Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Question: Why do I get a 500 server error when I use eMailTest?

Answer: This plugin has been extensively tested and used on hundreds of sites. If you are getting this error, it is likely that you have a permissions issue on your server which needs to be resolved.

Question: Why does it say that Moodle sent the test message successfully yet I did not receive the email?

Answer: This could be due to a number of reasons including but not limited to:

• Incorrect PHP Mail settings in your php.ini file (if you have not configured Moodle's SMTP settings).
• You may have an anti-virus or firewall blocking email communications.
• The mail server receiving your email may be discarding emails received from your site.
• The test email may be blocked by anti-spam filters. Check your junk mail folder.

Question: How do I find out the correct email settings I should be using?

Answer: Contact your network administrator or your Web Hosting provider. These are typically the same settings as you would use for an email client but the administrator may need to add special settings to allow emails to be sent from your support and no-reply email addresses.

Question: Why is the test emails not being sent successfully?

Answer: Your SMTP email settings are incorrect or the mail server is refusing emails coming from your Moodle site. Read the whole dialogue that is displayed when you send a test message. It will often provide some hint of where the problem might be.

Question: What is the difference between PHP Mail and Moodle SMTP Mail?

Answer: If you don't configure the mail settings in Moodle, Moodle will hand off the delivery of email to PHP's built-in mail system. Its settings are typically in your server's PHP.INI file. If you do configure the SMTP settings in Moodle, it will attempt to deliver emails directly to the SMTP server.

Question: How can I use this tool to send emails to other email addresses?

Answer: You can't at the moment. If you really must, you can temporarily test the email address of one of the following "From" addresses:

• Your user account
• Support
• No-reply
• Primary admin

Question: My email used to work in Moodle previous to 3.2. After upgrading to Moodle 3.2 or later, why can't my site send emails?

Answer: As of Moodle 3.2, use of the no-reply email address is no longer optional in many cases. You will need to make sure it is now configured correctly. Some mail server may even only permit connections if this is actually a valid email address.

Question: Why do I see a message about cron not having run for at least 24 hours?

Answer: IMPORTANT - See https://docs.moodle.org/35/en/Cron . If a link is included within the message, clicking it will cause Moodle to try sending queued messages immediately. However, future message will still not be sent automatically. Clicking the link instead of configuring cron will just hide the notice for 24 hours after which it will return until you fix this issue.

If for some reason you are unable to setup an automated cron job and don't see the link, you can enable the link and allow remote running of the cron job by going to Site administration >Security > Site Policies and unchecking Cron execution via command line only. For a little extra security, also set a Cron password for remote access.

Question: Why do I see some debugging code in the communications log even though debugging is turned off?

Answer: Moodle does some validation before sending an email and can display some useful information so we've enabled some minimal display of debugging information. Informative lines start with email_to_user. You can ignore the line number references that follow the information line.

Question: Are there any security considerations?

Answer: This plugin allows administrators to submit an email through a web form which is restricted to logged in Moodle administrators only. The eMail Test plugin does not store any personal data about any user.

I am not sure if the problem is with Moodle, my mail server or my firewall. What should I do?

Answer: The problem is very unlikely to be Moodle. Moodle is used by organization in virtually every country of the world. If there was a problem, someone would have spoken up by now. That said, it could be your email settings. To find out if it is potentially your Moodle settings or firewall, or if it is you mail server, try setting Moodle up to use Gmail as your email server. If it works, it is very likely your email settings. If it doesn't, you might have a firewall blocking email traffic or your email server is incorrectly configured.