One common problem that users face when they use the WooCommerce plugin is the inability to send email notifications. This is mainly because web-hosts restrict the use of PHP mail function as it is easy to abuse and has been used extensively by spammers. Fortunately, we have the ‘WP Mail SMTP’ Plugin for WordPress sites.
The ‘WP Mail SMTP’ plugin is used to force any ‘FROM Address’ you want. There are two main reasons why this is important:
- It allows you to send emails directly through your mail server as opposed to the webserver.
- It allows you to send emails from a different email host. e.g. Gmail
One popularly used plugin is WP Mail SMTP. As with most other plugins, the ‘WP Mail SMTP’ plugin has to be configured to work. In this article, I will show you how to configure this plugin.
Installation and configuration
There are two ways of installing a plugin in WordPress. You can download it manually then upload it using the WordPress plugin install page or you can just install it directly using WordPress plugin install as described below.
- In the WordPress dashboard, click ‘Plugins > Add New’ in the left pane. Type ‘WP Mail’ on the search bar and click install on the ‘WP Mail SMTP’ plugin.
- If you choose to upload it manually, you can download it from here.
Download the WP Mail SMTP Plugin
3. Click the ‘Install Now’ button and then ‘Activate’. (If you downloaded it manually, just upload it using the ‘upload plugin’ feature). After activation, go to the Plugins page in your WordPress dashboard and click the ‘Settings’ link of the plugin.
4. This will direct You to the ‘WP Mail SMTP’ configuration page.
5. Fill in the following fields:
- From Email – Enter the email you wish to send from
- Force From Email – Check this box
- From Name – Enter the sender’s name
- Force From Name – Check this box if you want the name to be consistent
- Return Path – Check this box
- Mailer – Choose ‘Other SMTP’
6. Scroll down to the ‘Other SMTP’ section. Fill in the following fields.
- SMTP Host – your domain e.g yourdomainname.co.ke
- Encryption – Use TLS
- SMTP PORT – use 587
- Auto TLS – You can leave it as on
- Authentication – Make sure you leave it on
- SMTP Username – Enter your domain’s email account e.g you@yourdomainname.co.ke
- SMTP Password – Enter your email password
Finally, Click ‘Save Settings’, and you are done. Go to the ‘Email Test’ tab at the top of the page and test to see if you are able to send emails.
I hope you found this guide useful. Please share. Check out more tutorials on Lituptech Digital Here.
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