Email sending

Every email ModuleFest HallPro sends (invoices, booking confirmations, reminders, sign-in links for the hirers’ app and newsletters) normally goes out through the website’s own email. On a lot of hosting that lands in spam, or never arrives. On Email sending (under Settings) you can send them through the hall’s own email account instead.

Setting it up. Choose your provider to fill in the server, port and security, or type them in from your provider’s help pages. Enter the account’s username (usually the full email address) and password, tick Send ModuleFest HallPro’s emails through the server below, save, then Send test email to yourself. If the test fails, the server’s own answer is shown.

Gmail and Microsoft 365 need an app password, made in the account’s security settings, rather than the one you sign in with.

Only ModuleFest HallPro. Other plugins and WordPress itself carry on sending the way they do now. The password is kept encrypted and never shown again; whoever looks after the website can put it in wp-config.php as HALLPRO_SMTP_PASSWORD instead.

Send from is optional. Left empty, emails keep the website’s address; if you fill it in, use an address on the same account, or the provider may refuse it. The sender’s name is always the hall’s.

For example: The hall’s bookings address is bookings@ashcombehall.org.uk at Microsoft 365. Choose Outlook / Microsoft 365, enter that address and an app password, save and send a test: from then on invoices arrive from Ashcombe Village Hall and stop landing in spam.

Questions people ask

The test says it could not authenticate.
The username or password is wrong, or the provider wants an app password. Check the username is the full email address, make an app password in the account’s security settings, and enter it again.

The test says it could not connect.
The server name, port or security does not match what the provider expects, or the website’s host blocks outgoing email connections. Try port 587 with TLS, then 465 with SSL; if neither works, ask the host whether they allow it.

Do we still need an SMTP plugin?
Not for ModuleFest HallPro’s emails. If the site already has one that works, you can leave this switched off and ModuleFest HallPro will send through it as before.

The test arrived, but no other emails do.
Something on the site is stopping them: ModuleFest HallPro’s demo mode (HALLPRO_DEMO_MODE in wp-config.php), or another plugin, such as a demo or staging plugin, that stops or redirects emails. The Email sending screen names what it finds. The test is always let through so the settings can be checked. To send the rest, tick Let ModuleFest HallPro’s emails through under Override on that screen and save; only ModuleFest HallPro’s emails are affected.