# Sender name, address and the Force settings

Source: https://catalystgroup.gg/docs/email-delivery/sender-name-and-address/
Updated: 2026-10-19 · By Duane Garner

What From Email, From Name, Force From Email, Force From Name and Return Path do, and when you should force them.

Every email your site sends carries a sender address and a sender name. This article explains the five sender settings on the **General** tab and helps you decide when to force them. It is for anyone setting up CRM-NG SMTP or wondering why some emails show a different sender.

 

You find all five at **CRM-NG SMTP → Settings → General**, at the top of the page.

 

## From Email

 

**From Email** is the address your emails are sent from. It is what people reply to unless a message sets its own reply address.

 

Choose it carefully:

 
- Use an address on **your own domain**, such as `info@yourdomain.com`. Receivers check that your mail service is allowed to send for that domain. An address on a domain you do not control (for example a free webmail address while sending through SendGrid) fails those checks and lands in spam.
- If you send through a **mailbox provider** (Gmail, Microsoft 365, Zoho Mail, Outlook.com and so on), the From Email must be that account's address, or an alias the account is allowed to use.
- If your mail service asks you to verify senders or domains, the From Email must be one it has verified.

 

Other plugins (form builders, shops, membership plugins) can set their own sender address on the emails they create. By default those choices win. That is what the next setting is for.

 

## Force From Email

 

When **Force From Email** is ticked, the **From Email** above is used for **every** email, and addresses set by other plugins are ignored.

 

Tick it when:

 
- Your mail service only accepts verified senders. A form plugin that uses the visitor's address as the sender would otherwise be rejected.
- You want one consistent, authenticated sender for the whole site.

 

Leave it unticked when:

 
- You deliberately send from several addresses, each verified with your mail service, and you set them in each plugin.

 

Some mailers decide this for you. With **Google / Gmail**, the plugin always uses the address of the Google account you connected (or an alias you registered with Google), and you see *"Current provider will automatically force From Email to be the email address that you use to set up the OAuth connection below."* With **Zoho Mail**, the sender is always the mailbox address or one of its aliases. With **365 / Outlook**, the From Email must be a mailbox in your Microsoft 365 tenant.

 

For a closer look at forcing, see [Using Force From Email](https://catalystgroup.gg/docs/email-delivery/force-from-email/).

 

## From Name

 

**From Name** is the name that appears next to your address in the inbox, for example "Acme Bakery". Keep it short and recognisable. People decide whether to open or report an email based on this name.

 

## Force From Name

 

When **Force From Name** is ticked, the **From Name** above is used for every email, ignoring names set by other plugins. Tick it if you want the same name on every message. Leave it unticked if, for example, your shop plugin should send as "Acme Orders" while your forms send as "Acme Bakery".

 

With **Google / Gmail**, this option is not available: Google sends with the name on the Google account, and the plugin shows *"Current provider doesn't support setting and forcing From Name."*

 

## Return Path

 

**Return Path** decides where bounce messages go: the automatic "could not deliver" replies from receiving servers. When ticked, bounces go back to your **From Email**, so you learn about addresses that no longer work. If unticked, bounce messages may be lost.

 

This setting is used by the **Other SMTP** mailer. API-based services handle bounces on their own side and report them in their dashboards, or to the plugin through [Delivery and bounce webhooks](https://catalystgroup.gg/docs/email-delivery/delivery-webhooks/).

 

## A sensible default

 

For most sites:

 

| Setting | Value |
| --- | --- |
| From Email | An address on your own domain, verified with your mail service |
| Force From Email | Ticked |
| From Name | Your business or site name |
| Force From Name | Ticked, unless plugins need their own names |
| Return Path | Ticked (Other SMTP only) |

 

Click **Save Settings**, then send a test from **CRM-NG SMTP → Tools → Email Test** to check the result.

 

## Fixing these in wp-config.php

 

If you want to lock the sender so nobody can change it from the admin screens, set it with constants such as `CRMNG_SMTP_MAIL_FROM` and `CRMNG_SMTP_MAIL_FROM_FORCE` in `wp-config.php`. See [Securing settings with wp-config constants](https://catalystgroup.gg/docs/email-delivery/secure-settings-constants/).

 

## Related

 
- [Using Force From Email](https://catalystgroup.gg/docs/email-delivery/force-from-email/)
- [Setting up CRM-NG SMTP in five minutes](https://catalystgroup.gg/docs/email-delivery/first-setup/)
- [Adding DNS records: SPF, DKIM and DMARC](https://catalystgroup.gg/docs/email-delivery/dns-records/)
- [Error: 553 Sender address rejected](https://catalystgroup.gg/docs/email-delivery/error-553-sender-address-rejected/)