how do I change the default adminstrator?

Never had to do this before and feel kinda dumb but I need to change the default administrator so that when sending emails from admin to the administrator (for testing purposes) it goes to the website owner and not me. I don't see anything in the admin tables that indicates how this is decided and I couldn't pop up an appropriate configuration setting.

There's no such thing as a "default administrator".

Which specific emails are you wanting sent to someone else?
Most emails are sent to the addresses shown in Admin->Configuration->Email Options

the options in send email under tools include an administrator. I thought that used to be determined by the email addresses entered in the email options but it the email went to me - and my email is not in admin.

Oh. That "Administrator" option picks the email address from the currently-logged-in administrator.
You can change that email address by clicking "Account" in the top right corner of your admin screen, next to the Logoff link.

well, son of a gun. I don't recall that being the case. Obviously, this must of changed somewhere back along the line!

Thanks!

Just remember that the email address on an admin account also allows password resets for that admin account.

And for that reason I don't recommend having more than one administrator using the same email address.

and the reason why we were looking at this is because he cannot get order confirmation emails at all. Everything else is working fine - welcome emails, customer confirmation etc - just no order confirmation emails. I cannot thing of what could be happening. This comes after upgrading from 1.5.1 to 1.5.5a. Any ideas?

a) do customers get their confirmation emails?
b) if you change the address for admin copies of confirmation emails, do they arrive? What exactly is the address that's entered? Is it in the correct format? Admin->Configuration->Email Options

yep, customers get the confirmation and yes we have tried changing the admin email address and I know it's correct

I did install COWOA on this installation and this morning thought it must be because I had used the 1.5.4 orders.php file but using the 1.5.5a default file makes no difference.

delia:

yes we have tried changing the admin email address and I know it's correct
The "address" may be correct, but have you put it in the correct prescribed format, as explained in the help-text next to the field?

ie:

"name of recipient" <[email protected]>

not just:

[email protected]

just the email address has always worked - has that changed?

delia:

just the email address has always worked - has that changed?
Nope. Not new.

I made that change and the emails still aren't happening.

Well, since all other emails are sending properly, it doesn't appear to be an issue with the email code.

So then the next typical culprit is either the email server or the email address itself. Remember: quite often a server may be configured to reject emails sent "from itself to itself", so maybe that's the issue (assuming the email address you're talking about is the same one the store sends from). I don't recall you saying that you tried various alternate email addresses.

I could type out a hundred other suggestions here, but I already put them in another couple articles, so I'll reference them instead:
http://www.zen-cart.com/wiki/index.php/Troubleshoot_-_Email_Problems
http://www.zen-cart.com/wiki/index.php/Troubleshoot_-_Understanding_Causes_Of_Lost_Emails

no, we have tried various emails and as a customer he is getting confirmation emails.

Remember this is an upgrade (and template change) and he was getting the emails before the upgrade.

and the emails show up as sent in the database archive.

delia:

and the emails show up as sent in the database archive.
Then that means it's your email server that's dropping them. You might ask the server administrator what the email-server's logs are saying about why it's choosing not to deliver them.

I'm aware that you keep saying "it worked before the upgrade" from v151. Good. That's important to know.
While Zen Cart did upgrade the email code that handles email transmission (PHP Mailer upgraded to a much more modern version, which is much more compatible with modern mail servers), yours is the first I've heard of any sudden problems. In many cases it improved email delivery.

You haven't mentioned what email-transport is being used, or any other settings data. Those options are covered in the articles I linked to above. SMTPAUTH is what I always recommend people use for most reliable delivery.

If your server is requiring something specific, only the server administrator can tell you ....and probably only after reviewing the server configs and logs.

So it has to be the server (bluehost.com) because I set the exact same files up on my server and it all works perfectly.