Contact Form 7 is my go-to WordPress contact form. It is simple and it is free and it is easy to use. However, recently, I had a problem or so it said.
When you log into your blog and see Configuration Error, the natural inclination is to panic. Have you seen this error?
If so go ahead, freak out for a moment.
No, don't. This is so easy. You don't need a web developer. Even if you didn't build your blog, you can easily fix this.
Have you seen this warning: Misconfiguration leads to mail delivery failure or other troubles.
Step 1: Click on Contact (On the left side of your WordPress Dashboard)
Step 2: Click on Contact Forms
Step 3: Click on the Contact Form that you need to fix
Step 4: Click on the "Mail" Tab
Error in From Field
Your email address needs to match your domain name. In the past you could use a Gmail or a Yahoo email and everything functioned just fine. However, Contact Form 7 wants you to use a an email address that is associated your domain. So for example, they want you to use renee @ iteachblogging.com instead of renee @ gmail.com.
Here is a bit of an explanation as to why this has become important.
As you can do this, so can spammers — and they do. Therefore, if you use a From email address that does not belong on the site domain, especially if you haven’t implemented an authentication method (described later), it is difficult for mail service providers to distinguish your legitimate mail from spam.
Bottom line: in the From field, use an email address that belongs to the same domain as the site. ~ Source
Step 5: Type a functioning email address that includes your domain name in the from field. The email address needs to be in the < > brackets, see below.
Step 6: Error in Subject Field
Again just like with the from email address, it has been discovered that email address without a defined subject field will likely be marked as spam. Therefore, it is possible that you will not receive the email.
Type a subject between the [ ] brackets. For example, just type [From The Blog] or something that alerts you as to where the email came from, see below.
Note: If you have multiple contact forms then you will mostly likely want to be a bit more specific.
Conclusion
Ok so hopefully that was pretty painless. Once you are done, you shouldn't see any misconfiguration errors from Contact Form 7. Just remember that your contact forms need a subject line and an email address that is tied to your domain.
When you log into your WordPress dashboard is always a good idea to take a look at your notifications. Not all notifications are as simple as this one to fix, so it sure is nice when we get the easy to solve problems.