AI Summary
Is Formidable Forms not sending email notifications from your site? If you aren’t getting emails from your forms, you won’t be able to respond to messages from your visitors.
This happens to thousands of WordPress sites daily. Formidable Forms creates the submissions correctly, but WordPress fails to deliver the email notifications.
This guide walks through the exact steps to diagnose and fix Formidable Forms email problems. We’ll check your form settings, test email delivery, and set up SMTP for maximum deliverability.
Fix Your Formidable Forms Emails Now! 🙂
How Do I Fix WordPress Not Sending Email?
WordPress email problems aren’t unique to Formidable Forms. By default, WordPress uses the PHP mail() function, which is unreliable and often gets blocked by email providers or hosting companies.
The solution is the WP Mail SMTP plugin, which bypasses WordPress’s default email system entirely. Instead of relying on your web server to send notifications, WP Mail SMTP routes emails through reliable mailers.
These services include proper email authentication that prevents notifications from being marked as spam or blocked completely. They’re designed specifically for transactional emails like form notifications.
We’ll show you how to set up WP Mail SMTP in the steps below, but first let’s verify your Formidable Forms settings are configured correctly for email delivery.
How to Fix Formidable Forms Not Sending Email
1. Test Your Formidable Contact Form
First, verify that your Formidable Forms contact form is actually working before diving into email settings. Many users assume email problems when the real issue is a broken form submission.
Navigate to the page where your Formidable Forms contact form is published. Fill out all required fields with test information and submit the form. Here’s the default contact form we’ll be using in this post.
When you submit your form, you should see a confirmation message. Depending on your form settings, you might be redirected to another page instead.
Go ahead and send a test entry now to check that the form is working. If you see the success message or are redirected to another page, it’s likely that your form works fine.
On the other hand, if you get error messages or the form doesn’t respond, the problem is with form configuration, not email delivery. Common form issues include:
- Required fields not properly marked
- CAPTCHA or spam protection blocking submissions
- JavaScript conflicts with your theme
- Form validation rules that are too strict
Once you’ve ruled out issues with your form, let’s check that the entries are being saved next.
2. Check Formidable Forms Entries are Saved in WordPress
Now verify that your form submissions are being stored in WordPress. If entries aren’t saving, email notifications can’t be triggered because there’s no data to send.
Go to your WordPress dashboard and click Formidable » Entries. This displays all form submissions from every Formidable form on your website.
Look for your test submission from Step 1. You should see an entry with the information you submitted, including the date and time it was received.
You can also check entries for a specific form by going to Formidable » Forms, clicking the name of your contact form, then selecting Entries at the top of the page.
If you’ve checked one of these screens and you see your test submission, that means the plugin is saving entries properly. You should see the information for each form field in the entry.
Let’s now move on and check that the form notification emails are properly set up.
3. Test Formidable Forms Email Notifications
Now let’s verify your email notification settings are configured correctly in Formidable Forms. All contact form plugins let you create custom notifications so that you get an email when they’re submitted.
To check this, go to Formidable » Forms and click the name of your contact form. Then click Settings at the top, followed by Actions and Notifications in the left sidebar.
Check that you have at least one Email Notification set to On. If all notifications are disabled, no emails will be sent regardless of your WordPress email setup.
Click the small arrow next to the On switch to expand the notification settings and verify these critical configurations:
In the Trigger this action when dropdown, ensure Entry is created is selected. This tells Formidable Forms to send emails immediately when forms are submitted.
In the To field, the [admin_email] placeholder is used to send email to the administrator email you’ve set up in WordPress. If you want, you can change this here.
All you have to do is delete [admin_email] and type in the email address you prefer to use. If you want to send notifications to multiple recipients, make sure each email address is separated with a comma.
You can also use the CC and BCC fields if you want to have additional recipients.
For the From field, I recommend using an email with your domain extension. Be sure to leave the < > brackets in place so that the entry has the format [sitename] <[email protected]>
To avoid seeing “Be careful with this message” warnings on email apps, it is advisable to use different emails for From and To fields. Now save your form and send another test entry.
If you still don’t receive the email, move on to the final section. Remember, it’s possible to use Formidable Forms to send email attachments from WordPress.
Keep in mind that this can sometimes cause emails to fail or bounce. So if you want to cover all bases, try disabling email attachments to see if that helps.
4. Set Up WP Mail SMTP for Formidable Forms
Are you still having issues with Formidable Forms not sending email after checking your settings?
WP Mail SMTP is the best way to fix this for good. Let’s go ahead and set up WP Mail SMTP on your site now.
In the WordPress dashboard, click Formidable » SMTP to get started. Under Install and Activate WP Mail SMTP, click the blue button.
After activating the plugin, the Setup Wizard will open. If you don’t see it, head to WP Mail SMTP » Settings and click the Launch Setup Wizard button.
Next, we’ll choose a mailer service and connect it to your website. Click on the Let’s Get Started button to begin the process.
Need a hand?
Our Elite license includes White Glove Setup for SendLayer, SMTP.com, or Brevo.
On the first page of the Setup Wizard, you’ll see all of the different email providers that are supported in the plugin. At the top, you can see that SendLayer, SMTP.com, and Brevo are the recommended options here.
We recommend these 3 providers because they’re specialized in delivering transactional email. A transactional email is an email that needs to be delivered instantly (like a WooCommerce order notification).
So with these providers, you’ll get great reliability and performance for any type of emails sent from your site. If you don’t want to use an email provider, you can select Other SMTP to use an SMTP server instead.
Once you’ve chosen your provider, click the link below to open up the setup instructions:
| Mailers available in all versions | Mailers in WP Mail SMTP Pro |
|---|---|
| SendLayer | Amazon SES |
| SMTP.com | Microsoft 365 / Outlook.com |
| Brevo | Zoho Mail |
| Google Workspace / Gmail | |
| Mailgun | |
| Postmark | |
| SendGrid | |
| SparkPost | |
| Other SMTP |
If you want to set up multiple mailers, you can do so in the Additional Connections settings once you’ve finished the Setup Wizard.
Then you can select a Backup Connection and configure Smart Routing. Switch back to this guide once you’ve got everything set up.
5. Enable WordPress Email Logging
WP Mail SMTP is more than just an SMTP plugin. It also adds a full suite of WordPress email logging and reporting tools to your WordPress site.
So for the best possible experience, we recommend that you enable email logs now. This will keep track of every email sent from the Formidable Forms plugin.
You can turn on basic logging first. On the next page of the wizard, check the Detailed Email Logs and Weekly Email Summary.
This will log your email headers and other information in Complete Email Reports and generate a weekly deliverability report.
I also recommend turning on Instant Email Alerts so you can be notified if your site fails to send an email. On the screen, enable the advanced email logging options as well.
These features let you:
- Save the full content of emails sent from your website
- Save file attachments, which is handy if you have a file upload field on your form
- Track email opens and clicks
Now you’ve fixed the problem with Formidable Forms not sending email, you should be all set.
But if you have any other issues with failed emails or SMTP errors, don’t forget that you can resend any failed email from the email log.
FAQs on How to Fix Formidable Forms Not Sending Email Notifications
Here are the most common questions about fixing Formidable Forms email notification problems:
Why is Formidable Forms not sending email notifications?
The most common cause is WordPress’s default PHP mail() function, which hosting providers often block or email services mark as spam.
Formidable Forms relies on WordPress email delivery, so when WordPress email fails, form notifications fail too.
Check your form’s email notification settings first, then install WP Mail SMTP to route emails through reliable email services.
How do I fix Formidable Forms email notification not sending?
First, verify your form is saving entries (go to Formidable » Entries and check for your test submission).
Then check Settings » Actions and Notifications to ensure email notifications are enabled and triggered on Entry is created.
If settings are correct, install WP Mail SMTP and configure it with an authenticated email service to fix WordPress email delivery issues.
Where are Formidable Forms email notification settings?
Go to Formidable » Forms, click your form name, then Settings » Actions and Notifications. Ensure at least one Email Notification is set to On and triggered when Entry is created.
Check the To field contains a valid email address and the From field uses your domain email. These settings control whether notifications are sent and where they go.
How do I test if Formidable Forms notifications are working?
Submit a test form entry, then check three things:
- The entry appears in Formidable » Entries.
- Your email notification settings are enabled in the form’s Actions and Notifications.
- You received the notification email (check spam folder too).
If entries save but emails don’t arrive, the issue is email delivery, not form functionality.
Can I use WP Mail SMTP with Formidable Forms?
Yes, WP Mail SMTP works perfectly with Formidable Forms and significantly improves email notification reliability.
WP Mail SMTP handles all WordPress email delivery, including Formidable Forms notifications, by replacing WordPress’s default email system with authenticated email services.
What email providers work best with Formidable Forms?
WP Mail SMTP supports all major email services including SendLayer, Brevo, SMTP.com, Gmail, and Mailgun.
For business websites, dedicated transactional email services like SendLayer or SMTP.com provide better reliability than free options.
How do I prevent Formidable Forms emails from going to spam?
Use WP Mail SMTP with an authenticated email service instead of WordPress default email. Set your “From” email address to use your domain (not Gmail or Yahoo), enable email authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC), and avoid using “noreply” addresses.
Next, Compare Formidable Forms vs WPForms
Are you having difficulty using Formidable Forms? It’s a powerful plugin, but the options might be a little overwhelming for you if you’re not a developer.
If you want an easy form plugin for WordPress, check out WPForms. It’s an affordable alternative to Formidable Forms with an easy drag and drop form builder.
Ready to fix your emails? Get started today with the best WordPress SMTP plugin. If you don’t have the time to fix your emails, you can get full White Glove Setup assistance as an extra purchase, and there’s a 14-day money-back guarantee for all paid plans.
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