Emails are not arriving

SimpleBoards sent a notification (new idea submitted, item rejected, subscription update, workflow rule fired), but the email never reached the inbox. This page helps you get email delivery working again.

Quick checks

  1. Check the spam or junk folder in the inbox you used.
  2. Go to SimpleBoards > Settings > Notifications and confirm the Notification Email address is correct and that the email type you expect is turned on (for example Email on new submission).
  3. Confirm WordPress can send any email at all by using Tools > Site Health > Info > Server > Send email, or by triggering a password reset for a test user.
  4. If WordPress emails never arrive, install a transactional email plugin such as WP Mail SMTP or FluentSMTP and connect it to a real email service.
  5. If only SimpleBoards emails are missing but other WordPress emails arrive, check that the email template settings have not been emptied.

Walk through

WordPress itself cannot send email

SimpleBoards uses the standard WordPress wp_mail function. If your host has not configured outgoing mail, no plugin can send email, including SimpleBoards.

This is the most common cause. Most shared hosts do not have a working mail server.

  1. Install a transactional email plugin from Plugins > Add New. Good options:
    • WP Mail SMTP
    • FluentSMTP
    • Post SMTP
  2. Sign up for an email service such as Mailgun, SendGrid, Amazon SES, Brevo, or Postmark. Most have free starter plans.
  3. Follow the plugin's setup wizard. It asks for an API key or SMTP details from the email service.
  4. Use the plugin's Send a test email button to confirm delivery.

How to confirm: the test email from your transactional email plugin arrives in the inbox within one minute.

The sending address looks suspicious to mail servers

If the address WordPress sends from does not match your domain, many providers reject the email or route it to spam.

  1. Open your transactional email plugin (WP Mail SMTP, FluentSMTP, or similar).
  2. Set the From Email to an address on your own domain (for example [email protected]).
  3. Set the From Name to your site or product name.
  4. Save and send another test email.

How to confirm: the test email arrives in the main inbox and the "From" field shows your domain, not [email protected].

A SimpleBoards notification is turned off

Each notification type has its own switch. If the switch is off, that specific email is not sent even when the trigger fires.

  1. Go to SimpleBoards > Settings > Notifications.
  2. Confirm the switches you need are on:
    • Email on new submission
    • Email when item rejected
  3. If you use Pro, also check the workflow rule notification switches inside SimpleBoards > Boards > [your board] > Workflow Automations.
  4. Save changes.

How to confirm: trigger the action (submit a test idea, reject a test item, run a workflow rule) and the matching email arrives.

The email template is empty

If you cleared the subject or body of a notification template, the email may be sent with no content or rejected by the mail server.

  1. Go to SimpleBoards > Settings > Notifications.
  2. For each template, confirm both the Subject and Body fields are filled in.
  3. Save changes.

How to confirm: trigger the matching notification and check that the email arrives with a readable subject line and body.

Still stuck

  • Read Set up email notifications for the full email setup.
  • Open Tools > Site Health and look for "Background updates" or "PHP modules" warnings that affect email.
  • Most transactional email plugins keep an Email Log of every message your site tried to send. Check it to see whether SimpleBoards is even calling wp_mail for the missing message.
  • If the problem continues, email [email protected] with the name of your transactional email plugin and a screenshot of its log around the time you expected the message.

Last updated

2026-05-23 · SimpleBoards 1.0.4 and SimpleBoards Pro 1.0.1