WordPress.org

1. billseymour
   Member
   Posted 10 months ago #

   I included a "custom email from", using an email that actually exists on my domain, and checked the box "Enable when web host requires Mail From strictly tied..."

   While testing the form, a few demo contact messages had non-existent "from" email addresses (foo@foobar.com). Observations:

   a. Many of these "from nonexistent email addresses" contacts took 4 hours to land in my Gmail mailbox.

   b. Looking at the header information for these emails, the "From" showed the nonexistent email foo@foobar.com, rather than the "custom email from" address.

   My questions:
   (and btw, I have no problem with non-existent emails being treated differently than real addresses. I just want to understand what is actually happening when they are processed.)

   1. I thought that designating a "custom email from" would cause the email containing the message to show a "from" of the real email I designated, rather than showing the non-existent email address.

   Do I misunderstand how the "designated real email" idea works?

   2. Possible recommendation: It seems to me that, if someone designates a "custom email from", that this should be the actual "From" address used in the email delivered to the Inbox.

   (All tests using real email addresses worked fine, which is the most important thing.) --Bill

2. Mike Challis
   Member
   Posted 10 months ago #

   These settings had to be added to satisfy very picky web host what want tight restriction on web forms. They want to make sure web forms are not helping spammers forging mail.

   Getting an email sent from a web form on nearly every type of server account is not easy, there are many email headers in use here. Setting any one of them wrong can lead to non-delivery and no error:
   Delivered-To:
   Return-Path:
   From:
   Reply-To:
   X-Sender:

   "custom email from" setting does not really set the "From" address you see in your mailer program, it sets Return-Path: and X-Sender: headers to tell the mail servers what email address is responsible for sending the email (your server sent it, so setting it to a email address on your site is recommended). Some servers require it this way or they WILL NOT send mail. Some servers do not care. Some will send the email if you do not set it, but the email might go to spam on your receiving end (gmail).

   The setting "Enable when web host requires Mail From strictly tied..." is only need for a few servers that are so strict they still will not send email after setting the "custom email from" setting. So unless your server will not send mail, even with setting the "custom email from", do not check it. With this setting, the "From:" will be visibly forced to your address, not the user filling out the form. You should still be able to reply to the correct person because the "Reply-To:" will be the person filling out the form.

   Help:
   http://www.fastsecurecontactform.com/email-does-not-send

   GoDaddy is one of the most restrictive in this regard, so I had to make a special help page:
   http://www.fastsecurecontactform.com/godaddy-email

3. billseymour
   Member
   Posted 10 months ago #

   Mike- Thanks for the detailed explanation. Much appreciated.
   --Bill

Reply

You must log in to post.