WordPress.org

I want HTML email to be the default email type

You need to pay for the Subscribe2 HTML version.

Where can I get help?

So, you've downloaded the plugin an it isn't doing what you expect. First you should read the included documentation. There is a ReadMe.txt file and a PDF startup guide installed with the plugin.

Next you could search in the Subscribe2 Forum, the WordPress forums or the Subscribe2 blog FAQs.

No joy there? Well, if you can't find an answer to your question you can get paid support by donating at least 20 UK pounds to the plugin author.

Where can I get more information about the plugin features?

A comprehensive guide that covers many, if not all, of the Subscribe2 features is available to purchase from the iAssistant

Some or all email notifications fail to send, why?

In the first instance check this with your hosting provider, they have access to your server logs and will be able to tell you where and why emails are being blocked.

Some hosting providers place a restriction on the maximum number of recipients in any one email message. Some hosts simply block all emails on certain low-cost hosting plans.

Subscribe2 provides a facility to work around this restriction by sending batches of emails. To enable this feature, go to Settings->Subscribe2 and located the setting to restrict the number of recipients per email. If this is set to 30 then each outgoing email notification will only contain addresses for 30 recipients.

Reminder: because subscribe2 places all recipients in BCC fields, and places the blog admin in the TO field, the blog admin will receive one email per batched delivery. So if you have 90 subscribers, the blog admin should receive three post notification emails, one for each set of 30 BCC recipients.

Batches will occur for each group of message as described above. A site on Dreamhost with many public and registered subscribers could conceivably generate a lot of email for your own inbox.

My host has a limit of X emails per hour / day, can I limit the way Subscribe2 sends emails?

This is the second most common question I get asked (the first being about emails not being sent which quote often ends up here anyway!). This is more commonly called 'throttling' or 'choking'. PHP is a scripting language and while it is technically possible to throttle emails using script it is not very efficient. It is much better in terms of speed and server overhead (CPU cycles and RAM) to throttle using a server side application.

In the first instance you should try to solve the problem by speaking to your hosting provider about changing the restrictions, move to a less restricting hosting package or change hosting providers.

If the above has not put you off then I spent some time writing a Mail Queue script for Subscribe2 that adds the mails to a database table and sends then in periodic batches. It is available, at a price, here.

Why is my admin address getting emails from Subscribe2?

This plugin sends emails to your subscribers using the BCC (Blind Cardon Copy) header in email messages. Each email is sent TO: the admin address. There may be emails for a plain text excerpt notification, palin text full text and HTML format emails and additionally if the BCCLIMIT has been set due to hosting restrictions duplicate copies of these emails will be sent to the admin address.

I can't find my subscribers / the options / something else

Subscribe2 creates four (4) new admin menus in the back end of WordPress.

• Posts -> Mail Subscribers : Allows users with Publish capabilities to send emails to your current subscribers
• Tools -> Subscribers : Allows you to manually (un)subscribe users by email address, displays lists of currently subscribed users and allows you to bulk subscribe Registered Users
• Users -> Subscriptions : Allows the currently logged in user to manage their own subscriptions
• Settings -> Subscribe2 : Allows administrator level users to control many aspects of the plugins operation. It should be pretty self explanatory from the notes on the screen

I'm confused, what are all the different types of subscriber?

There are basically only 2 types of subscriber. Public Subscribers and Registered Subscribers.

Public subscribers have provided their email address for email notification of your new posts. When they enter there address on your site they are sent an email asking them to confirm their request and added to a list of Unconfirmed Subscribers. Once they complete their request by clicking on the link in their email they will become Confirmed Subscribers. They will receive a limited email notification when new post is made or periodically (unless that post is assigned to one of the excluded categories you defined). The general public will receive a plaintext email with an excerpt of the post: either the excerpt you created when making the post, the portion of text before a tag (if present), or the first 50 words or so of the post.

Registered Users have registered with your WorPress blog (provided you have enabled this in the core WordPress settings). Registered users of the blog can elect to receive email notifications for specific categories (unless Digest email are select, then it is an opt in or out decision). The Users->Subscription menu item will also allow them greater control to select the delivery format (plaintext or HTML), amount of message (excerpt or full post), and the categories to which they want to subscribe. You, the blog owner, have the option (Options->Subscribe2) to allow registered users to subscribe to your excluded categories or not.

Note You can sent HTML emails to Public Subscribers with the paid Subscribe2 HTML version of the plugin.

Can I put the form elsewhere? (header, footer, sidebar without the widget)

The simple answer is yes you can but this is not supported so you need to figure out any problems that are caused by doing this on your own. Read here for the basic approach.

I'd like to be able to collect more information from users when they subscribe, can I?

Get them to register with your blog rather than using the Subscribe2 form. Additional fields would require much more intensive form processing, checking and entry into the database and since you won't then be able to easily use this information to persoanlise emails there really isn't any point in collecting this data.

I can't find or insert the Subscribe2 token, help!

If, for some reason the Subscribe2 button does not appear in your browser window try refreshing your browser and cache (Shift and Reload in Firefox). If this still fails then insert the token manually. In the Rich Text Editor (TinyMCE) make sure you switch to the "code" view and type in .

Can I suggest you add X as a feature

I'm open to suggestions but since the software is written by me for use on my site and then shared for free because others may find it useful as it comes don't expect your suggestion to be implemented unless I'll find it useful.

I'd like to be able to send my subscribers notifications in HTML

By default Public Subscribers get plain text emails and only Registered Subscribers can opt to receive email in HTML format. If you really want HTML for all you need to pay for the upgrade. $40US will get you the amended code and updates for 1 year.

Which version should I be using, I'm on WordPress x.x.x?

WordPress 2.3 and up require Subscribe2 from the 4.x stable branch. The most recent version is hosted via Wordpress.org.

WordPress 2.1.x and 2.2.x require Subscribe2 from the 3.x stable. The most recent version is 3.8.

WordPress 2.0.x requires Subscribe2 from the 2.x stable branch. The most recent version is 2.22.

Why doesn't the form appear in my WordPress page?

This is usually caused by one of two things. Firstly, it is possible that the form is there but because you haven't logged out of WordPress yourself you are seeing a message about managing your profile instead. Log out of WordPress and it will appear as the subscription form you are probably expecting.

Secondly, make sure that the token () is correctly entered in your page with a blank line above and below. The easient way to do this is to deactivate the plugin, visit your WordPress page and view the source. The token should be contained in the source code of the page. If it is not there you either have not correctly entered the token or you have another plugin that is stripping the token from the page code.