FluentSMTP Settings

The FluentSMTP Settings page lets you manage your email connections and configure settings that control how FluentSMTP handles outgoing emails on your WordPress site.

From this page, you can manage your active email connections, choose default and fallback connections, control email logging, enable email simulation, and configure other general settings. You can also manage sender addresses and connection-specific options from the individual connection settings.

This guide explains each available setting and shows you how to configure FluentSMTP.

Open Settings

Click Settings in the FluentSMTP top bar. The page has two columns: Active Email Connections on the left, and General Settings on the right.

Save General Settings with the Save Settings button. Connection changes are saved on the Add/Edit Connection screen with the Save Connection Settings button.

General Settings

These settings apply to the whole site, not to one provider.

Log Emails

Log Emails is on by default. FluentSMTP stores every outgoing message so you can search it, open it, and resend it. Turn this off only if you have a reason — without logs, you cannot see why a send failed.

If FluentCRM is active, an Exclude FluentCRM Emails switch appears under Log Emails. FluentCRM already logs its own campaigns, so turning this exclusion on keeps those messages out of the FluentSMTP log and keeps the table smaller.

Delete Logs

Delete Logs controls how long a logged email stays before FluentSMTP deletes it. Options run from 7 days to 2 years. Shorter is kinder to the database — resend or export any failed mail you still need to debug before that window closes.

Email Simulation

Email Simulation stops delivery. Messages are still written to the log, marked as simulated. Use this on staging, or whenever you need to see what would have been sent without touching real inboxes.

NOTE

If FLUENTMAIL_SIMULATE_EMAILS is defined in PHP, the Email Simulation switch does nothing — the constant wins.

Plain Text Alternative

Plain Text Alternative (beta) adds a text/plain part next to the HTML version of the email. Some clients still cannot show HTML. Leave this off unless you know you need it.

Connection Rows

Each row under Active Email Connections is one connection, and shows:

• The provider logo and the From address
• A short note (region, "routes its own From address", and similar)
• A Default badge if this is the connection everything else falls through to
• A Fallback badge if this is the backup used when Default fails
• A +N senders mark on Amazon SES and toSend connections, for any extra senders — click it to manage them
• An Edit (pencil) icon that opens the connection form
• An Actions (three dots) menu with Set as Default, Set as Fallback, View, and Delete

You cannot set the same connection as both Default and Fallback, and you cannot set a Fallback until you have more than one connection.

View opens the connection details, the From address, sender name, and whether the token is still valid. Delete removes the connection; mail that used its From address will then go through Default, or fail if nothing is left.

Default, Fallback & Extra From Addresses

Mail sent from a connection's own From address always goes through that connection. Everything else goes through Default. If Default fails, FluentSMTP tries Fallback.

That same routing rule appears under the connections list once you have more than one connection. For the full walkthrough, see Multiple SMTP Connections & Auto Routing.

Amazon SES and toSend connections can send as more than one From address on the same connection. Click +N senders (or Manage additional sender addresses) on the row to add one, the address has to be on a domain that provider has already verified.

Force From Email & Force Sender Name

These settings live on each connection form, under Sender Settings, not on General Settings. Gmail, Outlook, and Cloudflare do not show Force From Email, since those connections send as the mailbox you authenticate.

• Force From Email (recommended): any mail that is not already routed to another connection is sent from this address, whatever From the sending plugin set.
• Force Sender Name: the From Name on this connection is used, whatever name the sending plugin set.
• Set the return-path to match the From Email: bounce notices go back to this address, when the provider honors Return-Path.

Where Secrets Are Stored

Leave Store in Database selected — that is the default. Paste the key (or password) on the form, and FluentSMTP encrypts it with your WordPress SALT keys before saving it. Most sites should stop there.

The same form also lets you change that:

• Store in Database, encryption on (default). The field help text confirms the value is encrypted with your WordPress SALT keys before it is saved.
• Store in Database, with Disable Encryption ticked. The secret is stored as readable text. The checkbox is labeled not recommended — use it only if a security plugin rotates SALT keys and the encrypted value keeps breaking.
• Store in wp-config.php. The key fields disappear, and the form shows the define() lines for that provider. Paste them into wp-config.php above That's all, stop editing!. Use this when you do not want the secret in the database at all.

Remember, none of these extra steps are required. Pick Store in Database, leave encryption on, paste the key, and save.

If you do choose Store in wp-config.php, the form on your site is the source of truth for the constant names — they look like this:

Connection	Constants
Other SMTP	FLUENTMAIL_SMTP_USERNAME, FLUENTMAIL_SMTP_PASSWORD
toSend	FLUENTMAIL_TOSEND_API_KEY
Amazon SES	FLUENTMAIL_AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID, FLUENTMAIL_AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY
Mailgun	FLUENTMAIL_MAILGUN_API_KEY, FLUENTMAIL_MAILGUN_DOMAIN
SendGrid	FLUENTMAIL_SENDGRID_API_KEY
Brevo (Sendinblue)	FLUENTMAIL_SENDINBLUE_API_KEY
SparkPost	FLUENTMAIL_SPARKPOST_API_KEY
Netcore (Pepipost)	FLUENTMAIL_PEPIPOST_API_KEY
Postmark	FLUENTMAIL_POSTMARK_API_KEY
Elastic Email	FLUENTMAIL_ELASTICMAIL_API_KEY
SMTP2GO	FLUENTMAIL_SMTP2GO_API_KEY
Gmail	FLUENTMAIL_GMAIL_CLIENT_ID, FLUENTMAIL_GMAIL_CLIENT_SECRET
Outlook	FLUENTMAIL_OUTLOOK_CLIENT_ID, FLUENTMAIL_OUTLOOK_CLIENT_SECRET
Cloudflare	FLUENTMAIL_CLOUDFLARE_API_KEY, FLUENTMAIL_CLOUDFLARE_ACCOUNT_ID