How to Set Up SMTP Email in WordPress
Make WordPress send its emails (contact forms, password resets, orders) through a real mailbox: install an SMTP plugin and enter that mailbox's secure outgoing settings, which cPanel shows for each mailbox. Then send a test email.
Applies to: cPanel WordPress Blue Arctic Shared Web Hosting (cPanel); Managed WordPress Hosting (with email from another provider); WordPress 7.x
On this page
By default, WordPress hands its emails to the hosting server’s own mail program to deliver. Those messages often land in spam or vanish, because they don’t come from a real mailbox. SMTP (the standard way mail apps send email) makes WordPress log in to a real mailbox and send from it, like your phone does.
Note
Managed WordPress Hosting doesn’t include email. If you have it, or your email is with another provider (for example Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace), follow that provider’s instructions for sending email from a website or app, and use its settings in Step 3. If the test can’t connect, open a support ticket.
Step 1: Choose the mailbox and find its settings
- Use an address at your own domain, such as
website@yourdomain.com. If you don’t have one, create it in cPanel: click Email in the sidebar, then New email account. - In cPanel, click Email in the sidebar, find the address and click Manage in its row.
- On the Overview tab, click Open Webmail. Webmail opens in a new browser tab. If your inbox opens instead of the Webmail home page, click cPanel Webmail Home.
- In the Set up email on your device panel, click Automatically configure my device.
- In the Secure SSL/TLS Settings section (marked Recommended), write down the outgoing server (SMTP) and its port.
If you see an Email Accounts icon instead, click it, then click Connect Devices next to the address. Or type the tool’s name in cPanel’s search box (Ctrl+K or Cmd+K). If you can’t find it, open a support ticket and ask for the mailbox’s secure outgoing settings.
Tip
Give the website its own mailbox rather than your personal one. If its password is ever exposed, your own inbox stays safe.
Step 2: Install an SMTP plugin
- In WordPress, go to Plugins → Add Plugin and search for SMTP.
- Choose a plugin whose card shows many active installations, a recent Last Updated date and Compatible with your version of WordPress.
- Click Install Now, then Activate.
Use only one plugin that changes how WordPress sends email. Two will fight over the settings.
Step 3: Enter the settings
Open the plugin’s settings page. If it first asks which mailer or service to use, choose the general SMTP option. Labels differ slightly between plugins.
Warning
Never choose None for encryption, even if a test works without it. Your mailbox password would cross the internet unprotected.
| Setting | Enter |
|---|---|
| From email | The mailbox address from Step 1 |
| SMTP host | The outgoing server from Step 1 |
| Port | The SMTP port from Step 1 |
| Encryption | SSL/TLS. If the plugin lists SSL and TLS separately, choose SSL. |
| Authentication | On |
| Username | The full email address |
| Password | That mailbox’s password |
Step 4: Send a test
- Use the plugin’s test email option to send a message to an address at another provider, such as a personal Gmail or Outlook.com address.
- Submit your site’s contact form once, then check that the message arrives in the inbox the form sends to.
How to tell it worked
The test email arrives in the inbox (not spam) within a few minutes, and the sender is your mailbox address.
Troubleshooting
- Authentication failed: the username must be the full email address. If you’re not sure of the password, you can set a new one, but every phone and computer that uses this mailbox will then need the new password too. To do it, click Email in cPanel’s sidebar, click Manage next to the address, open the Settings tab, click Change Password, enter a new password and click Update Password. (If you see an Email Accounts icon instead, click Manage next to the address and set the password there.) Then enter it in the plugin.
- Connection timed out: check the host, port and encryption against the settings page from Step 1. If they match and it still times out, open a support ticket with the exact error.
- Certificate or “could not verify” error: use the outgoing server exactly as the settings page from Step 1 shows it. Don’t turn off certificate checks in the plugin.
- Mail arrives in spam: your domain’s SPF, DKIM and DMARC records (DNS settings that show receiving servers your mail is genuine) may be missing or wrong. Open a support ticket and ask us to check them.
- Sending stops after a large batch: each cPanel account can send up to 300 emails an hour. Use a newsletter service for bulk mail.
- Still not sending: work through WordPress email not sending.
Still need help?
Open a support ticket from the Client Portal at my.bluearctic.com (see our support page). Include your domain, the sending address, the plugin you use, the exact error from its test, a screenshot of its settings with the password hidden, and what you already tried. Never include a password.