The WP-Members 2.7.0 release introduced a major new feature to the plugin that was driven entirely by user request – admin customizable email messages for the various emails that are sent out by the plugin. If you are running 2.7, you will notice the addition of an email tab in the plugin’s admin panel.
Some users have indicated that after upgrading, they stopped receiving email notifications from the plugin. Note: these issues were only in the case of upgrades, not new installs; and not all upgraders were effected.
The problem in these cases is that the default messages failed to load during the upgrade process. You can determine if you were effected by looking at the email tab in the plugin’s admin panel. If the message areas are blank, you are effected. If they contain content, you should not be experiencing email issues and if you are, it is unrelated to this.
How can I fix it?
The fix for this is quite simple – fill out the emails. If you need something to get you started, I have put together a file that contains all of the default email content in plain text. This should allow you to copy/paste the defaults with no problems.
Note: only the fields for the emails you are using in your set up will show in the admin panel. For example, if you are not moderating registrations, the email fields for those messages will not show. So not all of the default messages in the file above will apply.
The defaults are intended to be a starting point for you and demonstrate the various shortcodes that are available for this function. A description of the shortcodes is here. I tried to keep them intuitive. (Note: some are only available in the admin email.)
Also, you are not required to use any of the shortcodes (although you probably will need the password shortcode so the user is emailed their password upon registration). If you want to hardcode a link into the message rather than use the reglink or members-area shortcodes, that is completely up to you. In adding this feature, I have tried to make it as flexible as I can.
As always, there are some small issues creeping up with the new release so I have already begun 2.7.1 as a fix release. That will include an updated install function that will hopefully correct this issue. It will force install the default messages if they are not there, but it will skip any that already have content. That way, we won’t be overwriting any customizations you have already made. That release should be available sometime later this week or early next week.
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Hi Chad,
I have a new install and all the email fields are completed. Emails go to admin without any issue until I change the admin email to an email with the website domain extension. I am not sure if this is related or if there is anything else I should be checking. Any thoughts you may have would be appreciated. The email address receives all other emails sent. Thanks
Phew! Now I know why I haven’t been getting new user registration emails, and users haven’t been getting their password reset emails. Thanks for the fix Chad!
The only reason I can think of that would cause that would be that your host restricts emails coming from scripts when the email address is from the hosted domain. Now, that doesn’t mean that is the case, but it could be. I would suggest trying a plugin that allows you to make a validated SMTP connection for wp_mail such as the WP Mail SMTP plugin.
Thanks Chad for quick reply. I will try as suggested and let you know.
Karen
I can see 4 emails looking into the email definition in my WP-admin, but when I’m looking into your “a file that contains all of the default email content in plain text” I can see 5 emails defined – the first one in missing in my setup.
The only ones that show are the ones being used. So, for example, if you are not moderating registration, that email content field will not show on the panel.
Hope that helps.
Somehow my new users get a wrong password mailed to them.
I tried it myself and indeed the password shown in the mail does not work to login.
Does anyone have any idea how this is happening?
Are you using any type of caching plugin?
Yes still using W3TC, would that be the issue? since it used to work for a short while…
I would suggest testing without it.
I’ve had an issue with certain domains not receiving registration or password emails, is there anything I can do to test this?
Well, if you have checked the issue discussed on this page and/or upgraded to 2.7.2, then it may be an issue with wp_mail, your host, or both.
Look at the FAQs under Users are not being emailed their passwords, what is wrong? for some information. Also, you might want to look into using a plugin such as WP Mail SMTP if you continue to have issues. Some hosts restrict emails sent from php scripts, so you may need to send through a validated SMTP server.
Thanks Chad, with your indications, I’ve solved the Registration issue (an email issue).
A critical security issue now: registrating as a user, I still have access to the Icon extension in my site. Which mean a visitor could potentially change or delete pages or categories icons.
Sorry, I’m unfamiliar with that plugin. However, there is no difference security-wise between a user registered via the plugin and a user registered in WordPress. If the user is given the role of subscriber, the users access is based on that role.
Hi chad. The problem i am having isn’t quite the sam, but similar. I am getting email notifications with blank fields and nothing is being entered into the database. I have recently done a clean install of the plugin after deleting the old one. I have sign ups set to pending admin approval and sending emails to admin.
Any help with this please?
See http://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-wp-members-registration-sending-blank-emails-and-not-working?replies=2#post-2818754
I’m using WP 3.3.2 and WP members 2.7.4. I have it set so I have to approve all members. I’m not getting the emails nor are the people registering. I was using WP Super Cache and I saw that it could cause some problems so I deactivated it. I also had a custom email address that is hosted by google, I removed it as well and still no emails. I also went in and added different text to the emails and that did not help either. Please let me know what you would suggest that I do as I’m tired of beating my head against the wall.
thank you in advance
Hi Andy – It may be well be wp_mail. I would say first check this by creating a user via the WP backend and see if you get the appropriate emails. If you do not, wp_mail is not working. If that is the case (and even if it’s not, you may still want to try this), I would suggest using the WP Mail SMTP plugin. Some hosts put restrictions on emails sent from scripts and require authenticated SMTP.
Hope that helps.
I created the user on the backend and no emails were received. I installed WP Mail SMTP and everything works great. Thank you for you help.
No problem – glad you got things working!
Chad…
Do you know if there are any issues with Google based email addresses? As the admin, I have not been getting registration emails sent to me and once I activate a user, they are not getting return emails. I have read you recommendations to install WP Mail SMTP but it continues to return an error message saying cannot connect to server. I know that WP Mail SMTP is not your plugin but I thought you may have an idea of possible work-arounds.
There aren’t any issues there that I know of on the google end of things. If none of the emails are being sent, have you checked the issues above to confirm that there is in fact content loaded in the various emails in the email tab? Double check that. WP Mail SMTP can help if you have a host that limits emails sent via php scripts, but you do need the SMTP information. Does a google email address provide an SMTP server?
hi Chad, thanks for this article.
I just purchased eMember and am finding it great, however I have one issue. I am using it on a site where membership is free, but i want to control who gets it. So i’ve ticked “Manually Approve Member Registration” in General settings.
However, my test user just receives his confirmation email directly upon registration, which makes him think he can log in straight away rather than await approval.
How do i set this up so that the user only receives confirmation when I approve it? I’m sure there’s a simple solution but i just cannot see it. Sending an email to people saying they have a username and password will confuse them into thinking they can register straight away, while in the back-end I need to approve them. Help!
Thanks
Isabelle
Hi Isabelle – the plugin installs with certain defaults, some of those being the email messages. When you set up to use moderated registration, you would want to edit the default emails accordingly. So the best solution here would be to change the confirmation message to reflect that their registration is pending approval, and then have login credentials sent when it is approved. An alternative to that might be to simply delete the content of the registration pending email subject and body – if that is empty, there will be not message sent.
Thanks Chad. I’ve modified the e-mail that gets sent upon registration, but I can’t see where I can set up an automatic e-mail to be sent once the user has been approved?
The only e-mails I see in the “Email settings” tab after the “Registration complete” one which no longer sends the credentials are ‘Forgotten Password’, Account upgrade etc.
Aside from this issue, if it’s solved, a fantastic plugin I will definitely be recommendation if we solve this.
Hi,
sorry but I am still waiting for an answer for this? I have now set the original email to say ‘pending approval’ then I manually upgrade the user who receives the OK to log in in the ‘upgrade’ email. But the user only receives the first email and not the second? I have checked “Manually Approve Member Registration” as well as “Allow Free Membership” and “Free Members Must Confirm Email Address”. How do I enable sending out this second email?
Help!!!
Based on the fields that you are describing above, we are not talking about the WP-Members plugin. There are no such fields “Manually Approve Member Registration”, “Allow Free Membership”, and “Free Members Must Confirm Email Address”.
The WP-Members plugin does have moderated registration as you describe. But the field names you described don’t match up. My guess is that you have some other plugin.
For information on the WP-Members plugin as hosted in the wordpress.org plugin repository see:
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-members/
http://butlerblog.com/wp-members
http://rocketgeek.com/plugins/wp-members/
For information regarding other plugins hijacking the WP-Members name, see:
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-members/other_notes/
http://butlerblog.com/2010/10/02/statement-regarding-the-use-of-the-name-wp-members-by-others/
http://butlerblog.com/2010/10/20/statement-regarding-the-use-of-the-name-wp-member-by-smartmediapro/
If what you have is one of these other plugins, you’ll need to contact that plugin author for support.
Hiya Chad…
Id really appreciate any help pleassssse 🙁
Im using WP Members in my site Im battling, to get the emails to send to the user and Admin email, which is at the moment a gmail test account. Im using version 2.7.7 and the site is http://www.syncblaze.co.za
I dont understand what your post at the top is or if its relevant to my problem as i did not do an upgrade, please please Id be the most gratefull person if you could tell me what to do to make this plugin work
Thank you
Kind Regards
Chavonne
Hiya
I really would appreciate any help, Im battling to get my emails both user and admin email to be sent.
I dont understand if the above has relevance to my issue, my version of WP Members is 2.7.7 and would really really appreciate if someone could please assist me in the right direction to do whatever to get this plugin to work before I get into lots of trouble
Thank you soooo much