# Email controls

Source: https://catalystgroup.gg/docs/email-delivery/email-controls/
Updated: 2026-10-19 · By Duane Garner

Stop five routine WordPress notification emails, such as password-change notices and automatic update reports, from the Email Controls tab.

WordPress sends a handful of automatic notices that many site owners never read. The **Email Controls** tab lets you switch off five of them. This article explains what each switch stops, what it does not stop, and when to leave a notice on. It is for administrators who want fewer routine emails from their site.

 

## Open the tab

 

Go to **CRM-NG SMTP → Settings → Email Controls**. Under the heading **Notification Controls** you will see five rows, each with a **Disable** box.

 

Tick **Disable** next to each notice you want to stop, then press **Save Notification Controls**. Untick a box and save again to turn the notice back on.

 

## The five notices

 

| Row | What WordPress normally sends | Sent to |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Password change confirmation emails | A notice saying "your password was changed" after a user changes their password | The user |
| Email address change confirmation emails | A notice to the old address saying the account's email address was changed | The user's previous address |
| Automatic WordPress core update emails | A report after WordPress updates itself in the background, including failures | The site's administration email |
| Automatic plugin update emails | A report after plugins update themselves automatically | The site's administration email |
| Automatic theme update emails | A report after themes update themselves automatically | The site's administration email |

 

## What these switches do not affect

 

The tab is clear: **These switches affect WordPress core notifications only, not messages created by third-party plugins.**

 

So they do not stop, for example:

 
- password **reset** emails with a link to choose a new password,
- new user registration emails,
- comment notifications,
- WooCommerce, form plugin, booking or membership emails,
- any email another plugin sends with its own wording.

 

To silence a plugin's emails, look in that plugin's own settings. To stop **all** email for a while, for example on a staging site, use **Do Not Send** on the **Misc** tab instead. See [Miscellaneous settings](https://catalystgroup.gg/docs/email-delivery/misc-settings/).

 

## Think before you switch these off

 

> **Security notices protect your users:** The password change and email address change notices are a safety net. If someone takes over an account, the real owner gets a warning and can act. Switch these off only if your site has another way to warn users, such as a security plugin that sends its own notices.

 

The update reports are lower risk, but consider:

 
- **Core update emails also cover failures.** If WordPress fails to update itself, this is how you hear about it. With the switch on, you will need to check **Dashboard → Updates** yourself.
- **Plugin and theme reports tell you what changed.** If a site breaks after an overnight update, the report is often the quickest clue.

 

A good middle ground for many sites: leave the two security notices on, and turn off the update reports if someone checks the site's updates regularly.

 

## When the switches apply

 

The switches work only while CRM-NG SMTP is the plugin sending your site's email. If another mail plugin is still in charge, the notices are sent as normal. See [Switching from another mail plugin](https://catalystgroup.gg/docs/email-delivery/switching-from-another-mail-plugin/).

 

Stopped notices are never created, so they do not appear in the email log, not even as **Blocked**.

 

## Related

 
- [Miscellaneous settings](https://catalystgroup.gg/docs/email-delivery/misc-settings/)
- [Setting up the email log](https://catalystgroup.gg/docs/email-delivery/email-log-setup/)
- [Switching from another mail plugin (hand-over)](https://catalystgroup.gg/docs/email-delivery/switching-from-another-mail-plugin/)
- [Testing for plugin and theme conflicts](https://catalystgroup.gg/docs/email-delivery/plugin-and-theme-conflicts/)