If the mails of your form are missing, the cause is usually the mail setup of the website, an address in the form, or a mail that landed in spam. Funnelforms has a section with a test mail and a list of the latest deliveries for this. With it you find the cause in a few minutes. The check is part of Funnelforms Free and Pro.
Requirements
- You have the right to change the settings. Administrators always have it.
- The form is published and has received at least one entry, otherwise there are no deliveries to check.
Where to find it
Funnelforms → Settings → E-mail, section Mails and deliveries.
In addition, the entry itself shows a Sent to section under Funnelforms → Entries, and WordPress offers the checks "Funnelforms deliveries" and "Funnelforms background jobs" under Tools → Site Health.
Features at a glance
- A note on how your website sends mails: through a mail plugin or through the mail function of the server.
- Send a test mail to me: a mail to the address of your user, taking the same way as the mails of your forms.
- On errors, a hint at the cause and the "Message of the mail system".
- A list of the latest 20 deliveries with Time (UTC), Form, Delivery, Status, Attempts and Problem. It holds no recipients and no content of entries.
Step by step
- Open Funnelforms → Entries and check that the entry is stored. If it is there, the problem is the sending, not the form.
- In the entry, open the Sent to section and look at the status of the mail.
- Open Funnelforms → Settings → E-mail and scroll to Mails and deliveries.
- Read the first paragraph. It says whether a mail plugin sends the mails or the server does.
- Click Send a test mail to me.
- Read the message. On success it says the test mail was handed over to the mail system. If it does not arrive within a few minutes, look in the spam folder.
- On an error, read the cause in bold and the "Message of the mail system" below it, and fix it (see the table below).
- In the list of deliveries, look for rows with the status Failed or Skipped and read the Problem column.
- Open the entry again, choose the action under Send again … in Sent to and send it once more (Pro only).
How it works
How does Funnelforms send mails?
Funnelforms hands every mail to WordPress (wp_mail). A mail plugin that takes over sending is used for this. Without a plugin, the website sends with the mail function of the server. Such mails often land in spam or get lost; a mail plugin that sends through the SMTP server of your mail provider is more reliable.
What do the statuses mean?
- Waiting: The delivery is in the queue and has not run yet.
- Trying again: The last attempt failed and Funnelforms tries again. There are three attempts in total.
- Sent: The mail was handed over to the mail system. That does not mean it reached the inbox.
- Skipped: There was nothing to send, for example because the e-mail field was empty.
- Failed: The third attempt failed too, or the address is invalid and is not retried.
What if the status stays "Waiting" for a long time?
Mails, webhooks and CRM transfers run in the background through WP-Cron or Action Scheduler. If they wait for a long time, WP-Cron is probably turned off (DISABLE_WP_CRON) without a server cron job, or the website gets too few visits. Set up a server cron job for wp-cron.php. The Site Health check "Funnelforms background jobs" reports it when jobs wait for more than an hour.
Best Practices
- Send through the SMTP server of your mail provider: either with a mail plugin or under Funnelforms → Settings → E-mail with SMTP server of my mail provider under Send through. The setting in Funnelforms applies only to the mails of Funnelforms.
- Use a sender address of your own domain.
- Send a test mail after every change to the mail setup.
- Check the test "Funnelforms deliveries" under Tools → Site Health regularly. It reports deliveries of the last seven days that failed after all attempts. It does not send you a mail.
Troubleshooting
| Problem | Cause | Solution |
|---|---|---|
| "The SMTP server could not be reached." | Host, port or encryption are wrong, or your host blocks outgoing SMTP connections. | Check the settings in the mail plugin and ask your host whether outgoing SMTP connections are allowed. |
| "The SMTP server refused the user name or password." | Wrong credentials in the mail plugin. | Enter the user name and password in the mail plugin again. |
| "The server cannot send mails with PHP." | The mail function of the server is not available. | Use a mail plugin with the SMTP server of your mail provider. |
| "An address of the mail is not valid." | Recipient or sender in the action is not a valid address. | Check To, Sender address, Reply to, Copy to (CC) and Blind copy to (BCC) in the mail in the After sending tab of the contact step. Funnelforms does not retry this delivery. |
| "The mail server refused the mail." | Often the sender address does not belong to the domain of the server. | Use a sender address of your own domain. |
| "The mail could not be sent." | Another error; mail plugins report their own texts. | Read the "Message of the mail system" under the test mail and the logs of your mail plugin. |
| "The mail has no recipient; the field with the address was empty." | The visitor left the e-mail field empty. | Make the e-mail field required. |
| Test mail arrives, form mails do not | Incomplete action, wrong address in the action, or the mail is in spam. | Check the addresses in the action and the recipient's spam folder. |
| Status stays "Waiting" for a long time | WP-Cron does not run. | Set up a server cron job for wp-cron.php. |
Tips
- The status "Sent" only means WordPress handed the mail over. Whether the receiving server accepts it, you see in the logs of your mail plugin.
- The list only shows forms that run on the new renderer.
- When you contact support, send the diagnostics along (Pro only). It contains the error codes of the deliveries, but no entries and no contact data. See Submit support requests.
- In Funnelforms Free you ask in the support forum of Funnelforms Free on wordpress.org. Name the cause from the test mail and the code from the Problem column there, but no addresses and no entries.
FAQ
Where does the test mail go? To the e-mail address of the WordPress user who is signed in and clicks the button.
Why does it say "Sent" but nothing arrived? Funnelforms can only see that WordPress handed the mail to the mail system. Look in the spam folder and in the logs of your mail plugin.
Does Funnelforms retry failed mails? Yes, up to three times in total. It does not retry invalid addresses. After that, in Pro, you can send the action again from the entry.
Does Funnelforms show the recipients in the list? No. The list shows neither recipients nor the content of entries.