SMTP and Email Logs for WordPress

1. Overview

SMTP and Email Logs for WordPress records every email your site sends, shows you whether each one was accepted or failed and why, and can send all of it through your own SMTP server. Old logs are deleted automatically.

It works with every email that goes through WordPress's wp_mail() function: password resets, new user notices and comment notifications from WordPress itself, WooCommerce order emails, contact form messages and anything else a plugin sends in the standard way. Open any log to read the message, the headers, the attachments and the exact error.

How it works

1. An email is sent. The plugin notes the attempt when WordPress calls wp_mail(), before anything is sent, so even an email that crashes is recorded.
2. The transport answers. WordPress reports success or failure. The plugin attaches that result to the right log, matching the recipients, the subject and the message, so an outcome is never given to a different email.
3. You can read it. The log shows the status, the error in plain language, the server reply (credentials removed), the headers, the attachments' names and a sandboxed preview of the message.
4. It sends through your server, if you want. Switch on SMTP, enter your provider's details, and press Send Test Email. With SMTP off, your site's normal mail transport is not touched.
5. It cleans up. A daily job deletes logs older than the retention period (90 days by default). It never deletes anything else.

At a glance

What it does not do

• It does not prove delivery. WordPress cannot tell whether an accepted email reached the inbox. Check the spam folder and your provider's own delivery log.
• It cannot log mail that bypasses WordPress. A plugin that talks to a mail service through its own API or mailer never calls wp_mail() and cannot be recorded.
• It does not resend emails, queue mail or track opens and clicks.
• It does not fall back to PHP mail when SMTP is wrong. If SMTP is on but incomplete, emails fail with a clear message, so you notice instead of sending through a route you did not choose.

2. Requirements

3. Installation

1. Download the plugin zip from your account on wpexpertshub.com.
2. In WordPress open Plugins → Add New → Upload Plugin, choose the zip and press Install Now.
3. Activate the plugin. It creates one table and adds Tools → Email Logs. Logging starts immediately; SMTP stays off.
4. To send through your own server, open Tools → Email Logs → SMTP Settings, enter your provider's details, tick Enable SMTP, save, then press Send Test Email.
5. Activate your licence under Plugins → WpExperts Hub Licences to receive updates.

Licence and updates

Open Plugins → WpExperts Hub Licences, enter your licence key and press Activate. The key is in your purchase email and under My Account → Downloads on wpexpertshub.com. The licence is only used for updates: every feature works without it.

The licence and update check contacts wpexpertshub.com with the licence key, your site address and the plugin version. It never sends emails, logs or recipients.

What activation creates

Updating, deactivating and deleting

• Updating keeps your settings and logs.
• Deactivating stops logging, SMTP and the scheduled cleanup, and deletes nothing. When you activate again the schedule is restored.
• Deleting the plugin keeps your logs, table and settings unless Delete all logs, the log table and the plugin settings when the plugin is deleted is ticked under General Settings. Then the table, the options (including the encrypted password) and transients are removed.

Multisite

When the plugin is network-activated the table is created on every site, and on sites created later. Each site has its own logs and settings.

4. Quick start

Logging works as soon as you activate the plugin. To also send mail through your own server:

1. Open Tools → Email Logs → SMTP Settings.
2. Enter the host, encryption and port from your provider. The usual pair is STARTTLS/TLS with port 587 or SSL with port 465.
3. Tick Authentication and enter the username and password. Many providers need an app password or an API key rather than your normal login.
4. Enter the From name and From email address. Most providers only accept an address that belongs to your account or a verified domain.
5. Tick Enable SMTP and press Save SMTP settings. Saving sends nothing.
6. Press Check connection to test the connection and login without sending, then Send Test Email to send a real message to yourself.
7. Open Email Logs to see the test and every email after it.

5. Features

Email logging

Every email sent through wp_mail() gets a row. A row stores:

• The date and time (kept in UTC, shown in your site's timezone), recipients (to, cc, bcc, reply-to) and sender.
• The subject, content type and, if you keep it, the message body.
• The headers (sensitive ones masked) and the names, sizes and types of attachments. Attachment contents are never stored.
• The status and, for a failure, the error, the server reply and the conversation with credentials removed.
• The mail transport (for example SMTP smtp.example.com:587), and the source: the plugin, theme, WordPress function or WooCommerce email that sent it.
• The related user (only when the single recipient is a user's address) and the related WooCommerce order (only from the WooCommerce email object).

Logging problems never reach WordPress. If the plugin cannot write a row, the email still goes out and the problem is listed under Diagnostics.

What the statuses mean

Finding and reading logs

• Search by recipient, subject or log ID, filter by status and date range, sort any column and page through thousands of logs. Set how many rows you want under Screen Options.
• Open a log to see every field, the headers, the attachments and the message as a sandboxed HTML preview, plain text or HTML source.
• Copy error details puts the error, the server reply and the conversation on your clipboard, ready for your host or mail provider.
• Delete one log, many with a bulk action, or all of them.

Sending through your SMTP server

• The plugin uses WordPress's own PHPMailer, so nothing extra is installed. SMTP off leaves your normal mail transport untouched.
• SMTP on but incomplete makes emails fail with a clear message and an admin notice. They are never sent another way.
• A From name or address chosen on purpose by a plugin is kept, unless you tick Force, which sets yours on every email.
• A Reply-To address is added only to emails that have none of their own.
• The timeout also applies to each reply from the server, so a silent server fails after your timeout instead of hanging for minutes.
• Choosing None for encryption really sends without encryption. Use it only on a trusted internal network.

The SMTP password

The saved password is never displayed, logged, exported or included in test results. An empty field keeps it, and a separate box removes it. In the database it is encrypted with a key derived from your site's secret keys. That protects a copied database, but not someone who can read both the database and wp-config.php.

For production sites the safer way is to define the settings as constants in wp-config.php. A constant wins over the database and locks its field. See Constants.

Test email and connection check

• Send Test Email sends a real message through the same path as every other email, records it in the log as a test and reports the outcome with plain-language advice (authentication, TLS, firewall, sender restrictions, limits). With SMTP off it runs a clearly labelled default-mail test.
• Check connection connects, starts encryption and logs in, then disconnects without sending. It separates a connection or login problem from a problem with the message.
• Nothing runs in the background, and saving settings never sends an email.

Automatic cleanup

• On by default, 90 days. Choose 7, 15, 30, 60, 90, 180 or 365 days, or a custom number from 1 to 3650.
• A log expires when its creation time is older than the cutoff. It runs once a day, in batches of 500 inside a time limit. A long run schedules its own continuation and an interrupted run resumes safely.
• It deletes only log rows. Saving settings or opening a page never deletes anything.
• Run Cleanup Now applies the current retention immediately, even with automatic deletion off. Delete All Logs is separate. Both ask for confirmation.
• The status box shows a next run only when one is really scheduled, and the last 20 runs are kept under Diagnostics.

Privacy controls

• Separate switches for logging, storing the message body, logging sent emails and logging failed emails.
• Reset links and one-time codes are hidden before a message is stored (common patterns such as key=, token=, code= in links and "verification code is 123456").
• Recipients can be masked in the list (j***@example.com). The log screen, exports and search still use the full address.
• Logs are included in WordPress's personal data export and erase requests, and a privacy policy text is suggested.

CSV export

Export the current filter from the Email Logs tab. Message bodies are included only through the separate button, which warns you first. The file is UTF-8 with a byte-order mark for Excel, streamed in chunks, and cells that start with =, +, - or @ are neutralised so a spreadsheet cannot run a formula from an email.

Diagnostics

One screen lists the recent problems the plugin itself found, the latest failed emails, the last test and connection check, the cleanup history, the environment (versions, PHPMailer, encryption support, number and size of logs, scheduler, WP-Cron, timezone) and a troubleshooting checklist. It never shows a password or a token.

6. Admin screens

Everything is under Tools → Email Logs, in four tabs.

Email Logs

The counts All, Sent, Failed and Unknown above the list are links. The columns are the ID, the date and time, the recipient, the subject (with a Test label for test emails), the source and the status. View opens the log and Delete removes it. Below the list: Export CSV (current filter), Export CSV with message bodies and Delete all logs.

A single log

The top card has the log ID, date and time (also in UTC), the status in words, the recipients, the sender, the subject, the content type, the transport, the source and the linked WooCommerce order. Message switches between HTML preview, Plain text and HTML source. A failed email adds an Error card with an explanation, the exact error, the server reply and Copy error details.

SMTP Settings

The first card shows the SMTP status: transport mode, whether SMTP is on, host and port, encryption, authentication, sender email, the last test and its outcome, the last successful test and the last reported error. The note under it says what a saved setting does and does not prove. The form, the test email and the connection check follow, then a troubleshooting checklist.

General Settings

See Settings for every option. Under the form, Cleanup status and maintenance holds the status table, Run Cleanup Now and Delete All Logs, and a short note on what is stored and who can see it.

Diagnostics

7. Settings

Open Tools → Email Logs. The defaults work without changes: logging on, SMTP off, 90-day cleanup on.

SMTP Settings

General Settings

8. For developers

Constants in wp-config.php

Define the SMTP settings in wp-config.php and they override the database and lock their fields on the screen. This keeps credentials out of the database and lets you read them from the server environment.

define( 'WPHUB_SMTP_LOGS_ENABLED', true );
define( 'WPHUB_SMTP_LOGS_HOST', 'smtp.example.com' );
define( 'WPHUB_SMTP_LOGS_PORT', 587 );
define( 'WPHUB_SMTP_LOGS_ENCRYPTION', 'tls' ); // none | ssl | tls
define( 'WPHUB_SMTP_LOGS_AUTH', true );
define( 'WPHUB_SMTP_LOGS_USER', 'username' );
define( 'WPHUB_SMTP_LOGS_PASS', getenv( 'SMTP_PASSWORD' ) );
define( 'WPHUB_SMTP_LOGS_FROM_EMAIL', 'site@example.com' );
define( 'WPHUB_SMTP_LOGS_FROM_NAME', 'My Site' );

The same prefix also accepts _FORCE_FROM_EMAIL, _FORCE_FROM_NAME, _REPLY_TO, _TIMEOUT and _VERIFY_CERT.

Hooks

// Do not log newsletters.
add_filter( 'wphub_smtp_logs_should_log', function ( $log, $atts ) {
	return false !== strpos( (string) $atts['subject'], 'Newsletter' ) ? false : $log;
}, 10, 2 );

Data model

Running the cleanup from a server cron

If WP-Cron is disabled and Action Scheduler is not present, run the cleanup from your server's cron with wp cron event run wphub_smtp_logs_cleanup, or press Run Cleanup Now.

How an email is matched to its result

The plugin writes a row with the status Unknown when wp_mail() is called. The outcome (wp_mail_succeeded or wp_mail_failed) goes to the newest row with the same signature: recipients, subject and a hash of the message. A result with no matching attempt, for example from a replacement wp_mail() that still fires the hooks, gets its own row. If another plugin short-circuits sending, the row stays Unknown (or becomes Failed when it returned false).

9. Privacy and security

• Who can see logs: only users with the manage_options capability. There is no REST API endpoint and nothing is public.
• What is stored: time, recipients, sender, subject, optionally the body, headers (sensitive ones masked), attachment names and sizes, errors, transport, source and related user or order. Never stored: the SMTP password in clear text, authentication tokens and attachment contents.
• Outside servers: only the SMTP server you configure, and wpexpertshub.com for the licence and update check when you activate a licence. The licence check sends the key, your site address and the plugin version, and never emails, logs or recipients.
• Personal data requests: logs matching an email address (recipient, cc, bcc, sender or the linked user) are included in WordPress's export and erase tools under Tools → Export Personal Data and Erase Personal Data.
• Retention: logs older than the retention period are deleted every day. Turn off message storage to keep only the facts about each email.
• Safe previews and exports: messages open in a sandbox with no scripts or remote content. Exports need the capability and a nonce, and neutralise spreadsheet formulas.

If your privacy policy lists the data you keep, add that emails sent by the site are logged for a number of days. WordPress suggests wording on Settings → Privacy.

Uninstalling

By default deleting the plugin keeps your logs, table and settings. Tick Delete all logs, the log table and the plugin settings when the plugin is deleted under General Settings first if you want everything removed, including the encrypted SMTP password.

10. Troubleshooting

First, the quick checks

• Open Email Logs → Diagnostics. It lists problems the plugin found and the last test result.
• Press Check connection on the SMTP tab. It separates a connection or login problem from a problem with a message.
• Filter the log by Failed, open the newest one and read the error and the server reply.

SMTP errors

The test says "accepted" but nothing arrives

Accepted means the server took the message. Check the spam folder and your provider's delivery log, and make sure SPF, DKIM and DMARC are set up for the From domain. Some providers accept a message and still filter or drop it.

An email is missing from the log

• Only emails sent with wp_mail() are recorded. A plugin that uses a mail service's own API or its own mailer bypasses it.
• Check that Email logging and the matching Log emails… switch are on, and that the log was not removed by the retention period.
• A filter on wphub_smtp_logs_should_log in your theme or another plugin may skip it.

Many emails show Unknown

Another plugin handled the sending (for example a queue or a mail service plugin that takes over wp_mail()), so WordPress never reported an outcome. The plugin does not guess. Look at your mail plugin's own log for the result.

Cleanup does not run

Look at Next scheduled cleanup on General Settings. If it says nothing is scheduled, make sure automatic deletion is ticked and save. If WP-Cron is disabled on your site and Action Scheduler is not present, run wp cron event run wphub_smtp_logs_cleanup from a server cron or press Run Cleanup Now.

11. FAQ

12. Changelog

1.0.0 · 2026-10-10

• First release.
• Email logging with an honest Sent, Failed or Unknown status, the sending plugin or function, and the related user and WooCommerce order.
• Log viewer with search, filters, sorting, a sandboxed HTML preview, plain text and source views, bulk delete and CSV export.
• SMTP settings with encryption options, an encrypted password, wp-config.php constants, a test email and a connection check.
• Automatic and manual log cleanup with history, Diagnostics, and privacy tools including personal data export and erase.

13. Support

Email support@wpexpertshub.com and a person will help. Please include:

• Your order ID (from your purchase email or My Account on wpexpertshub.com).
• The plugin version (shown on Plugins) and your WordPress and PHP versions.
• What you expected, what happened and what you already tried.
• The error text from the failed log and the result of Check connection. Do not send your SMTP password.
• Which email provider or SMTP service you use.

Please do not send passwords or customer data. Support never needs them.