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Your training site sends email all day: password resets, purchase receipts, certificates, event reminders. This article shows platform admins how to connect an email provider so those messages send from your own address, how to choose who gets notified, and what to check when mail does not arrive.
Where to find it
Sign in to the admin panel at /admin. In the sidebar, open Settings and click General, then select the Email tab. You need settings access to see this menu; if it is missing, ask another administrator.
The Email tab has five sections:
- Sender - the From name and address on outgoing mail.
- Activity Notifications - extra addresses that hear about course completions and certificates.
- Contact Form Recipients - where storefront contact messages are emailed.
- Outbound email provider - your SMTP or SendGrid connection.
- Default Email Template - the header and footer wrapped around every notification email.
Your own personal notification toggles live in your profile, under the Notifications tab.
Set your sender identity
- Open Settings, click General, then the Email tab.
- In the Sender section, enter a sender name (for example, your team name) and a sender address.
- Click Save.
Use an address on a domain you control and that your email provider is allowed to send for. The provider form warns you if no sender address is set, because a mismatched sending domain is a common reason mail lands in spam.
Connect an email provider
The platform does not push your site's mail through a shared server. Until you connect a provider, your site cannot actually send mail, so do this early. It is also a step on the setup checklist (see /knowledge/tenant/initial-setup).
- In the Outbound email provider section, choose SMTP or SendGrid.
- For SMTP, fill in the host, port, username, password, and encryption (None, TLS (STARTTLS), or SSL).
- For SendGrid, paste an API key created with the Mail Send permission only.
- Click Save. The section badge changes to Not verified.
- Click Send test email. It defaults to your own account address; change the recipient if you want, then send.
- When the test succeeds, the badge switches to Verified.
This one connection carries every email sent for your site and for all organizations under it. Organization storefronts do not have their own separate mail connection.
Choose who gets notified
Activity Notifications. Add addresses that should get an email whenever any learner on your platform completes a course or earns a certificate. The list applies platform-wide, across every organization, and recipients do not need accounts on the platform. These emails are sent on top of whatever alerts each organization has configured for itself.
Contact Form Recipients. When this list is set, storefront contact-form submissions (from your storefront and from any organization storefront without a list of its own) are emailed to these addresses instead of your admins. Admins keep the in-app alert and can still read and reply from the Inquiries inbox. Leave the list empty to email admins as usual.
Customize the default email template
- In the Default Email Template section, edit the header and footer markup.
- Use the preview to check the result.
- Save.
This header and footer wrap every notification email your site sends. Each organization gets its own copy of the template when it is created, so it can be branded separately later.
What the platform sends
| Area | Examples |
|---|---|
| Accounts | Welcome, email address verification, password reset and set-password links, account locked |
| Learning | Enrollment confirmed, course completed, certificate issued, certificate expiry warnings, quiz and assignment grading, newly unlocked content |
| Purchases | Purchase confirmation, payment failed, subscription renewal, cancellation and expiry notices, trial ending, shipment shipped, digital download ready |
| Events | Booking confirmations, reminders, cancellations, dates announced |
| Groups and seats | Seat assigned, seat pool running low, access codes, group course and event invites |
| Staff alerts | New orders (completed or failed), new contact inquiry, support ticket activity |
Every user, including you, can switch individual notification types between the Email and In-App channels from the Notifications tab of their profile. The list covers types such as Welcome, Password Reset, Seat Assigned, Enrollment Confirmed, Course Completed, Certificate Issued, Certificate Expiry Warning, Purchase Confirmation, Payment Failed, Event Booking, Event Reminder, Event Cancelled, Event Dates Confirmed, Access Code Batch, Seat Pool Low, and New Contact Inquiry.
Why did this happen?
Why is nobody receiving email from our site?
Almost always because no email provider is connected, or the saved credentials are wrong. The platform deliberately refuses to route your site's mail through shared infrastructure, so with no working provider the messages are simply not delivered. Connect SMTP or SendGrid and click Send test email; a failed test shows the provider's actual error message, which usually names the problem.
Why does the provider badge say "Not verified" after I edited the settings?
Every save of the provider settings clears the verification stamp, because the platform can no longer be sure the new values work. Sending continues with the saved settings; the badge only tracks the last successful test. Click Send test email again to re-verify.
Why do our emails land in recipients' spam folders?
The most common cause is a sender address that does not match the domain your provider actually sends from. Set a sender address on your own domain in the Sender section, and make sure your domain's DNS authorizes your provider to send for it (SPF and DKIM records, set up wherever you manage your domain). The provider form warns when no sender address is set for exactly this reason.
Why did contact-form messages stop arriving in our admins' mailboxes?
Someone filled in the Contact Form Recipients list. When that list is set, submission emails go only to those addresses; admins keep the in-app alert and the Inquiries inbox but no longer get the email. Also note that an organization with a recipient list of its own overrides yours for its storefront. Clear the list to restore the default behavior.
Why did one specific user stop getting certain emails?
Each user can turn individual notification types off for the email channel in their profile's Notifications tab. Ask them to check those toggles, and to check their spam folder. If In-App is still enabled for the type, the notification continues to appear inside the platform.
Related
- Initial setup checklist
- Getting started as a platform admin
- Add-ons, reports, and support
- Notifications and support (for organization admins)
Still stuck on delivery? Reach out through support and include the exact error from a test send if you have one.