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Email Configuration
This section of the Control Panel allows an administrator to set the preferences relating to how email is sent within an ExpressionEngine site. These settings affect not only how emails are sent via the Communicate section of the Control Panel but also how emails are generally sent by the system.
Return email address for auto-generated emails
This setting specifies the From and Reply-to email address to use with system generated emails. With the increase in spam on the internet, many email servers will not accept emails without a valid From or Reply-to address, therefore we strongly recommend filling this field out.
Webmaster or site name for auto-generated emails
This setting lets you specify a name to be used in the From and Reply-to email fields. As with the above field, we encourage you to set it to help prevent your emails from being filtered as spam.
Email Character Encoding
Specifies the character encoding that the emails will be sent with.
Enable Email Debugging
When this option is enabled, detailed messages will be displayed whenever you send an email using the Communicate page. This information can be useful in helping to track down any problems you may be experiencing. If you are having difficulty sending email you are encouraged to enable this option.
Email Protocol
Email can be sent by ExpressionEngine by one of three protocols.
- PHP Mail: This is PHP's native method of sending email, the mail function. It is compatible with most servers. ExpressionEngine uses the "PHP mail" setting by default. For most people, this is the best choice. It is not the most efficient way to send email, so if you are maintaining a large mailing list you might consider using one of the following two other methods if it is permissible by your server.
- Sendmail: This is more efficient than using "PHP Mail", particularly if you maintain a large mailing list, since a direct socket connection is opened to the Sendmail server, however, not all hosting providers allow a socket connection to Sendmail. To determine if this protocol is allowed on your server, select Sendmail as your email protocol, update your Email Configuration preferences, and attempt to send an email to yourself via the Communicate section of the Control Panel. If your email is received then you may use this option.
- SMTP: This protocol is recommended in cases where your host requires it. SMTP is not commonly available on Unix servers so you might check with your hosting provider. In some cases you can use your normal POP3 email account to send ExpressionEngine email. This may only be possible if your POP3 account is on the same server where ExpressionEngine is installed due to "relaying" security restrictions. SMTP usually requires authentication, so you will likely need to fill out the three fields following it to use this protocol.
SMTP Server Address
If you chose SMTP as your email protocol above, then you will need to fill out this field, which specifies the server address of the SMTP server. This setting is ignored if "SMTP" is not selected as the email protocol.
SMTP Username
The username used to log in to your SMTP server. Not all SMTP servers require you to authenticate, but many of them do. In those cases you will need to specify the username and password (below).
SMTP Password
The password used to log in to your SMTP server. Not all SMTP servers require you to authenticate, but many of them do. In those cases you will need to specify the username (above) and password.
Use Batch Mode?
ExpressionEngine's mail handling routine allows the use of a "batch mode" whenever it sends email via the Communicate section of your Control Panel. This mode splits up large numbers of emails into small batches which get sent at short intervals. This gives you the ability to send email to very large mailing lists without being in danger of exceeding your server's execution time limit. By default, PHP limits any process to 30 seconds, which is not enough time to send a large amount of email. Enabling the Batch Mode can prevent server time-outs. A secondary benefit is that it is less taxing on your mail server and, in the case of people on shared hosting accounts, less likely to cause problems with your server administrator.
Batch mode is turned off by default in ExpressionEngine. To enable batch mode, you must change the "Use Batch Mode" preference to Yes and then set the number of emails per batch in the "Number of Emails Per Batch" preference (below).
Number of Emails Per Batch
This setting is used in conjunction with the "Use Batch Mode?" preference above. This setting determines how many emails will be sent in each batch. The batch size you should use depend on many things; among them the email protocol you have chosen, the server configuration, and the server power, so you may need to experiment a little to get it right.
If you are using one of the more robust mail protocols, like Sendmail or SMTP, you can set a greater batch total, possibly as high as several hundred or even more if you are on a dedicated server. A batch size of 300 in these cases is a good starting point. If you are having good success you can increase it until you begin experiencing time-outs. Note: Unless your mailing list numbers in the thousands you won't gain much of a speed gain from setting large batches. If you are using the less efficient "PHP mail" protocol then you will usually need to set a lower batch size; 50-100 is typical.
Default Mail Format
When you send email via the Communicate section of your Control Panel, you are able to send HTML formatted emails. This preference sets whether the Communicate section has "Plain text" or "HTML" selected by default.
Enable Word-wrapping by Default?
Determines whether to have the email sending routine "word wrap" email messages. This setting can be overridden when sending email using the Communicate page. It's generally recommended to enable this setting, as this is required to comply with the email specification.
Email Console Timelock
The number of minutes that must lapse before a member is allowed to send another email. Note: This only applies to the Email Console in the member profile pages.
Log Email Console Messages
This preference lets you keep a copy of all messages sent via the Email Console in the member profile pages by logging them.
Enable CAPTCHAs for Tell-a-Friend and Contact emails
With this enabled, users will need to fill out a CAPTCHA when using the Tell-a-Friend or Contact email forms. You will need to ensure that your tags for those forms contain the appropriate CAPTCHA code.