can't seem to generate an email using Tools > Send Email

First, I'd like to say that I'm a complete newbie to both Zen Cart and this forum but I can already see that it's going to be an excellent resource that I'll use often.

Before I state my issue I should say that I have spent most of today going through the FAQs, quite a number of posts in this forum and the appropriate section of 'e-Start You Web Store with Zen Cart' (an excellent reference, BTW) and can't quite find the answer I need.

My issue is that when I try to use Tools > Send Email to send a test email, I'm basically getting nothing. I do not receive an email and there are no records in the zen_email_archive table.

My settings are as follows:
E-Mail Transport Method smtpauth (Windows server)
E-Mail Linefeeds CRLF
Use MIME HTML When Sending Emails false
Send E-Mails true
Verify E-Mail Addresses Through DNS false
Email Archiving Active? true
Emails must send from known domain? Yes

To the best of my knowledge (bet you hear that a lot...) the SMTP Email Account Mailbox, SMTP Email Account Password, SMTP Email Mail Host and SMTP Email Mail Server Port settings are correct.

The hosting account is with GoDaddy and SMTP relays have been set at 250. I've sent the same email outside Zen Cart and everything works fine.

Doubtless I've overlooked a detail or am doing something stupid (my best thing) but I'm just not seeing it. If anyone has some pearls of wisdom they'd like to share I'm certainly listening. I'll be happy to answer questions or provide more detail if needed.

What version of Zen Cart do you have installed?

Thanks for the fast reply! That would be version 1.3.7.1- should have thought to include that before...

Do "all" emails fail, or just the ones from the Admin "Send Mail" screen? (what about account-creation, or placing an order, etc)
How do you know the email isn't generating? Are you getting a specific error message? Or are you just not seeing it arrive in the destination mailbox?
Are you testing with a "free" email address (not recommended) or a "real" one tied to a hosting account?
Does this happen to "every" email address you try, or just certain ones?

Thanks for replying!

The answers in order:

1. The ones from the Admin "Send Email" screen. Perhaps I should have gone farther but that's as far as I've gotten in setting things up. My rationale was 'if this doesn't work, why go farther until it does'. Maybe the wrong rationale...

2. It isn't arriving in the destination mail box and no records are being generated in the zen_email_archive table.

3. Testing with a real one tied to a hosting account.

4. It has happened with a couple so far- they're known good email addresses.

Note: this cart is on a remote web host server and not a local machine.

Earl Parker II:

Thanks for the fast reply! That would be version 1.3.7.1

Somewhat unrelated to email issues ... I might suggest upgrading to v1.3.8 since it's got 11 months of bugfixes in it. If you're just starting out with things, it's likely prudent to start with the most up-to-date code base, rather than upgrading after you've customized a number of things.

I'll double-check but I'm fairly sure that 1.3.7.1 is the latest version my web host offers.

Going home for the day, will be back in the AM.

Just because that is what is on your host is rather immaterial. You need to download and install the latest code. It is not difficult, although it is not a one-click install.

Apparently there is a concept that I'm simply not grasping- and I say that honestly. The shopping cart is part of our hosting package, which is on a remote (InMotion web hosting) server. The latest version of the shopping cart they offer is 1.3.7.1. I'm not sure how I can download version 1.3.8.0 and install it on their server- or is there a bigger picture that I'm missing?

Earl Parker II:

My issue is that when I try to use Tools > Send Email to send a test email, I'm basically getting nothing. I do not receive an email and there are no records in the zen_email_archive table.If emails aren't reaching the email_archive table, then it would seem that Zen Cart is failing to connect to the mailserver successfully.

Causes for failure using SMTPAUTH mode:

• invalid information set for any or several of the SMTP settings: server, port, username, password
• bad files on server, perhaps due to customizing various language files and mistakenly creating a PHP syntax error in the process, causing the email script to die before it gets a chance to send

If your hosting company is smart enough to have given you access to server errorlogs, there might be some information in there about what's going wrong.

Additionally, you could try editing the /includes/functions/functions_email.php file ... in the top of that file is a "define" statement for "debug" settings. It's normally set to 0. Change it to 5 and test sending an email again. What happens?

Folks, I appreciate all the replies and, DrByte, your last post made me realize what was wrong- it is now working. I'd tell you what the solution was but I'm afraid I'd be banned from this forum on the grounds of gross stupidity. Let's just say there was one setting that wasn't correct and leave it at that.

You have all been very helpful and I will be back!

Sometimes staring at things for too long causes us to miss the obvious.
Glad you got it sorted out.