the right to request that we restrict the processing of your personal information.
  • The right to data portability. You have the right to be provided with a copy of your Personal Data in a structured, machine-readable and commonly used format.
  • The right to withdraw consent. You also have the right to withdraw your consent at any time where we relied on your consent to process your personal information.

Please note that we may ask you to verify your identity before responding to such requests.

You have the right to complain to a Data Protection Authority about our collection and use of your Personal Data. For more information, please contact your local data protection authority in the European Economic Area (EEA).

“Do Not Sell My Personal Information” Notice for California consumers under California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA)

Under the CCPA, California consumers have the right to:

  • Request that a business that collects a consumer’s personal data disclose the categories and specific pieces of personal data that a business has collected about consumers.
  • Request that a business deletes any personal data about the consumer that a business has collected.
  • Request that a business that sells a consumer’s personal data, not sell the consumer’s personal data.

If you make a request, we have 30 days to respond to you. If you would like to exercise any of these rights, please contact us.

Analytics

We use Google Analytics to monitor and analyze the use of our Service. Google Analytics is a web analytics service offered by Google that tracks and reports website traffic. Google uses the data collected to track and monitor the use of our Service. This data is shared with other Google services. Google may use the collected data to contextualize and personalize the ads of its own advertising network.

You can opt-out of having made your activity on the Service available to Google Analytics by installing the Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on. The add-on prevents the Google Analytics JavaScript (ga.js, analytics.js, and dc.js) from sharing information with Google Analytics about visits activity. For more information on the privacy practices of Google, please visit the Google Privacy & Terms web page: https://policies.google.com/privacy

We use the Universal Analytics version of Google Analytics and IP addresses are automatically anonymized under our configuration. Your IP address will be shortened by Google within the European Union or other parties to the Agreement on the European Economic Area prior to transmission to the United States. Only in exceptional cases is the full IP address sent to a Google server in the US and shortened there. Google will use this information on our behalf to evaluate your use of the website, to compile reports on website activity, and to provide other services regarding website activity and Internet usage for us. The IP address transmitted by your browser as part of Google Analytics will not be merged with any other data held by Google.

We use Google Analytics’ enhanced reporting feature. This feature measures page views, scrolls, outbound clicks, site search, video engagement, and file downloads. This collected data cannot be attributed to any specific individual person.

Google Analytics will collect visitation information and associate it with Google information from accounts of signed-in users who have consented to this association for the purpose of ads personalization. This Google information may include end user location, search history, YouTube history, and data from sites that partner with Google—and is used to provide aggregated and anonymized insights into our users’ cross device behaviors.  You can control and edit the data Google captures about your activity here.

We use Google Analytics’ demographic features. This allows reports to be generated containing statements about the age, gender, and interests of site visitors. This data comes from interest-based advertising from Google and third-party visitor data. This collected data cannot be attributed to any specific individual person. You can disable this feature at any time by adjusting the ads settings in your Google account or you can forbid the collection of your data by Google Analytics as described above.

Google reCAPTCHA

We use “Google reCAPTCHA” (hereinafter “reCAPTCHA”) on our website. This service is provided by Google Inc., 1600 Amphitheater Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA (“Google”). reCAPTCHA is used to check whether the data entered on our website (such as on a contact form) has been entered by a human or by an automated program. To do this, reCAPTCHA analyzes the behavior of the website visitor based on various characteristics. This analysis starts automatically as soon as the website visitor enters the website. For the analysis, reCAPTCHA evaluates various information (e.g. IP address, how long the visitor has been on the website, or mouse movements made by the user). The data collected during the analysis will be forwarded to Google. The reCAPTCHA analyses take place completely in the background. Website visitors are not advised that such an analysis is taking place. We have a legitimate interest in protecting our site from abusive automated crawling and spam. For more information about Google reCAPTCHA and Google’s privacy policy, please visit the following links: https://policies.google.com/privacy and https://www.google.com/recaptcha/intro/v3.html.

Google Web Fonts

For a uniform representation of fonts, this page uses web fonts provided by Google. When you open a page, your browser loads the required web fonts into your browser cache to display texts and fonts correctly. For this purpose, your browser has to establish a direct connection to Google servers. Google thus becomes aware that our web page was accessed via your IP address. The use of Google Web fonts is done in the interest of a uniform and attractive presentation of our website. If your browser does not support web fonts, a standard font is used by your computer. Further information about handling user data, can be found at https://developers.google.com/fonts/faq and in Google’s privacy policy at https://www.google.com/policies/privacy/.

Payments

We provide paid products and/or services and we use third-party services for payment processing (e.g. payment processors). We will not store or collect your payment card details. That information is provided directly to our third-party payment processors whose use of your personal information is governed by their Privacy Policy. These payment processors adhere to the standards set by PCI-DSS as managed by the PCI Security Standards Council, which is a joint effort of brands like Visa, Mastercard, American Express, and Discover. PCI-DSS requirements help ensure the secure handling of payment information. The payment processors we work with are:

Security

The security of your personal information is important to us, but remember that no method of transmission over the Internet, or method of electronic storage is 100% secure. While we strive to use commercially acceptable means to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee its absolute security.

Links To External Sites

Our Service may contain links to external sites that are not operated by us. If you click on a third party link, you will be directed to that third party’s site. We strongly advise you to review the Privacy Policy and Terms of Service of every site you visit.

We have no control over, and assume no responsibility for the content, privacy policies or practices of any third party sites, products or services.

Embedded Content From Other Websites

Pages on this site may include embedded content (e.g. videos, images, articles, etc.). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if the visitor has visited the other website.

These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content, including tracking your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website.

We Use Google AdWords, Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest for Remarketing

We use the remarketing services, and related technologies such as cookies, pixels and web beacons, to advertise on third party websites (including Google, Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest) to advertise to previous visitors to our site. It could mean that we advertise to previous visitors who haven’t completed a task on our site, for example using the contact form to make an inquiry. This could be in the form of an advertisement on the Google search results page, on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest, or a site in the Google Display Network or Facebook Ad Network. Third-party vendors, including Google, Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest use cookies to serve ads based on someone’s past visits. Of course, any data collected will be used in accordance with our own privacy policy and the privacy policies of Google, Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest.

You have options to opt-out and set preferences for advertising cookies on this and all websites:

Protection of Certain Personal Data Information

We disclose potentially personally-identifying data and Personal Data only to those of our employees, contractors and affiliated organizations that (i) need to know that information in order to process it on our behalf or to provide services available at our website, and (ii) that have agreed not to disclose it to others. Some of those employees, contractors, and affiliated organizations may be located outside of your home country; by using our website, you consent to the transfer of such information to them. We will not rent or sell potentially personally-identifying data and Personal Data to anyone. Other than to our employees, contractors, and affiliated organizations, as described above, we disclose potentially personally-identifying data and Personal Data only in response to a subpoena, court order or other governmental (e.g. a court, a government agency or a law enforcement agency) request, or when we believe in good faith that disclosure is reasonably necessary to protect the property or rights of us, third parties or the public at large.

Marketing Emails

If you have provided us your email address, we may occasionally send you an email to tell you about new features, solicit your feedback, or just keep you up to date with what’s going on with us and to tell you about our products and services (Marketing Emails). You can unsubscribe from Marketing Emails at any time by using the unsubscribe link included at the bottom of each email message or by contacting us. Data we have stored for other purposes (e.g. email addresses for your account and/or courses) remain unaffected. Your personally-identifying data and Personal Data is shared with MailerLite for this purpose. MailerLite’s privacy policy is located here. https://www.mailerlite.com/legal/privacy-policy

Affiliate Disclosure

This site uses affiliate links and does earn a commission from certain links. This does not affect your purchases or the price you may pay.

Cookies

To enrich and perfect your online experience, we use “Cookies”, similar technologies and services provided by others to display personalized content, appropriate advertising, to allow our courses, web store and shopping cart to work, and store your preferences on your computer.

A cookie is a string of information that a website stores on a visitor’s computer, and that the visitor’s browser provides to the website each time the visitor returns. We use cookies to help us identify and track visitors, their usage of https://www.invouq.com, and their website access preferences. Any visitors who do not wish to have cookies placed on their computers should set their browsers to refuse cookies before using our websites, with the drawback that certain features of our websites may not function properly without the aid of cookies.

By continuing to navigate our website without changing your cookie settings, you hereby acknowledge and agree to our use of cookies.

E-commerce

Those who engage in transactions with us – by purchasing our services or products, are asked to provide additional information, including as necessary the personal and financial information required to process those transactions. In each case, we collect such information only insofar as is necessary or appropriate to fulfill the purpose of the visitor’s interaction with us. We do not disclose personally-identifying information other than as described below. And visitors can always refuse to supply personally-identifying information, with the caveat that it may prevent them from engaging in certain website-related activities.

Business Transfers

If we or substantially all of our assets are acquired, or in the unlikely event that we go out of business or enter bankruptcy, user information would be one of the assets that are transferred to or acquired by a third party. You acknowledge that such transfers may occur and that any acquirer may continue to use your personal information as set forth in this policy.

Privacy Policy Changes

We may change this Privacy Policy from time to time, and in our sole discretion. We encourage visitors to frequently check this page for any changes to our Privacy Policy. Your continued use of this site after any change in this Privacy Policy will constitute your acceptance of such change.

Close