A walk-through of the General tab: sender address and name, Return Path, choosing a mailer, saving, and sending a test email.

This article walks you through the one screen you need to get CRM-NG SMTP sending: the General tab. It is for anyone who has just installed the plugin. There is no separate setup wizard: everything happens on this tab.

Before you start

• The plugin is installed and active. See Installing and activating CRM-NG SMTP Email.
• You have chosen a mail service and have its details to hand (an API key, an app password, or SMTP details). See Choosing a mail service.
• You know which address the site should send from. Ideally it is on your own domain, such as hello@yourdomain.com.

Step 1: Set the sender

1. Open the General tab

   Go to CRM-NG SMTP → Settings → General.

2. Enter the From Email

   Type the address your site's emails should come from. If you use a mailbox provider (Gmail, Outlook.com, Zoho and so on), this must be the address of that account or one of its aliases.

3. Decide on Force From Email

   Tick Force From Email if you want every email to use this address, even when another plugin sets its own. Most sites should tick it.

4. Enter the From Name

   This is the name people see in their inbox, such as your business name.

5. Decide on Force From Name

   Tick Force From Name to use this name for every email, whatever other plugins ask for.

6. Turn on Return Path if offered

   Tick Return Path so bounce messages come back to your From Email. If it stays unticked, bounce messages may be lost. This option matters for the Other SMTP mailer.

For a full explanation of each sender option and when forcing makes sense, see Sender name, address and the Force settings.

Step 2: Choose and connect a mailer

1. Pick the mailer

   Under Mailer, click the logo of the service you chose. The fields for that service appear below.

2. Fill in the service's fields

   Each mailer asks for different things: an API Key, a Domain Name, a Region, a Client ID and Client Secret, or SMTP details. Follow the article for your mailer, linked from Choosing a mail service.

3. Save

   Click Save Settings at the bottom of the page. You should see "Settings were successfully saved."

4. Finish any sign-in step

   The Google / Gmail mailer needs one more step after saving: press the authorisation button and sign in with the Google account. Other mailers are ready as soon as you save.

Step 3: Send a test email

1. Open the test page

   Go to CRM-NG SMTP → Tools → Email Test.

2. Enter an address

   In Send To, type a mailbox you can check. A personal address on a different provider (for example a Gmail address when you send from your own domain) gives the most honest result.

3. Send it

   Leave HTML on and click Send Email.

4. Check the result

   You should see "Test email sent successfully! Check your inbox to confirm delivery." Then open the mailbox and confirm the message arrived in the inbox, not spam.

If the test fails, the plugin shows a banner with the error and a link to a help article for it. See Sending a test email for what each result means.

Step 4: Tidy up the details

Once the test works, take a few more minutes for the things that keep mail out of spam and tell you when something breaks:

• Add SPF, DKIM and DMARC records for your domain: Adding DNS records.
• Turn on failure alerts so you hear about problems quickly: Email failure alerts.
• Check the email log is on so you can see what was sent: Setting up the email log.

If another mail plugin is already sending

If CRM-NG SMTP showed a standby notice when you activated it, it is not sending yet, even after you save. Send a successful test, then press Make CRM-NG SMTP send my email. See Switching from another mail plugin (hand-over).

Related

• Choosing a mail service
• Sender name, address and the Force settings
• Sending a test email
• Securing settings with wp-config constants