BugWP logo BugWP
Back to Community
Home / Community / General

How to Change the Email Address for Form Submissions in Formidable Forms

13 threads Sep 16, 2025

Content

One of the most common tasks when setting up a contact form is directing submissions to the correct inbox. Many users of the Formidable Forms plugin need to change the email address away from the default WordPress admin email. This guide will walk you through the simple process and address a few related configuration issues.

How to Change the Email Recipient

The primary method for changing where form submissions are sent is through the form's email notification settings. Here’s how to do it:

  1. Navigate to your form within the WordPress admin dashboard.
  2. Click on Settings and then go to the Actions & Notifications or Emails tab.
  3. Locate the Email Recipients field.
  4. By default, this field often contains the shortcode [admin_email], which pulls the email from your WordPress general settings.
  5. To add a new address, you can simply type it into the field. You can specify multiple recipients by separating email addresses with a comma, like this: [admin_email], [email protected], [email protected].

Important: The email addresses do not need to be associated with a user account on your WordPress site. You can use any valid email address.

Customizing the "From" Address and Email Content

Some users want to change the "From" address that appears in the email header. This is typically handled by your site's SMTP configuration or a dedicated email plugin, not directly within Formidable Forms. If you are using an SMTP plugin, it will usually set the "From" address for all outgoing WordPress mail, including form notifications. However, some system messages from the plugin itself may still use the WordPress admin email.

To customize the subject line or body of the email to include information from the form (like a customer's name), you can edit those fields in the same Email Notification settings. You can use shortcodes to insert field values.

Troubleshooting Common Issues

  • 403 or 404 Errors When Saving: If you encounter a "Forbidden 403" error or a 404 page when trying to update the email address, this is usually a conflict with another plugin, your theme, or a server security rule (like a mod_security rule). Troubleshooting involves deactivating other plugins temporarily to identify the conflict.
  • Browser Validation Messages: If you see an error message like "Please include an '@' in the email address" that you did not set, this is a browser-level validation message. This message is not generated by Formidable Forms and cannot be customized through the plugin; it is controlled by the user's web browser and its language settings.

By following these steps, you should be able to successfully direct your form entries to the right people. For more complex scenarios, like dynamically setting the recipient based on a custom field from a post, more advanced configuration is required.

Related Support Threads Support