Gravity SMTP Beta: Test It Today!
By Gravity Forms
Published January 8, 2024
We’re excited to announce the release of Gravity SMTP beta 3, which sees Brevo added as an SMTP integration!
With Gravity SMTP, a new WordPress SMTP plugin brought to you by the Gravity team, you’ll be able to reliably send and track emails from your WordPress website.
Gravity SMTP has been released as a beta and we are asking members of our community to install the plugin in a sandbox environment and provide us with feedback. It is important to note that after the beta period ends, Gravity SMTP will initially only be available with an Elite license. However, while in beta, the plugin can be installed and tested by anyone with an active Gravity Forms license.
Read on to find out more about Gravity SMTP and how to get started with the beta today…
Gravity SMTP: An Intro
Sending emails via your WordPress website can be a headache. Unreliable emails can cause customer frustration, affect user experience and engagement, and negatively impact the reputation of your business.
Gravity SMTP provides a reliable email solution, ensuring you can confidently send emails and significantly improve delivery rates.
You can quickly integrate with the most trusted email providers, including SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, and Brevo, as well as other SMTP and API-based services.
And you can also seamlessly integrate Gravity SMTP with Gravity Forms, to reliably send form notifications from your WordPress website.
As mentioned, Gravity SMTP is currently in beta, and we have numerous features planned for this product that are coming soon. But for now, let’s look at what you can expect to find when you test the beta…
WordPress Email in Trusted Hands
With Gravity SMTP, you can easily integrate with the right email provider/s for your business.
While in beta, you’ll be able to send WordPress emails via SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, and now with the release of beta 3, Brevo! Additionally you can connect with other SMTP and API-based services via our Custom SMTP feature.
Simply configure the settings to connect with the email provider/s of your choice. Once synced, you can toggle each email service on or off, selecting the provider that best fits your requirements.
As Gravity SMTP is developed, we’ll be adding more out-of-the-box integrations, including Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, and Amazon SES, which are all currently in the works!
To have your say on the integrations you’d like to see, head on over to our Gravity SMTP Roadmap and let us know what’s important to you.
Track Your Emails
With the Gravity SMTP Email Logging feature, you’ll be able to track any email sent from your WordPress website. A detailed record of all emails will let you see at a glance email status and date/time sent, as well as further information including sender and recipient email addresses.
You can also also view the email sent in its original format. This allows you to conveniently review the content and check for any potential errors or formatting issues with ease!
Again, we have a number of email logging features planned in and coming soon to help you track and record all email activity, including tracking for email open rates, click-through rates, and more – watch this space!
Send Test Emails
After connecting with an email provider, Gravity SMTP will enable you to test the functionality of the mail sending service.
Using this feature, you can test your SMTP settings by sending a test email to an address of your choice, helping to ensure that your email configuration is correct and that emails will be sent and delivered successfully.
Ready to Install Gravity SMTP?
As is normal for a beta, we can’t guarantee a totally smooth ride. Therefore, please note that we do not recommend Gravity SMTP beta for use on production sites – you should only install and test the beta in a sandbox environment.
Additionally, Gravity Forms SMTP beta 2 saw updates to string prefixes throughout the codebase and database from gsmtp to gravitysmtp. If you have already installed and set up Gravity Forms beta 1, updating to beta 3 will result in losing all previously stored settings and logs.
If you want to play around with Gravity SMTP without installing it, you can check out the demo here.
Otherwise, follow these steps to install Gravity SMTP beta 3 on your test site…
- Open your Gravity Forms Account and under Your Downloads scroll down to Pre-releases where you will find Gravity SMTP beta 3.
(Note: Once out of beta, Gravity SMTP will be available with the Elite license. However, while in beta, this plugin can be installed by anyone with an active Gravity Forms license).
- Download Gravity SMTP.
(Note: Files will download in the ZIP archive file format. Do not unzip it or allow your browser to unzip it automatically. When you install it, you should upload it in the ZIP format).
- Open your development site WordPress dashboard and select Plugins > Add New > Upload Plugin. Then select the Gravity SMTP zip file and Install > Activate it on your website.
You can then follow the instructions in the Gravity SMTP Setup Wizard to help you connect to the email provider/s of your choice. For more in-depth information on Gravity SMTP, check out the documentation.
Best Practice for Testing Gravity SMTP Beta 3
Here are a few top tips and resources to help you get started with Gravity SMTP…
- Don’t Install Gravity SMTP Beta 3 on Your Live Site – Gravity SMTP has been released as a beta and is not recommended for production sites. You should only install and test the beta in a sandbox environment – even if you test the plugin and think everything is working, you should still not use it on your live site.
- Check Out the Gravity Forms Docs – Documentation to assist with the setup of Gravity SMTP is provided on our Documentation site. If you have feedback about the documentation, send your comments or suggestions to our Support team.
- Question for Support? – You can reach out via our normal help channels if you have questions on setting up the plugin.
- Give Us Feedback – The beta period enables us to collect feedback from our customers – if you have any questions, concerns, or come across any issues that we may need to know about, again please contact our Support team.
- After the Beta Period an Elite License Will Be Required – As mentioned, Gravity SMTP has been released as an open beta and can be installed and tested by anyone with an active Gravity Forms license. However, once the plugin is officially out of beta, it will only be available with an Elite license.
Gravity SMTP Beta 1 Changelog
- Added updated icon to dashboard screen.
- Added connector settings validation and UI messaging.
- Added pagination to the log details screen.
- Added a link to the settings page from the manage plugins screen.
- Added setup wizard.
- Added the ability to log emails when all integrations are disabled.
- Fixed an incompatibility with the Stop Emails plugin.
- Fixed an issue that causes failed Mailgun test emails to not display their error message correctly.
- Updated data grid to display 20 entries per page by default.
- Updated plugin branding to match new branding.
- Updated the log schema to be agnostic of activity type.
Gravity SMTP Beta 2 Changelog
- Added email previews to the log details screen.
- Added force email address and name settings to all integrations.
- Fixed an issue that causes some constants to not correctly override when set.
- Fixed some accessibility issues with various screens.
- Updated all string prefixes throughout the codebase and database from gsmtp to gravitysmtp. Note: updating to beta-2 will result in losing all previously stored settings and logs.
- Updated the ‘suggest an integration’ link.
- Updated license handling.
- Updated sidebar menu name to SMTP.
Gravity SMTP Beta 3 Changelog
- Added new sections to the technical information on the log details page.
- Added the Brevo connector.
- Fixed various issues with app screen layouts and modals that prevent the WordPress navigation from being scrollable in some cases.
- Fixed an issue where every connector is sending an API verification request on page load.
- Fixed an issue with character encoding in the custom SMTP connector.
- Updated test emails to use an HTML email format instead of plain text.
Thanks for supporting the beta release of this new product – we look forward to hearing your feedback!