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Understanding and Troubleshooting Your WP Mail SMTP Weekly Email Summary

32 threads Sep 9, 2025 Plugin → Wp mail smtp by wpforms

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Many WordPress site administrators use the WP Mail SMTP plugin to ensure reliable email delivery. A common feature of the plugin is the Weekly Email Summary, which provides a report on your site's email activity. However, users frequently report confusion or issues with these summaries, such as inaccurate counts, unexpected emails, or summaries that won't turn off. This guide will help you understand how the summary works and provide steps to troubleshoot the most common problems.

What the Weekly Email Summary Actually Tracks

It's crucial to understand what the weekly summary is counting. The 'WP Mail SMTP by WPForms' team states that the summary tracks all instances where your website's code executes the wp_mail() function. This count includes both successfully and unsuccessfully delivered emails since the plugin began tracking (version 2.9.0 for Lite users). It is not a log of emails you personally sent or received in your inbox.

The total can include a wide variety of automated WordPress notifications, such as:

  • WordPress user registration and password reset emails
  • Form notification emails (from Contact Form 7, WPForms, Gravity Forms, etc.)
  • E-commerce order notifications (WooCommerce, Easy Digital Downloads)
  • WordPress comment moderation emails
  • Plugin and theme update notifications
  • Any other plugin or theme that uses the standard wp_mail() function

Common Issues and Their Solutions

1. The Email Count Seems Too High

Why it happens: This is the most frequent report. The count seems inflated because it encompasses every single automated email triggered on your site, many of which you may never see in your personal inbox. Spam form submissions, in particular, can drastically inflate the number without you being aware of them.

What to do:

  • Investigate the source: The count is likely accurate in that the wp_mail() function was called that many times. To reduce spam submissions, implement CAPTCHA or other spam protection on all your forms.
  • Check the Debug Events log: Navigate to WP Mail SMTP -> Tools -> Debug Events. This log may show you details about the emails being sent, including any that are failing, which can help identify the source.

2. The Email Count is Zero, But Emails Are Being Sent

Why it happens: If emails are definitely being sent from your site (e.g., you receive form notifications) but the weekly summary reports zero, it could indicate a conflict. Another plugin might be handling mail delivery instead of WP Mail SMTP, or a specific plugin might not be using the standard wp_mail() function.

What to do:

  • Confirm your mailer: Ensure WP Mail SMTP is correctly configured and set as the primary mailer in WP Mail SMTP -> Settings.
  • Conflict test: Temporarily deactivate other plugins one by one to see if the count becomes accurate, which can help identify a conflicting plugin.

3. The Math in the Summary Doesn't Add Up

Why it happens: Users often note that the 'Total Emails' does not equal last week's total plus the 'Last Week' number. The 'WP Mail SMTP by WPForms' team has acknowledged that this may be related to when the weekly summary itself is counted into the total. The calculations for the growth percentage have also been noted to sometimes be incorrect, and the team has indicated they are working on enhancements for the summary reporting.

What to do: Unfortunately, this appears to be a known reporting anomaly within the plugin. Your best option is to focus on the general trend of the numbers rather than the exact arithmetic.

4. Receiving Too Many Summary Emails (Spamming)

Why it happens: This is a serious issue where the plugin gets stuck in a loop, sending hundreds of summary emails. This is often caused by a conflict with the Action Scheduler library, which handles background tasks like sending the summary.

What to do:

  1. Immediately disable Email Summaries in WP Mail SMTP -> Settings -> Misc.
  2. Go to Tools -> Scheduled Actions (or WP Mail SMTP -> Tools -> Scheduled Actions).
  3. Search for pending actions named wp_mail_smtp_summary_report_email.
  4. Cancel all of these pending actions to stop the queue.

5. Can't Disable the Weekly Summary

Why it happens: If you've turned the summary off in the settings but still receive it, you may be receiving it from a different site, such as a staging environment. The summary email is always sent from the site where it was generated.

What to do: Check the website link at the very bottom of the summary email. This will confirm exactly which site is sending the report. You will need to log into that specific site's dashboard to disable the summaries.

Conclusion

The Weekly Email Summary is a useful tool for monitoring your site's overall email activity, but it's important to interpret its data correctly. The counts represent system-level email attempts, not personal inbox activity. For most issues, checking the Debug Events log and ensuring there are no plugin conflicts are the best first steps. For persistent problems, especially concerning inaccurate calculations, it may be necessary to wait for a future plugin update that addresses these known reporting issues.

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