Title: APPideas Email Holinator Author: APP(ideas) Published: September 7, 2026 Last modified: September 7, 2026 --- Search plugins ![](https://ps.w.org/appideas-email-holinator/assets/banner-772x250.png?rev=3684923) ![](https://ps.w.org/appideas-email-holinator/assets/icon.svg?rev=3684923) # APPideas Email Holinator By [APP(ideas)](https://profiles.wordpress.org/appideasdotcom/) [Download](https://downloads.wordpress.org/plugin/appideas-email-holinator.1.3.2.zip) * [Details](https://wordpress.org/plugins/appideas-email-holinator/#description) * [Reviews](https://wordpress.org/plugins/appideas-email-holinator/#reviews) * [Installation](https://wordpress.org/plugins/appideas-email-holinator/#installation) * [Development](https://wordpress.org/plugins/appideas-email-holinator/#developers) [Support](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/appideas-email-holinator/) ## Description APPideas Email Holinator stops this site sending email, and records the messages it held so you can see exactly what would have gone out. The two switches that matter — **Block emails** and **Log emails** — are pinned to the admin toolbar, one hover away from every screen in wp-admin. The toolbar icon turns orange while mail is being logged and red while it is being held, so you can tell at a glance what the site is doing with its email. It adds one wp-admin screen and that toolbar item, and nothing else: no public- facing frontend, no dashboard widgets, and no changes to the body of any other admin page. #### Holding * Block emails holds everything that goes out through wp_mail(), before it reaches any mail transport — WordPress’s own, or an SMTP plugin’s. * On WordPress’s own mail path a held message is answered as sent, so a held password reset or order confirmation does not turn into an error message on a site that was never meant to send it. * Two constants for wp-config.php, AIEH_PERMAHOLE and AIEH_PERMALOG, force a switch on and lock it in the toolbar — for a development site seeded from production data, where forgetting once is once too many. #### The log * Log emails records every message sent through wp_mail() — sender, recipients, subject and body — held or not, and the Holinator screen lists them newest first with search, sort and a CSV download. * Open a message to read it the way it would have arrived, with an HTML body rendered in a sandbox; resend it exactly as it was sent, or open a print-friendly view. * A message the mail transport rejected is recorded as failed, with the transport’s own error, and the log keeps the newest 1,000 messages. #### Tools * A status card shows what the two switches are doing right now, and updates the moment a switch is flipped in the toolbar. * Send a real test message through the current settings and read a step-by-step transcript of what happened to it. #### External services This plugin contacts no external service. Nothing is sent to APPideas or to any third party, and there is no analytics, telemetry, licence check, or update service of any kind. #### APPideas Email Holinator PRO adds * An allow list — the accounts and roles you name still get their mail while everything else stays held. * A block list — mail goes out as usual, and only the accounts and roles you name are held. * Forwarding — messages that match are redirected to one address you can read, and the log records where each one actually went. * Rules are written against the WordPress users and roles you already manage, and act on messages with a single recipient. PRO installs alongside this plugin rather than replacing it, and adds its controls to the Tools tab of this plugin’s own screen. See https://appideas.com/email-holinator/ ### Test Analysis Suite Metric v 1.3.2 PHP (PHPUnit) Line coverage 99.36 % PHP (PHPUnit) Tests 304 JavaScript (Jest) Statement coverage 98.48 % JavaScript (Jest) Branch coverage 93.06 % JavaScript (Jest) Tests 315 End-to-end (Playwright) Tests 203 Version 1.3.2 lints clean — zero errors, zero warnings, and zero suppressions — against WordPress Coding Standards 3.4.1 on PHP_CodeSniffer 3.13.5, PHPCompatibilityWP 2.1.8 checked from PHP 7.4 upward, and @wordpress/eslint-plugin 22.22.0 on ESLint 8.57.1. Plugin Check 2.1.0 reports no errors against the shipped files, across every check category; its 26 warnings are the direct-database-query notices on the one file that owns the log table and two for reading WordPress’s own mail filters, each reviewed and kept on purpose. ## Screenshots [⌊The email log: every message the site tried to send, held before it left, with search, sort and a CSV download.⌉⌊The email log: every message the site tried to send, held before it left, with search, sort and a CSV download.⌉[ The email log: every message the site tried to send, held before it left, with search, sort and a CSV download. [⌊The toolbar panel: Block and Log are one hover away from every wp-admin screen, and the icon turns red while mail is being held.⌉⌊The toolbar panel: Block and Log are one hover away from every wp-admin screen, and the icon turns red while mail is being held.⌉[ The toolbar panel: Block and Log are one hover away from every wp-admin screen, and the icon turns red while mail is being held. [⌊A held message opened in the reader, shown the way it would have arrived, with resend and print.⌉⌊A held message opened in the reader, shown the way it would have arrived, with resend and print.⌉[ A held message opened in the reader, shown the way it would have arrived, with resend and print. [⌊The Tools tab: what the two switches are doing right now, and a real test message sent through them with a step-by-step transcript.⌉⌊The Tools tab: what the two switches are doing right now, and a real test message sent through them with a step-by-step transcript.⌉[ The Tools tab: what the two switches are doing right now, and a real test message sent through them with a step-by-step transcript. [⌊Get PRO: what the paid add-on adds.⌉⌊Get PRO: what the paid add-on adds.⌉[ Get PRO: what the paid add-on adds. ## Installation 1. Upload the plugin folder to `/wp-content/plugins/`, or install it from the Plugins screen in wp-admin. 2. Activate the plugin. 3. Hover the Holinator icon in the admin toolbar for the two switches, or open **Tools Holinator** for the log. ## FAQ ### Does this change how my site sends email? Only while it is active. Deactivating the plugin restores WordPress’s normal behaviour immediately. ### Does it send anything anywhere? No. The plugin makes no outbound requests of any kind. ### Does it work with my SMTP plugin? Yes. A message is held before it reaches any mail transport, WordPress’s own or a plugin’s. The test suite sends real messages through WP Mail SMTP, Easy WP SMTP and FluentSMTP, and reproduces the hook orders Post SMTP and Mailgun use. ### What can it not catch? A plugin that calls PHP’s own mail() function, or talks to a mail service directly, never goes through wp_mail(), so WordPress offers no hook to hold it. That is rare; whatever uses wp_mail() — WordPress itself, WooCommerce, form plugins and SMTP plugins— is held. ### How many messages does the log keep? The newest 1,000. When a new message arrives past that, the oldest is removed. ### Does it work on a multisite network? Yes. Each site has its own switches and its own log, and deleting the plugin from the network removes every site’s data. ### Where do I find it? Hover the Holinator icon in the admin toolbar for the two switches, or open Tools Holinator for the log, the Tools tab and Get PRO. ## Reviews There are no reviews for this plugin. ## Contributors & Developers “APPideas Email Holinator” is open source software. The following people have contributed to this plugin. Contributors * [ APP(ideas) ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/appideasdotcom/) [Translate “APPideas Email Holinator” into your language.](https://translate.wordpress.org/projects/wp-plugins/appideas-email-holinator) ### Interested in development? [Browse the code](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/appideas-email-holinator/), check out the [SVN repository](https://plugins.svn.wordpress.org/appideas-email-holinator/), or subscribe to the [development log](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/log/appideas-email-holinator/) by [RSS](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/log/appideas-email-holinator/?limit=100&mode=stop_on_copy&format=rss). ## Changelog #### 1.3.2 * First release. * Block emails now holds outbound mail before it leaves the site — every message WordPress sends through wp_mail(). * Log emails records every message WordPress sends through wp_mail(), and the Holinator screen lists them with a reader that shows each one the way it would have arrived. * Logged messages can be opened and deleted one at a time, and the log keeps the newest 1,000. * The log screen can search, sort, and download its contents as a CSV file. * A stored message can be resent exactly as it was sent, or opened in a print-friendly view. * A new Tools screen shows what the two switches are doing right now, and can send a real test message through them to see exactly what happens. * AIEH_PERMAHOLE and AIEH_PERMALOG, set in wp-config.php, force Block and Log on and lock the toolbar switches — for a dev site seeded from production data. * Flipping a switch in the toolbar now confirms on screen that the change was saved. ## Meta * Version **1.3.2** * Last updated **7 days ago** * Active installations **Fewer than 10** * WordPress version ** 6.3 or higher ** * Tested up to **7.1** * PHP version ** 7.4 or higher ** * Tags * [development](https://wordpress.org/plugins/tags/development/)[email](https://wordpress.org/plugins/tags/email/) [logging](https://wordpress.org/plugins/tags/logging/)[smtp](https://wordpress.org/plugins/tags/smtp/) [staging](https://wordpress.org/plugins/tags/staging/) * [Advanced View](https://wordpress.org/plugins/appideas-email-holinator/advanced/) ## Ratings No reviews have been submitted yet. [Your review](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/appideas-email-holinator/reviews/#new-post) [See all reviews](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/appideas-email-holinator/reviews/) ## Contributors * [ APP(ideas) ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/appideasdotcom/) ## Support Got something to say? Need help? [View support forum](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/appideas-email-holinator/)