Solid Mail is a WordPress plugin designed to send emails via SMTP. It ensures secure, reliable email delivery without relying on the default PHP mailer. Using an SMTP service, Solid Mail helps prevent emails from being flagged as spam, improving deliverability for notifications, confirmations, and newsletters.
This guide will walk you through the setup of Solid Mail and the key configuration steps and address common questions to get you started. By the end, you’ll be able to:
- Set up Solid Mail in WordPress
- Configure email settings based on your provider
- Test and ensure email delivery
If you need further assistance, SolidWP’s expert support team is ready to answer any questions you may have via support channels.
Connecting #
To connect Solid Mail with your chosen SMTP provider, follow these steps:
- Navigate to Solid Mail > Solid Mail.
- Select Add Connection
- Select a Provider from the dropdown list (options include Mailgun, SendGrid, Brevo, Amazon SES, or Generic SMTP).
- Once selected, fill in the required fields for your specific provider.
- Save your settings to establish the connection.
After configuration, use the Email Test tab to verify the connection by sending a test email. If successful, your Solid Mail plugin is ready to use.
Send Grid #
To use SendGrid as a mailer, you’ll first need to create an account with them here.
After setting up your SendGrid account, you’ll need to do the following to start sending your website emails:
- Create a sender identity
- Generate an API key
How to create a sender identity? #
SendGrid offers two options in creating a sender identity: (1) Domain Authentication and (2) Single Sender Verification.
Domain Authentication proves that the emails come from a domain that you own and will remove the “via sendgrid.net” information in the emails. This method needs you to access your site’s DNS settings and configure things there. If you’re unsure how to access your DNS settings, we’d recommend reaching out to your hosting provider for assistance.
Browse this article for a complete guide on authenticating your domain: https://www.twilio.com/docs/sendgrid/ui/account-and-settings/how-to-set-up-domain-authentication
Single Sender Verification is another method that you can use if the first option isn’t doable for you. This lets you create and approve a sender identity which would be the “From” email address your recipients would see.
To create a sender identity, log into your SendGrid account and open the Settings > Sender Authentication page. Under the Single Sender Verification section, select “Verify a Single Sender”.
A form will open up and you need to fill-in the sender details. Make sure the “From Email Address” is the email address you want your recipients to see and the one you’ll use in Solid Mail’s SendGrid settings.
Once done, you’ll receive a confirmation link to the email address you entered and clicking it lets you verify the single sender identity.
Choose the Domain Authentication option to ensure email deliverability and domain reputation.
How to generate an API key? #
After setting up your sender identity, the next step is to generate an API key so you can connect your website to SendGrid.
Within your SendGrid account, open the Settings > API Keys page and select “Create API Key”
Enter the API Key Name and choose the permission you prefer.
After selecting “Create & View”, an API Key will be generated. Make sure to take note of this API key and save it on a private note or password manager, as you will need to add this in Solid Mail’s SendGrid settings later.
Setting up Solid Mail SendGrid settings #
Now that you’ve finished creating your sender identity and generating an API key, it’s time to set up your Solid Mail SendGrid settings.
Open your site’s Solid Mail settings, select “Add new Connection”, and choose SendGrid as the provider.
Add your sender identity email address in the “From email” field and paste your API Key in the “Password” field. As for the “From name” field, you can put your preferred email name there.
Save the settings by selecting “Save Connection” at the bottom and confirm that it works by sending a test email in the “Email Test” tab.
Brevo #
To use Brevo as your mailer, start by creating an account here.
After setting up your Brevo account, you’ll need to do the following to start sending your website emails:
- Create a sender identity
- Generate an API key
How do you create a sender identity? #
Brevo requires an authenticated email domain to create an authorized sender identity for SMTP. An email domain is the part of your email address that comes after the @ symbol. It helps your recipients recognize your brand and trust your emails. The domain must be authenticated for better deliverability results.
Example: sample-email@your-domain-name.com
So, to create a valid email domain, you’ll first need to authenticate your website domain.
Domain Authentication to authenticate your website domain you’ll need to add a few DNS records, which requires access to your DNS registrar settings. If you’re unsure how to access your DNS settings, we’d recommend reaching out to your hosting provider for assistance.
To start the authentication process, from your Brevo Dashboard, navigate to:
Profile > Sender, Domains, & Dedicated IPs
From here, you should see four options: Sender, Domains, Dedicated IPs, & Email Overload Prevention Rule Select Domains, then Add a Domain. This will open a model that will prompt you for your domain name. Input your website domain name, click Add a Domain at the bottom right of the model to continue.
Next, you’ll be given three authentication options.
Authenticate the domain automatically— If using Cloudflare, this will automatically redirect you to your Cloudflare account and input the necessary DKIM and DMARC DNS Records for youAuthenticate the domain yourself— Brevo will provide the required DNS records for you to add to your domain DNS manually; this requires DNS management access.
Ask someone else to authenticate the domain for you— This will allow you to email the new Brevo DNS records to the person responsible for maintaining your domain DNS records if you don’t have access or the ability to do so yourself.
After authenticating your domain #
You can now begin the sender identity creation process. From the same page as domain authentication, just this time you will select Senders, then Add a sender. This will open a model with two input fields: From Name and From Email.
The From Name will be used as an organizational method for your Brevo Dashboard and can be named anything you would like for your convenience. The From Email will be:
what-ever-you-want@the-domain-you-authorized
For example, a website domain of “mydomain.com” with the message from “index” it would be “[email protected]”
Once you’ve completed filling out the two input fields, click the Save button.
You should now have a verified sender displayed under the Senders tab.
How do you generate a Brevo SMTP username and password? #
To get the last two items required to complete your SMTP connection from the Brevo Dashboard, navigate to Profile > SMTP & API
From here, you should see two tabs, SMTP & API Keys; select SMTP. This should display a Your SMTP Settings field if it doesn’t – click Regenerate SMTP Login and Master password
When the settings are properly generated, they should look like this:
Be sure to note the Login, which will be used as the Username during the connection process through the Solid Mail plugin.
Setting up Solid Mail Brevo settings #
Now that you’ve finished creating your sender identity and generating SMTP settings, it’s time to set up your Solid Mail Brevo settings.
Open your site’s Solid Mail settings, select “Add new Connection”, and choose Brevo as the provider.
Add your sender identity email address in the “From email” field and paste your API Key (or Master Password) in the “Password” field and the “SMTP- Login” for Username. As for the “From name” field, you can put your preferred email name there.
Save the settings by selecting “Save Connection” at the bottom and confirm that it works by sending a test email in the “Email Test” tab.
MailGun #
(Instructions coming soon)
Amazon SES #
To use Amazon SES as your mail provider, start by creating your AWS account.
Once logged in to your AWS account, the quickest way to access the Amazon SES page is to select the search box at the top and type SES. You will see Amazon Simple Email Service pop-up which you can then select.
This will take you to the SES Account Dashboard. From here, you will select SMTP settings in the left column.
You will then see your SMTP endpoint on this page. When setting up your Amazon SES connection, this endpoint will be your SMTP Host in Solid Mail.
Next, create your SMTP credentials to obtain your username and password, which will be used to complete your connection. To do that, please select the Create SMTP credentials button in the top right.
You will first see a User name field. You can keep this as the autogenerated user name, as it’s not used with Solid Mail.
The next section is where you can edit permissions if you wish. Leave this as it is.
The tag section allows you to organize your SMTP credentials should you wish. This is optional.
Next create the user, which will take you to the credentials you will need to add to Solid Mail’s connection setup.
This page will display your SMTP username and password. Copy these to the Solid Mail connection page.
Now, return to the SES console to obtain other settings you will need, such as your DKIM keys, SPF records, and a custom mailer to ensure the highest mail delivery.
Generic SMTP #
Choosing Generic SMTP as a mailer lets you send emails from any email address using the standard SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol).
While this is easier to configure than the other mailers, it is also more likely to run into configuration and/or email deliverability issues due to various factors related to server configurations, security protocols, and third-party services.
To start, open your site’s Solid Mail settings, select “Add new Connection”, and choose Generic SMTP as the provider.
For the Sender Setting fields, make sure to enter the email address you’ll use to send SMTP emails for the “From email” field. As for the “From name” field, you can put your preferred email name there.
As for the SMTP Settings, the following details are needed:
- SMTP Host: The address of the SMTP server you want to use to send emails
- SMTP Port: The port your provider uses to connect
- 587: Typically used for TLS (STARTTLS encryption) and is the most common setting
- 465: Typically used for SSL (older standard but still supported by many providers)
- Secure: The type of encryption that will be used for the SMTP connection
- TLS (Transport Layer Security) is more common for modern email providers.
- SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) is an older security protocol, but still required by some SMTP services.
- SMTP Authentication: Enables mail server authentication (most providers require authentication)
- Username: The username for your mail server
- Password: The password to log into your mail server
Here are some SMTP settings of the known email providers. If you’re unsure of the SMTP Settings for your mail server, it is best to reach out directly to your provider.
| Provider | SMTP Host | SMTP Port | Secure Type | SMTP Authentication Required |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gmail | smtp.gmail.com | 587 | TLS | Yes Username: Your Gmail account email address Password: Generate an app password in your account |
| Outlook/Office 365 | smtp.office365.com smtp-mail.outlook.com | 587 | TLS | Yes Username: Your Outlook account email address Password: Generate an app password in your account |
| Yahoo Mail | smtp.mail.yahoo.com | 587 465 | TLS SSL | Yes Username: Your Yahoo Mail account email address Password: Generate an app password in your account |
| Zoho Mail | smtp.zoho.com | 587 465 | TLS SSL | Yes Username: Your Zoho Mail account email address Password: Generate an app password in your account |
| AOL Mail | smtp.aol.com | 587 465 | TLS SSL | Yes Username: Your AOL account screen name Password: Generate an app password in your account |
| Proton Mail | smtp.protonmail.ch | 587 | TLS | Yes Username: Your generated SMTP Username Password: Your generate SMTP Token Requires you to add and verify a domain on your Proton Mail account |
| SendLayer | smtp.sendlayer.net | 587 | TLS | Yes Username: Automatically generated when you authorize your domain Password: Automatically generated when you authorize your domain |
Connection Preferences #
Multiple Connections #
Solid Mail allows you to set up multiple active connections, each using a different mail provider. This gives you flexibility in how emails are delivered, based on the From address used.
For example:
- You might use one as the connection that handles important transactional emails from your WooCommerce store, membership site, or online quotation form.
- Then you could use another to handle standard WordPress emails like account creation, password resets, and notifications.
You’ll need to configure a connection for each of the From addresses you want to handle separately. By configuring multiple connections, you can tailor mail delivery to match your exact requirements—instead of relying on a single provider for everything.
Default Connection #
You can also set one connection as the Default Connection. This acts as a fallback in several scenarios:
- When another connection fails.
For example, if emails that are normally handled by a particular connection cannot be sent, Solid Mail will attempt to send them using the Default Connection, if one has been set. - When a From address is not configured.
If your site tries to send an email from a From address without a matching connection, the Default Connection will be used. If no Default Connection is set, the email will fail to send. In some cases, you may want this stricter behavior.
Mail Logging #
The Mail Log page in Solid Mail provides a comprehensive view of all emails sent through your WordPress site. On the left, you can see a list of emails with details such as the sender’s email address, subject, and the time the email was sent. Clicking on any entry will display more information about the email on the right side, including the full content of the message. The log also allows you to delete specific entries, offering an easy way to manage and monitor email activity on your site.
Settings #
Email Logging #
To enable email logging in Solid Mail, you should ensure the logging function is on by toggling the “Enable Logs” option and saving the settings. This will start capturing data about emails sent through the plugin.
Use Alternative Connections on Failure
If this setting is enabled, when the default connection fails, an alternative active connection will be used as a fallback. The priority of alternative connections is determined by the “From” address; connections matching the same address will be preferred over others.
Export Logs #
You can also export logs by specifying a date range using the “Date From” and “Date To” fields. Once the range is set, clicking the “Export CSV” button will download a CSV file containing all email activity within the selected dates, allowing for detailed tracking and troubleshooting.
