Ninja Forms does not have one notification screen. Each form has a list of actions that run when someone submits it, and email is one of those actions. Most problems are a missing, disabled or misconfigured action.
1. Check that the submission was saved
Open Ninja Forms, Submissions, and pick the form. If your test entry is there, the form works and the email is the problem. If the list is empty, either the action that stores submissions has been removed from this form, or the form is failing before any action runs. Submit again with the browser console open and look for errors.
2. Open Emails and Actions
Edit the form and go to the Emails and Actions tab. A new form starts with a success message, an admin email and an action that stores the submission. Look for these problems.
- No email action. Someone deleted it. Add an Email action.
- The email action is switched off. Each action has a toggle. A disabled action stays in the list and does nothing.
- Only a confirmation email exists. The visitor gets a copy and nobody at the company does. Add a second email action for the team.
3. Read the email action’s fields
Open the email action.
- To. The default admin email action sends to the WordPress admin address. If that address belongs to a developer or a former employee, type the right recipients, separated by commas.
- Reply To. Set this to the form’s email field so replies go to the visitor.
- From Address. This is under the advanced settings. It must be an address on the site’s own domain. If it holds the visitor’s email field or a Gmail address, receiving servers reject the message. If it is empty, Ninja Forms uses the default from its own Settings page, so check that one too.
4. Send through SMTP
Ninja Forms gives the email to WordPress, and WordPress by default uses the web server’s mail function. Many hosts limit it, and mail sent that way is unsigned. Install an SMTP plugin, connect it to a real mail service, and send a test email from the plugin’s settings.
5. Check the domain’s DNS records
If the test email from the SMTP plugin arrives and the form email does not, compare their From addresses. If neither arrives, run the domain through the SPF, DKIM and DMARC checker, fix what it reports, and search the recipient’s spam folder.
6. Rule out caching
Ninja Forms submits through JavaScript. A caching or script optimization plugin can break the submission for visitors while it works for you when logged in. Test in a private window. If it fails there, exclude the page from caching and script delay.
Keeping it working
An action that is set up correctly today can stop delivering after a host migration, an expired SMTP password or a DNS change, and the success message will keep showing. Causes that are not specific to Ninja Forms are in WordPress not sending emails: 7 causes.
Formitor supports Ninja Forms. It runs the form’s email action on a schedule and verifies that the message lands in a real inbox, so a queued email that never arrives does not count as a pass. The free plan covers 2 sites.