When a form submits but an email notification does not arrive, first separate a form-processing problem from a mail-delivery problem. The form’s email action can be configured incorrectly, a recipient may fail validation, or WordPress/SMTP may be unable to deliver the message.
1. Confirm the email action is enabled and configured
- Edit the form and review its submission actions. Confirm the intended Send Admin Email or Send User Email action is selected and its settings are saved.
- For an admin notification, confirm the destination address is valid. If the recipient is left blank, the admin action falls back to the WordPress Administration Email Address.
- For a user confirmation, confirm the form has a field containing the visitor’s email address and that the action’s recipient setting references the correct field.
- Use one valid recipient address while troubleshooting. Although the settings description mentions comma-separated recipients, the current email action validates the destination as a single email address, so multiple comma-separated recipients may fail.
2. Check the email content and placeholders
The default subject includes [Form Name], but the current implementation does not replace that token in the subject. If it appears literally, set a plain subject while troubleshooting. The message body supports {all_fields} and field placeholders such as {email}; use the actual field ID from your form.
3. Test SMTP delivery
Follow Configure Form Email Notifications to review the action settings, then follow Configure SMTP Delivery to check the mailer configuration. If the settings screen provides a test-email option, send a test to an address you control. A failed test is evidence to investigate the mailer path, but a successful test does not prove that every form action has the correct recipient or content.
4. Read the error details
- Open Smart Forms → Error Log and check for a relevant submission error, if one was recorded.
- If the SMTP test displays only a generic failure, ask your site administrator to inspect the PHP error log. The test-email REST endpoint logs detailed mailer errors there.
- Check the receiving mailbox’s spam/junk folder and ask your mail provider whether the message was rejected or deferred.
- Retest with one valid address and a simple subject/body. Change one setting at a time.
If mail still does not arrive
Record whether the form entry was saved, whether the email action reports an error, whether the SMTP test succeeded, and the time of the test. Share only the safe error message with your administrator; never send SMTP passwords, API secrets, private submission contents, or authentication headers.
Screenshot to add: [Smart Form Builder email notification action settings]