How to set up SMTP in WordPress: WP Mail SMTP, FluentSMTP and Post SMTP

To send your WordPress email through a mailbox at LJPc hosting, install an SMTP plugin such as WP Mail SMTP, FluentSMTP or Post SMTP and choose a custom SMTP server. Enter ljpc.email as the server, use port 465 with SSL or port 587 with TLS, and sign in with the full email address and password of a mailbox on your domain. Then send a test email from the plugin. Below you will find the steps for each plugin and what to do when the test shows an error.

Do you need an SMTP plugin?

With LJPc hosting your website already sends email through our outgoing mail servers, without any plugin. An SMTP plugin makes WordPress sign in to a real mailbox and send through it. That gives you:

• One fixed sender address for all email from your site, even when a form or shop plugin fills in a different one.
• A test button that shows within seconds whether sending works.
• The error from the mail server when a message does not go out, and in many plugins a log of every sent and failed message.

If email from your contact form is not arriving, start with the causes in contact form not sending email. It also explains how to set the sender and reply-to address of your form.

Before you start

1. Create a mailbox for your website, for example website@yourdomain.com, as described in create an email address in the customer portal. With a separate mailbox your site keeps sending when you change the password of your own mailbox, and the password stored in your site only opens this one mailbox.
2. Test the password in webmail. Sign in at ljpc.email with the email address and password. If that works, you know the details are right before you enter them in WordPress. More about webmail in LJPc webmail.
3. Use one SMTP plugin. Two SMTP plugins at the same time work against each other, and WP Mail SMTP warns you about it. Deactivate an old SMTP plugin before you set up a new one.

If your email is hosted with another provider, such as Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace, use that provider's details in the plugin. This guide is about a mailbox at LJPc hosting.

SMTP settings for your mailbox

These are the same details you use in your email app, see set up email on your phone, tablet and computer. They are the same for every domain at LJPc hosting.

Port and encryption belong together, and each plugin uses its own name for the encryption:

A mismatch, such as port 465 with TLS, ends in a timeout or a message that the plugin cannot connect.

How to set up WP Mail SMTP

1. In WordPress, go to Plugins and Add Plugin, search for WP Mail SMTP, click Install Now and then Activate. If the plugin opens its setup wizard, you can enter the same details there. The steps below use the settings page.
2. Go to WP Mail SMTP and Settings, tab General.
3. Enter your mailbox address under From Email and tick Force From Email, so every plugin uses this address as the sender.
4. Under From Name, enter the name recipients see, for example your business name. Tick Force From Name to use it everywhere.
5. Under Return Path, tick Set the return-path to match the From Email. Messages that cannot be delivered then bounce back to your mailbox.
6. Under Mailer, choose Other SMTP.
7. Enter ljpc.email as the SMTP Host. Choose SSL under Encryption and enter 465 as the SMTP Port, or choose TLS with port 587. Leave Auto TLS on if you see it.
8. Turn on Authentication, enter your full email address as the SMTP Username and its password as the SMTP Password.
9. Click Save Settings at the bottom.
10. Go to WP Mail SMTP and Tools, tab Email Test. Enter an address you can check under Send To and click Send Email.

Prefer not to keep the password in the database? Put it in wp-config.php in the root folder of your site, above the line that starts with /* That's all, stop editing!:

define( 'WPMS_ON', true );
define( 'WPMS_SMTP_PASS', 'your-mailbox-password' );

The SMTP Password field is then greyed out in the settings. To reach wp-config.php, see upload files with FTP or SFTP.

How to set up FluentSMTP

1. Install and activate FluentSMTP under Plugins and Add Plugin.
2. Go to Settings and FluentSMTP. The first time you pick a connection right away; later you click Add Connection.
3. Choose SMTP Server.
4. Enter your mailbox address under From Email and the name recipients see under From Name. Keep Force From Email (recommended) and Set the return-path to match the From Email ticked.
5. Enter ljpc.email as the SMTP Host and 465 as the SMTP Port, and choose SSL under Encryption. On port 587, choose TLS. Note that FluentSMTP sets Encryption to None by default. Leave Use Auto TLS on.
6. Keep Authentication on and enter your full email address as the SMTP Username and its password as the SMTP Password.
7. Choose where FluentSMTP keeps the details: Store in Database or Store in wp-config.php. With the second option you add define( 'FLUENTMAIL_SMTP_USERNAME', 'website@yourdomain.com' ); and define( 'FLUENTMAIL_SMTP_PASSWORD', 'your-mailbox-password' ); to wp-config.php.
8. Click Save Connection Settings. FluentSMTP connects to the server and shows any error right in the form.
9. Open the Email Test tab, enter an address and click Send Test Email.

How to set up Post SMTP

1. Install and activate Post SMTP under Plugins and Add Plugin.
2. Click Post SMTP in the left menu and then Start the Wizard.
3. Choose Other SMTP.
4. Enter your mailbox address under From Email and the name recipients see under From Name. Turn on Force From Email and Force From Name.
5. Enter ljpc.email as the Host Name, 465 or 587 as the Port, your full email address as the Username and the mailbox password as the Password. Post SMTP picks the encryption from the port: SMTPS on 465 and STARTTLS on 587.
6. Click Save and Continue.
7. Enter an address you can check under Recipient Email Address, click Send Test Email and then Finish.

If you change anything later in the Post SMTP settings, check that Security is SMTPS with port 465 and STARTTLS with port 587. Under Authentication, choose Login or Plain: those are the two methods our mail server supports.

The test fails: what does the error mean?

When a test fails, each plugin shows the message from the mail server or from PHP. Find the one that looks most like yours.

More errors and what they mean are in email client errors. They apply to an SMTP plugin as well.

Do not leave a plugin retrying with a wrong password. After many failed sign-ins our mail server temporarily blocks the IP address they come from, and for a plugin that is the server your website runs on. How that protection works is explained in what is fail2ban.

The test succeeds, but the email does not arrive or lands in spam? Check the recipient's spam folder and check SPF, DKIM and DMARC, as described in contact form not sending email.

Keep your website sending

• New mailbox password? Update it in the plugin straight away, or in wp-config.php if you keep it there.
• Moving your website or email? Check the SMTP server and username in the plugin after the move. If your site comes from another host, replace that host's details with those of your mailbox at LJPc.
• Check the log. If your plugin has a log (Email Log or Email Logs), it shows per message whether it was sent and which error the server returned.
• Mind the sending limit. Everything your site sends through the mailbox counts towards that mailbox's limit. If your shop sends a lot of order emails, see email sending limit for how to ask for more.

What LJPc hosting takes care of

• One server name for every domain, ljpc.email, with a valid certificate that every web server trusts.
• If your domain's DNS is with us, SPF, DKIM and DMARC are already in place, also for the email from your website.
• Stuck? Open a support ticket in the customer portal. Include your website, the email address in the plugin, the plugin you use and the exact error from the test. We can then see in our mail server logs whether the plugin signed in and why an attempt was refused.