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Have you installed an SMTP plugin such as WP Mail SMTP or Easy WP SMTP on your WordPress site and are you having problems sending emails? This article will help you configure the correct settings for your SMTP plugin.

Please note

Please note that from 29 January 2024, only addresses with the same email domain as the sender address will be permitted. So if you suddenly experience problems with a configuration that was previously working, please check the sender address entered in the SMTP plugin’s configuration and change it if necessary.

Check plugin configuration

If sending emails via the SMTP plugin is not working, please ensure that the plugin is correctly configured to use the IONOS SMTP server and that the correct login details for your email account have been entered.

To help you, we have summarised the most important settings for the two plugins in the tables below:

WP Mail SMTP: Recommended settings

Setting (WP Mail SMTP) Value / Status
SMTP server smtp.ionos.de
Encryption SSL
SMTP port 465
Auto TLS ENABLED
Authentication ENABLED
SMTP username Enter the full email address of the mailbox here. For example: mustermann@example.com
SMTP password Enter the password for accessing your email account here.
Sender’s email address Enter the address here that you want recipients to see as the sender’s address. If you wish to specify an email address other than the mailbox address, please note that only addresses with the same sender domain are permitted.
Force sender’s email address in the ‘From’ field ENABLED

Easy WP SMTP: Recommended settings

Setting (WP Mail SMTP) Value / Status
SMTP host smtp.ionos.de
Encryption type SSL
SMTP port 465
SMTP authentication On
SMTP username Enter the full email address of the mailbox here. For example: mustermann@example.com
SMTP Password Enter the password for accessing your email account here.
From Email Address (Sender Address) Enter the address here that you want recipients to see as the sender address. If you wish to specify an email address other than the mailbox address, please note that only addresses with the same sender domain are permitted.
Force From Email enabled

Notes

  • For WP Mail SMTP and Easy WP SMTP, you can also combine the TLS encryption setting with SMTP port 587, as is the default setting in both plugins. However, we recommend using the SSL encryption setting shown in the tables in combination with SMTP port 465, as this offers the highest level of security when communicating with the SMTP server.

  • To check that the login details for a mailbox are correct, please log in as a test using the Webmail .

  • If you have forgotten the password for your mailbox, create a new password. Further information on this can be found in the following article: Changing the password for your email account at IONOS

Other SMTP plugins

In addition to the plugins mentioned above, there are a large number of other plugins which we are unfortunately unable to cover in detail here. If you are using a different plugin, please ensure

  • that ‘smtp.ionos.de’ is entered as the SMTP server (host) in the plugin’s settings.

  • that 465 is set as the SMTP port.

  • that the correct encryption type is selected.

    Unfortunately, selecting the correct encryption type is made more difficult by the fact that software manufacturers sometimes use different terms. Sometimes SSL (as with the plugins described above) or “SSL/TLS” is the correct setting, whilst at other times it is “TLS”. You may need to try this out. Technically speaking, it is always TLS encryption. However, there are differences in the way the TLS connection is established. Port 465, for example, only allows “implicit TLS”, whilst the alternative port 587 only supports STARRTLS. You should therefore only use port 587 if port 465 is blocked on your network for any reason.

  • that the login details for the mailbox have been entered correctly.

  • that you have entered a valid sender address. Only addresses using the same domain as the sending mailbox are valid.