WPBeginner

Beginner's Guide for WordPress

  • Blog
    • Beginners Guide
    • News
    • Opinion
    • Showcase
    • Themes
    • Tutorials
    • WordPress Plugins
  • Start Here
    • How to Start a Blog
    • Create a Website
    • Start an Online Store
    • Best Website Builder
    • Email Marketing
    • WordPress Hosting
    • Business Name Ideas
  • Deals
    • Bluehost Coupon
    • SiteGround Coupon
    • WP Engine Coupon
    • HostGator Coupon
    • Domain.com Coupon
    • Constant Contact
    • View All Deals »
  • Glossary
  • Videos
  • Products
X
☰
Beginner's Guide for WordPress / Start your WordPress Blog in minutes
Choosing the Best
WordPress Hosting
How to Easily
Install WordPress
Recommended
WordPress Plugins
View all Guides

WPBeginner» Blog» Plugins» How to Change Sender Name in Outgoing WordPress Email

How to Change Sender Name in Outgoing WordPress Email

Last updated on November 6th, 2020 by Editorial Staff
386 Shares
Share
Tweet
Share
Pin
Free WordPress Video Tutorials on YouTube by WPBeginner
How to Change Sender Name in Outgoing WordPress Email

Do you want to change the default sender name and email address for outgoing WordPress emails?

By default, WordPress uses ‘WordPress’ as the sender name for all outgoing WordPress notification emails. This doesn’t look very professional, and you may want to change that to your business name.

In this article, we will show you how to easily change the default sender name and email address in outgoing WordPress emails.

Changing sender name and email address in outgoing WordPress emails

Why You Should Change the Default Sender Information in WordPress?

WordPress sends several email notifications to the site administrator as well as other users on your website.

This includes very important email notifications such as forgot password emails, website error and recovery emails, new user registration, and more.

By default, it uses ‘WordPress’ as the sender’s name and a non-existent email address (wordpress@yourdomain.com) as the sender email.

Many spam filters block your WordPress emails believing it to be spam. Sometimes it does not even make it to the spam folder.

For more on this topic, take a look at our guide on how to fix WordPress not sending email issue.

The outgoing email notifications are important, and you should use your own brand and email address. This increases the authenticity of your brand and increases name recognition among your users.

For instance, if you run an online store, then you would want customers to get email notifications with your store name as the sender.

See our guide on how to get a free business email address for your website in 5 minutes.

Having said that, let’s see how to change the default sender name and email address in outgoing WordPress email notifications.

Method 1. Changing Default Sender Name and Email using WP Mail SMTP

This method is easier and recommended for all WordPress users.

For this method, we’ll be using the WP Mail SMTP Pro plugin. It is the best WordPress SMTP plugin on the market, used by over 1 million website owners.

This plugin allows you to easily change the default sender name and email address for outgoing WordPress emails. It also helps you fix the WordPress email deliverability problem.

First thing you need to do is install and activate the WP Mail SMTP Pro plugin. For more details, see our step by step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, you need to visit WP Mail SMTP » Settings to configure plugin settings. Under the Mail section, you can simply enter the email address and the name you want to use to send WordPress emails.

Change sender name and email in WordPress using WP Mail SMTP

Below that you can find the options to set up an SMTP server to send WordPress emails. By default, the plugin will use PHP method provided by your WordPress hosting company which is less reliable.

We recommend using any of the listed SMTP services to properly send WordPress emails for higher guaranteed deliverability.

Select mailer

If you choose an SMTP service, then follow the on-screen instructions to connect the plugin with your SMTP service provider.

Don’t forget to click on the ‘Save Settings’ button to save your changes.

Test Your WordPress Emails

WP Mail SMTP Pro also allows you to test your WordPress email settings. Simply go to the WP Mail SMTP » Settings page and switch to the ‘Email Test’ tab.

Test WordPress emails using WP Mail SMTP

From here, you just need to provide an email address that you can access and then click on the ‘Send Email’ button.

The plugin will now send a test email to the address you provided. You can check your inbox to make sure that you can receive WordPress emails, and it has the correct sender name and sender email address.

WP Mail SMTP works with all popular WordPress plugins like WooCommerce, WPForms, and more.

For more detailed instructions, you may want to see our article on how to use SMTP to send WordPress emails.

Method 2: Changing Default Sender Name and Email using a CB Change Mail Sender

This method is only recommended if you don’t use an SMTP service, or the first method is not working for you.

Using this method does not improve your WordPress email deliverability or make it easier to troubleshoot email issues. However, if your WordPress emails are working, then it will allow you to change sender name and email address.

First thing you need to do is install and activate the CB Change Mail Sender plugin. For more details, see our step by step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, you will notice a new menu item labeled CB Mail Sender in your WordPress admin bar. Clicking on it will take you to plugin’s settings page.

CB Mail Sender

You will need to enter the name and email address you want to be used for outgoing WordPress emails.

Don’t forget to click on the save changes button to store your settings.

That’s all, your WordPress notification emails will now show the name and email address you entered in plugin settings.

There is no method provided by the plugin to test your email settings. You can do that by performing actions that generate WordPress notification emails like creating a new user, requesting a password reset, and more.

Method 3: Manually Change Sender Name and Email Address

This method is not recommended for beginners. This method requires you to paste code into your WordPress files. It also does not fix any email deliverability issues and is harder to troubleshoot.

If you are new to adding code in WordPress, then take a look at our beginners guide on pasting snippets from web into WordPress.

You will need to add the following code in your theme’s functions.php file or a site-specific plugin.


// Function to change email address
function wpb_sender_email( $original_email_address ) {
    return 'tim.smith@example.com';
}

// Function to change sender name
function wpb_sender_name( $original_email_from ) {
	return 'Tim Smith';
}

// Hooking up our functions to WordPress filters 
add_filter( 'wp_mail_from', 'wpb_sender_email' );
add_filter( 'wp_mail_from_name', 'wpb_sender_name' );

This code simply replaces the default WordPress sender name and email address with your custom sender name and email address.

You can test this by adding a new user, changing passwords, or any other action that sends a WordPress notification email.

We hope this article helped you learn how to change the sender’s name and email address in outgoing WordPress emails. You may also want to see our guide on the best bulk email marketing services to bulk send email to all your users, and our comparison of the best WordPress page builder plugins to customize your site without any code.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

386 Shares
Share
Tweet
Share
Pin
Popular on WPBeginner Right Now!
  • How to Fix the Error Establishing a Database Connection in WordPress

    How to Fix the Error Establishing a Database Connection in WordPress

  • Revealed: Why Building an Email List is so Important Today (6 Reasons)

    Revealed: Why Building an Email List is so Important Today (6 Reasons)

  • Checklist

    Checklist: 15 Things You MUST DO Before Changing WordPress Themes

  • How to Properly Move Your Blog from WordPress.com to WordPress.org

About the Editorial Staff

Editorial Staff at WPBeginner is a team of WordPress experts led by Syed Balkhi. Trusted by over 1.3 million readers worldwide.

The Ultimate WordPress Toolkit

50 Comments

Leave a Reply
  1. Afshan says:
    Jan 19, 2021 at 10:08 am

    Its updating contact form 7 sender name and email.
    How to make it only applicable for core WordPress emailing not for contact form 7?

    Reply
    • WPBeginner Support says:
      Jan 19, 2021 at 12:02 pm

      You would need to uncheck the force email and reach out to your contact form’s support for how to set it in the plugin.

      Reply
  2. Ana Bella says:
    Dec 29, 2020 at 4:29 pm

    Thank you so much! 2nd option worked and was so easy to setup! :)

    Reply
    • WPBeginner Support says:
      Dec 30, 2020 at 9:19 am

      Glad our guide was helpful :)

      Reply
  3. Sam says:
    Nov 27, 2020 at 6:27 pm

    I used method 3 as a snippet… worked great, thank you!

    Reply
    • WPBeginner Support says:
      Nov 30, 2020 at 10:28 am

      You’re welcome!

      Reply
  4. Cameron Johnson says:
    Oct 14, 2020 at 10:10 pm

    Hey thanks for the code it works amazing! Is there a way to change the email sender name for only the new order email and remain the rest of them the same? Thanks!

    Reply
    • WPBeginner Support says:
      Oct 15, 2020 at 10:33 am

      For that, you would want to reach out to the support for the ecommerce plugin you’re using for if they have an option to set that up.

      Reply
  5. Pieter says:
    Oct 9, 2020 at 1:42 pm

    Thanks a lot!
    I used method 3 and it works great!

    Reply
    • WPBeginner Support says:
      Oct 12, 2020 at 10:06 am

      You’re welcome, glad our guide was helpful :)

      Reply
  6. Jonathan says:
    Sep 17, 2020 at 5:54 am

    Hi I tried out the method of adding the code snippet to my functions. One problem that came up is that now my site is sending an extra email with no subject or content(only a blank template) along with the other notifications. After removing the code snippet it still sends these emails. After removing the code do I need to run a remove_filter() or something similar?

    Reply
    • WPBeginner Support says:
      Sep 17, 2020 at 11:55 am

      You would want to check that it isn’t being sent by one of your other plugins, this code should only change the values for the sender name. What the code modifies would be removed when you remove the code.

      Reply
  7. Felipe says:
    Aug 15, 2020 at 2:35 pm

    I used the Snippets plugin and it did update the from address and the name, but the name shows “my name, WordPress” Any idea what could be causing it?

    Reply
    • WPBeginner Support says:
      Aug 17, 2020 at 3:16 pm

      You may want to ensure you set the sender email as well to ensure that isn’t part of the issue.

      Reply
  8. Mrunal says:
    Jun 17, 2020 at 3:11 pm

    I copy pasted this code into my theme’s functions.php file. Changed the email address and the name. then when i try to refresh the page, I saw the code being displayed on top of my website. I tried using the plugin as well. and the plugin didn’t work either. Please help.

    Reply
    • WPBeginner Support says:
      Jun 18, 2020 at 8:52 am

      For the code not working, you would want to ensure the code is not after a ?> in your functions.php file. For the plugin not working you may want to reach out to the plugin’s support for them to take a look at possible conflicts.

      Reply
  9. Reza Baleghi says:
    Jun 15, 2020 at 4:15 am

    I just pasted the code and changed it as I wanted.
    It works perfectly!
    Thanks for saving lots of time. :-)

    Reply
    • WPBeginner Support says:
      Jun 16, 2020 at 8:16 am

      Glad our guide was helpful :)

      Reply
  10. adil says:
    May 22, 2020 at 1:16 pm

    Thanks alot you are the best

    Reply
    • WPBeginner Support says:
      May 26, 2020 at 2:59 pm

      You’re welcome :)

      Reply
  11. EA says:
    May 6, 2020 at 10:56 pm

    This was extremely helpful, thank you!

    Reply
    • WPBeginner Support says:
      May 8, 2020 at 9:52 am

      You’re welcome, glad our guide was helpful :)

      Reply
  12. M Asif Raza says:
    Mar 23, 2020 at 6:47 pm

    Fantastic. Its really worked for me and I have done what I wanted in few minutes. Thanks for this Blog Post :)

    Reply
    • WPBeginner Support says:
      Mar 24, 2020 at 8:54 am

      Glad our guide was helpful :)

      Reply
  13. Syam says:
    Oct 18, 2019 at 12:53 pm

    im using method 2, It work very well, thanks

    Reply
    • WPBeginner Support says:
      Oct 21, 2019 at 10:05 am

      Glad our recommendation was helpful :)

      Reply
  14. Ruth says:
    Aug 6, 2019 at 4:16 pm

    This works perfectly, but too well!

    It overrides the from address in Gravity Forms notifications. Is there a way to only have it apply to the network administrator? We have a WordPress network, not a single site.

    Reply
    • WPBeginner Support says:
      Aug 7, 2019 at 10:02 am

      You would want to reach out to the plugin’s support for preventing it from overriding your forms for what it sounds like you’re wanting.

      Reply
  15. Livingstone says:
    Aug 4, 2019 at 7:30 am

    The code worked perfectly. Thanks

    Reply
    • WPBeginner Support says:
      Aug 5, 2019 at 11:39 am

      Glad our recommendation could help :)

      Reply
  16. Rebecca says:
    Nov 27, 2018 at 10:41 am

    This worked, thanks!
    However, it still says “via server.example.com”. Anyway around this?

    Reply
    • WPBeginner Support says:
      Nov 29, 2018 at 4:43 pm

      Hi Rebecca,

      This is the server used to send the email. You can read our article on how to fix WordPress not sending email issue and use WP Mail SMTP plugin to fix these issues. It will allow you to change sender name and use proper SMTP server to send emails.

      Reply
  17. R says:
    Oct 17, 2018 at 5:33 pm

    Thanks, works!

    Reply
  18. Patrizio Racco says:
    Nov 28, 2017 at 7:11 pm

    This worked for me. Much appreciated :-)

    Thank you

    Reply
  19. TH says:
    Oct 11, 2017 at 8:16 am

    Hi.
    The emails sent from my wordpress website show extra information for the sender name ‘myemailname via msv40-sh-cicadas.mschosting.com’

    How do I remove the ‘via msv40-sh-cicadas.mschosting.com’?

    How do I set it up my site’s email so that it only shows myemailname?

    I have done email authentication on my cpanel.
    I deactivated all plugins to check but still the same.

    Thanks for the help.
    TH

    Reply
    • Anil says:
      Nov 6, 2017 at 5:57 am

      I have also same problem. any one can help me

      Reply
  20. Swayam Dhawan says:
    Jun 22, 2017 at 11:08 am

    Thanks for the Code Specifically, It helped me to not to increase my number of plugins.

    Reply
  21. Vaibhav Bajpai says:
    Jun 22, 2017 at 9:46 am

    Thanks! It worked.

    Reply
  22. MELLOR says:
    Jun 6, 2017 at 11:13 am

    Hi thanks for putting this in. It works for anything that doesn’t populate these fields, as per Gravity Forms example above, but because this is an output filter it changes anything you send to these values.

    I can code but not WordPress, but I will take your template code above and pop in a conditional test for the known wordpress values…

    if $original_email_from = “WordPress” then change it,

    likewise if $original_email_address = “wordpress@” then change it.

    Otherwise leave well alone.

    Then it will work for any calling plugin that does fill these or any of these fields.

    I chose to change the core code, unfortunately, JETPACK puts these values back in when it calls wp_mail so my default value change was useless because they only changed if the values where not given….lol

    On the flip side, the FILTER you gave above comes in AFTER everything else, so it obliterates even the values from plugins like Gravity.

    So if anyone can code the conditional statement – only change if it contains the values “WordPress” (and possibly any derivatives) then that will definately fix all scenarios.

    If there’s no one to hand, then I will possible get it done in a while for my own site so that it doesn’t look like a phishing site whenever it emails anyone… lol because the from name won’t match my identity or domain or ssl certificate. Until then I have switched off JetPack.

    Many thanks for the base code, it will really help me work out the rest.

    Reply
  23. Bryan says:
    Feb 25, 2017 at 5:48 am

    Hi Syed, I noticed that while it works for other notifications, it didn’t work for the initial new user registration email. When a new user registers on my site, it is still not using the updated sender namer and email. Do you know why?

    Reply
  24. Emmanuel says:
    Jan 6, 2017 at 11:43 am

    Great, it worked perfectly. Thank you

    Reply
  25. Christian says:
    Dec 27, 2016 at 7:13 pm

    Thank you. It works perfect!

    Reply
  26. Joshua says:
    Nov 20, 2016 at 1:42 pm

    Wow, it works…

    Reply
  27. Aurélien Denis says:
    Sep 20, 2016 at 8:26 am

    I’ve been using this method for years… but be careful it’s not compatible with plugins like Gravity Forms who already change this.

    Reply
    • WPBeginner Support says:
      Sep 20, 2016 at 2:23 pm

      If you are using a contact form plugin like WPForms or GravityForms, then you can set sender name and email address in plugin settings. However, this is mostly used by the emails sent by the plugin and not for the WordPress notification emails.

      Reply
  28. plu2 says:
    Sep 19, 2016 at 8:09 am

    Thank you for this great tip.

    For user friendliness you could consider removing the line numbers in the method 2 code.

    Reply
    • WPBeginner Support says:
      Sep 19, 2016 at 11:19 am

      These lines are added by the plugin we use for syntax highlighting and easy embedding of code in WordPress posts. You can click on the tiny ‘code’ button at the top right corner of the snippet to view and copy the raw code with no line numbers.

      Reply
  29. Collins says:
    Sep 17, 2016 at 6:42 am

    It worked… thanks so much. been searching all through until i finally saw this

    Reply
    • WPBeginner Support says:
      Sep 19, 2016 at 11:42 am

      Hey Collins, glad you found it helpful :) Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter for more WordPress tips and tutorials.

      Reply
  30. Verdi says:
    Sep 17, 2016 at 3:28 am

    Thank you!

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Thanks for choosing to leave a comment. Please keep in mind that all comments are moderated according to our comment policy, and your email address will NOT be published. Please Do NOT use keywords in the name field. Let's have a personal and meaningful conversation.

Over 1,320,000+ Readers

Get fresh content from WPBeginner

Featured WordPress Plugin
MonsterInsights
MonsterInsights
Google Analytics made easy for WordPress. Learn More »
How to Start a Blog How to Start a Blog
I need help with ...
Starting a
Blog
WordPress
Performance
WordPress
Security
WordPress
SEO
WordPress
Errors
Building an
Online Store
Useful WordPress Guides
    • 7 Best WordPress Backup Plugins Compared (Pros and Cons)
    • How to Fix the Error Establishing a Database Connection in WordPress
    • Why You Need a CDN for your WordPress Blog? [Infographic]
    • 30 Legit Ways to Make Money Online Blogging with WordPress
    • Self Hosted WordPress.org vs. Free WordPress.com [Infograph]
    • Free Recording: WordPress Workshop for Beginners
    • 24 Must Have WordPress Plugins for Business Websites
    • How to Properly Move Your Blog from WordPress.com to WordPress.org
    • 5 Best Contact Form Plugins for WordPress Compared
    • Which is the Best WordPress Popup Plugin? (Comparison)
    • Best WooCommerce Hosting in 2021 (Comparison)
    • How to Fix the Internal Server Error in WordPress
    • How to Install WordPress - Complete WordPress Installation Tutorial
    • Why You Should Start Building an Email List Right Away
    • How to Properly Move WordPress to a New Domain Without Losing SEO
    • How to Choose the Best WordPress Hosting for Your Website
    • How to Choose the Best Blogging Platform (Comparison)
    • WordPress Tutorials - 200+ Step by Step WordPress Tutorials
    • 5 Best WordPress Ecommerce Plugins Compared
    • 5 Best WordPress Membership Plugins (Compared)
    • 7 Best Email Marketing Services for Small Business (2021)
    • How to Choose the Best Domain Registrar (Compared)
    • The Truth About Shared WordPress Web Hosting
    • When Do You Really Need Managed WordPress Hosting?
    • 5 Best Drag and Drop WordPress Page Builders Compared
    • How to Switch from Blogger to WordPress without Losing Google Rankings
    • How to Properly Switch From Wix to WordPress (Step by Step)
    • How to Properly Move from Weebly to WordPress (Step by Step)
    • Do You Really Need a VPS? Best WordPress VPS Hosting Compared
    • How to Properly Move from Squarespace to WordPress
    • How to Register a Domain Name (+ tip to get it for FREE)
    • HostGator Review - An Honest Look at Speed & Uptime (2021)
    • SiteGround Reviews from 4464 Users & Our Experts (2021)
    • Bluehost Review from Real Users + Performance Stats (2021)
    • How Much Does It Really Cost to Build a WordPress Website?
    • How to Create an Email Newsletter the RIGHT WAY (Step by Step)
    • Free Business Name Generator (A.I Powered)
    • How to Create a Free Business Email Address in 5 Minutes (Step by Step)
    • How to Install Google Analytics in WordPress for Beginners
    • How to Move WordPress to a New Host or Server With No Downtime
    • Why is WordPress Free? What are the Costs? What is the Catch?
    • How to Make a Website in 2021 – Step by Step Guide
Deals & Coupons (view all)
ON1 Photo
ON1 Software Coupon
Get 20% off ON1 Photo Raw, ON1 Resize, and other ON1 Software.
Sprout Invoices
Sprout Invoices Coupon
Get 50% OFF on Sprout Invoices WordPress invoicing plugin.
Featured In
About WPBeginner®

WPBeginner is a free WordPress resource site for Beginners. WPBeginner was founded in July 2009 by Syed Balkhi. The main goal of this site is to provide quality tips, tricks, hacks, and other WordPress resources that allows WordPress beginners to improve their site(s).

Join our team: We are Hiring!

Site Links
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • FTC Disclosure
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Service
  • Free Blog Setup
  • Free Business Tools
  • Growth Fund
Our Sites
  • OptinMonster
  • MonsterInsights
  • WPForms
  • SeedProd
  • Nameboy
  • RafflePress
  • Smash Balloon
  • AIOSEO

Copyright © 2009 - 2021 WPBeginner LLC. All Rights Reserved. WPBeginner® is a registered trademark.

Managed by Awesome Motive | WordPress hosting by SiteGround | WordPress Security by Sucuri.