Configure and troubleshoot email notifications

Know how Drecha Forms sends email

Drecha Forms uses WordPress wp_mail(). It works with SMTP and transactional mail plugins that integrate with WordPress; it does not run its own SMTP server.

Eligible messages are placed in a durable local queue after the entry has been stored. WordPress cron processes that queue in the background. A low-traffic website should use the host's real scheduler to call WordPress cron reliably.

A successful wp_mail() result means that WordPress accepted the message for transport. It does not prove that the recipient's inbox accepted or displayed it.

Configure administrator notifications

1. Open Drecha Forms > Forms and edit the form.
2. Open the form settings panel.
3. Expand Notifications.
4. Add or enable an administrator notification.
5. Enter a recognizable internal Name.
6. Enter one or more valid Recipients. Separate addresses with commas, semicolons, or spaces; one notification accepts up to 20 recipients.
7. Write the Subject and Body.
8. Choose HTML or Plain text.
9. Optionally enter a Reply-To address or a placeholder that resolves to an email field.
10. Select Save.

You can create up to 10 administrator notification configurations per form.

Insert field placeholders

Use double braces around a field key, for example {{email}}, {{message}}, or {{name}}. Copy the exact Key from the selected field settings, not its visible label.

Built-in placeholders are:

• {{form_title}}
• {{entry_uuid}}
• {{submitted_at}}

Multiple selected values are joined with commas. HTML message values are escaped before insertion. An unknown placeholder becomes empty rather than executing code.

A useful administrator subject is New {{form_title}} response — {{entry_uuid}}. Set Reply-To to a submitted email field only when that field always contains a valid respondent address.

Configure a respondent confirmation

1. Add an Email field to the form and note its field key.
2. Expand Respondent confirmation in the form settings.
3. Enable the confirmation.
4. Choose the Email field that will receive the message.
5. Write the Subject and Body.
6. Choose HTML or Plain text.
7. Optionally set a valid Reply-To address.
8. Save the form and submit a realistic test.

Do not request a password merely to include it in an email. Password values are not retained in entry data and should never be sent as plaintext.

Send a test email

The builder's Send test email action uses the first recipient in the first administrator notification. Save a valid recipient before testing.

1. Select Send test email.
2. Wait for the status message.
3. Check the intended inbox and spam folder.
4. If WordPress rejects the message, review the displayed error and the website mail configuration.

The test sends immediately and verifies the current WordPress mail path. It does not test conditional rules or guarantee final inbox delivery.

Inspect delivery attempts and retry failures

1. Open Drecha Forms > Entries.
2. Open the relevant entry.
3. Find Email attempts.
4. Review the recipient, timestamp, queued, accepted, or failed status, and any error message.
5. When the associated job is Failed, select Retry after correcting the mail configuration.

Queued email jobs use bounded retries rather than retrying forever. Correct the underlying SMTP, DNS, credential, or hosting problem before manually retrying a failed job.

Free and Pro differences

Multiple administrator notifications, respondent confirmations, placeholders, Reply-To, HTML and plain-text bodies, test email, queueing, delivery logs, bounded retries, and SMTP-plugin compatibility are included in Free.

Drecha Forms Pro adds conditional notification routing. When Pro is active, a notification or respondent confirmation can send only when its configured field conditions match. Saved conditional rules remain in the form if Pro is disabled, but condition-dependent messages pause until Pro access is restored. Ordinary notifications without a condition continue in Free. Advanced email-template products are not part of the current plugin.

Troubleshoot email

The test says WordPress accepted the email, but it never arrived

Check spam, then configure a reputable WordPress SMTP or transactional mail plugin with an authenticated sender. Verify the From domain's SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records with the email provider. Acceptance by wp_mail() is not a delivery receipt.

Notifications remain queued

Open Tools > Site Health and investigate loopback or scheduled-event errors. On low-traffic sites, configure a real server cron to trigger WordPress cron. Do not delete the stored entry; queued mail is independent from the response.

Reply-To is missing

Confirm that the setting is a valid email address or resolves from an Email field placeholder. Empty or invalid resolved values are removed for safety.

A condition-dependent notification stopped after Pro was disabled

Restore valid Pro access or remove the condition and save it as an ordinary notification. Drecha Forms preserves the rule rather than silently changing its meaning during a downgrade.