Email notifications

Customise the automatic emails — reminders, visit summaries and booking-request alerts — with your own subject and wording. Use placeholders like {pet}, {client} and {date}; leave a field blank to use the default.

If emails aren’t sending, set up the built-in SMTP at the top of this tab (no third-party plugin needed) and use Send test email to check it.

If your mail server is intermittent — working, then timing out, then working again — that is worked around rather than left to chance. A connection that never opened is tried again a few times, and a message that still cannot get out goes by your website’s own mail instead of being lost. And if neither route will take it, the message is held and sent later rather than thrown away — tried again after five minutes, then fifteen, then an hour, with anything still waiting shown on the Support screen. Settings → Business → Email log shows which route each message took.

Example

You connect your Microsoft 365 mailbox in the SMTP section, send a test, see it arrive, and from then on reminders and walk summaries send reliably.

FAQ

What can I put in them?
Placeholders such as {business}, {pet}, {client}, {service}, {date}, {time}, {notes} and {visit_summary}.

What if I blank a field?
It falls back to the built-in default.

Emails aren’t arriving?
Fill in the built-in SMTP section at the top of Settings → Emails with your mail provider’s details (host, port, encryption, username, app password), press “Save email settings” (its own button, saves instantly), then press “Send test email”. The test shows the exact error if it fails (e.g. wrong password or port). For Gmail/Microsoft use an app password, not your normal login.

My mail server times out now and then.
It is worked around rather than lost. A connection is given eight seconds rather than the five minutes it used to sit there for, and a connection that never opened is tried up to three times. If it still cannot get through, the message is sent by your website’s own mail instead. The Email log shows which route each message took and how many tries it needed.

Can I check from my phone whether an email went?
Yes — the staff app has an Email row under More, showing the last thirty messages with who each went to and whether it arrived, and anything still waiting above them. Only people who can manage the business see it.

What happens if the mail server is down for an hour?
The message is held rather than lost. It is tried again after five minutes, then fifteen, then an hour; if it still cannot go it is given up on and the Email log records that, saying who it was for and how long it tried. While anything is waiting, the Support screen shows how many and how long the oldest has been there.

What is the message about port 465 on this screen?
Your mail server did not answer on the port you have set, and did answer on the other one mail servers normally offer. Many web hosts block one of the two going out, which looks exactly like a mail server being down. Recent emails were sent on the port that worked; changing the port and encryption here to match would make every send take that route. Check with your email provider first — they will tell you which pairing they expect.

Is anything ever just dropped?
Only a very large message — one with photos in it — which is too big to hold in the queue, and a message you have deliberately paused. Both are recorded in the Email log as failures, with the reason.

Will a retry send the same email twice?
No. A message is only tried again when the connection never opened, so nothing had reached your mail server. Once the server has taken the message, nothing is retried — and a refused login or rejected address is reported straight away rather than asked three times.

Why did one email arrive looking plainer than the rest?
Because your mail server was not answering and it went out by your website’s own mail instead. That route cannot embed your logo or photos, so they are linked rather than attached; the wording is unchanged. If it keeps happening, the fix is at your mail provider — check the host, the port, and whether your web host allows outbound SMTP at all.

Where do I get SMTP details?
From your email provider. Common ones: Gmail — smtp.gmail.com, port 587, TLS, an app password. Microsoft 365 — smtp.office365.com, port 587, TLS. Your web host or a service like SendGrid/Mailgun will list theirs too.

My SMTP details won’t save?
Use the “Save email settings” button in the SMTP section — it saves the email/SMTP fields on their own, instantly, without relying on the main Save settings button at the bottom.

A walk or visit email from the app won’t send?
From 1.67.0 these emails send through the same reliable path as the “Send test email” button, so if the test works they work too. If one still fails the app shows the exact reason: “This owner has no email address saved” means you need to add an email to that client’s record; anything mentioning the mail server is an SMTP setting to fix under Settings → Emails.

How do I check my SMTP details are right?
Press “Test connection” in the SMTP section. It actually connects to your mail server and logs in (without sending anything) and tells you the exact problem if it fails — wrong host/port, TLS/SSL mismatch, or a rejected login. “Send test email” then confirms a real message goes out.

TLS test fails on my own mail server?
Servers like mail.yourdomain.co.uk often present a certificate for a different hostname. Tick “Allow self-signed / mismatched certificates” in the SMTP section and test again. If TLS on 587 still fails, try SSL on port 465.

Test connection passes but the email won’t send?
The connection test only checks login; sending also has to be accepted by the server. The usual cause is the “from” address not matching your mailbox — the plugin now sends from your SMTP username automatically, but if you set a “Send emails from” address make sure it’s a real mailbox on that server. Press “Send test email” and it now shows the exact server reason (e.g. sender rejected, relaying denied, or recipient rejected) so you know what to change.

Test connection works but sending says “Could not authenticate”?
This was a save bug (fixed in 1.71.0): the dedicated “Save email settings” button was being blocked by the large-form safety check, so the password looked saved but wasn’t — the next page load used the old one. Update, re-type your password once, press “Save email settings”, then navigate away and back and Send test email to confirm it sticks. For encryption at rest, define PC_SMTP_PASS in wp-config.php.