Forms only send from your published website, not from Preview. Test on the live site after each change.
1. Check the address
Select the form on your page, then go to Inspector > Widget Settings. Make sure Email Address to Send Form to is right. Look in your spam folder too.
2. Use Contact Form Advanced
If your page uses the plain Contact Form widget, support recommends replacing it with Contact Form Advanced, which delivers more reliably.
3. Choose how the form sends mail
In Widget Settings, find Mail Sending.
| Option | What it means | Setup |
|---|---|---|
| SMTP Details | Sends through a real email account. Best for most people. | Needs that account's details |
| PHP Mail | Sends from your web server. | None, but less reliable and may not work on some servers |
| EverWeb | Sends through EverWeb's server. Needs the Contact Forms Enhanced add-on. | None |
For SMTP Details, enter your email settings, not your FTP login. This is the most common mistake.
| Field | What to enter |
|---|---|
| Server | Your email provider's SMTP server. With EverWeb email, use mail.yourdomain.com with your own domain, or your server name. See Email settings for Apple Mail, Outlook, Gmail and other apps (IMAP, POP, SMTP). |
| Username | Usually your full email address |
| Password | That email account's password. Gmail typically needs a Google App Password. |
| Port and Security | 465 with ssl, or 587 with tls |
Press Test SMTP Details... to check them.
4. Publish everything again
Go to File > Publish Entire Site, not just Publish. Then submit the form in a private browser window.
Still nothing? Clear EverWeb's cache, then publish the entire site again. Go to EverWeb > Settings (Windows: Edit > Options) > Backup > Manage Cache Files, and move your site to the trash under both Preview Cache and Publish Cache.
5. Special cases
- You want submissions at Gmail, AOL, iCloud, Hotmail or Outlook. Create an address at your own domain for the form, such as
[email protected]. Use it for Email Address to Send Form to and for the SMTP details. Then forward that address to your personal one. We can set up the forwarder for you. - Your site is on another web host. We recommend PHP 8.2 or later. Ask them to confirm your site's PHP version and that scripts may make outbound SMTP connections. Some block form mail.
- You see "Check the developer console". See An error occurred while sending the contact form. Check the developer console for errors.
Ask us
Send the page address, a screenshot of Widget Settings with your password hidden, and whether Test SMTP Details... worked.