Email Setup

Configure how FormBlade sends notification emails when you receive a new submission.

How email notifications work

When someone submits your form, FormBlade sends an email notification to the address you configured in your form's Settings tab. The email contains all submitted field data, the timestamp, and the submitter's IP address.

By default, FormBlade sends notifications through its own mail server. This works out of the box — no configuration needed. However, you may want to use your own email provider for better deliverability, custom "From" addresses, or higher sending limits.

Sending priority

FormBlade tries to send notifications in this order:

1. Per-form email provider — if you configured an API provider or SMTP on the form
2. Global default — FormBlade's built-in mail server (Brevo)

If the primary provider fails, Pro users with a backup email configured will automatically retry via the backup provider.

Choosing a provider type

FormBlade supports two categories of email providers:

API providers are recommended when available because they are faster and handle retries internally. SMTP is the universal fallback that works with any email service.

API providers

SendGrid

1. Sign up at sendgrid.com (free tier: 100 emails/day)
2. Go to Settings → API Keys
3. Click Create API Key, name it (e.g., "FormBlade"), and select Restricted Access
4. Under Mail Send, enable Full Access
5. Copy the API key (it is only shown once)
6. In FormBlade, open your form's Settings tab
7. Under Email Provider, select SendGrid
8. Paste the API key into the API Key field
9. Click Save

Mailgun

1. Sign up at mailgun.com
2. Go to Sending → Domains and add your domain (or use the sandbox domain for testing)
3. Go to Settings → API Keys
4. Copy your Private API Key
5. In FormBlade, select Mailgun as the provider
6. Paste the API key
7. Click Save

Brevo (formerly Sendinblue)

1. Sign up at brevo.com (free tier: 300 emails/day)
2. Go to SMTP & API → API Keys
3. Click Generate a new API key
4. Copy the key
5. In FormBlade, select Brevo as the provider
6. Paste the API key
7. Click Save

Postmark

1. Sign up at postmarkapp.com
2. Create a Server, then go to API Tokens
3. Copy the Server API Token
4. In FormBlade, select Postmark as the provider
5. Paste the token
6. Click Save

SparkPost

1. Sign up at sparkpost.com
2. Add and verify a sending domain under Configuration → Sending Domains
3. Go to Configuration → API Keys
4. Create a key with Transmissions: Read/Write permission
5. Copy the API key
6. In FormBlade, select SparkPost as the provider
7. Paste the API key
8. Click Save

SMTP providers

To use an SMTP provider, select it from the Email Provider dropdown in your form's Settings tab. FormBlade will pre-fill the SMTP host and port for known providers. You only need to enter your username and password.

Gmail

Gmail requires an App Password instead of your regular account password:

1. Go to myaccount.google.com/security
2. Enable 2-Step Verification if not already on
3. Go to App passwords (search for it on the security page)
4. Select Mail and Other, name it "FormBlade"
5. Click Generate and copy the 16-character password
6. Use this as the SMTP password in FormBlade

Outlook / Microsoft 365

If your organization uses multi-factor authentication, you will need to generate an App Password in your Microsoft account security settings.

Yahoo Mail

Generate an App Password at Account Info → Account Security → Generate app password in your Yahoo account.

Amazon SES

1. In the AWS Console, go to Amazon SES → SMTP settings
2. Click Create SMTP credentials
3. Copy the SMTP username and password
4. Make sure your sending domain or email is verified in SES
5. If you are in the SES sandbox, you also need to verify recipient emails

Custom SMTP

Select Custom SMTP from the provider dropdown to connect any SMTP server not listed above. Enter the host, port, encryption type (STARTTLS, TLS/SSL, or None), username, and password.

From name and from email

In your form's Settings tab, you can configure:

• From Name — the sender name shown in the notification email (e.g., "Contact Form" or "Acme Inc.")
• From Email — the sender email address (must be verified with your email provider)

If you don't set these, FormBlade uses sensible defaults: the form name as the from name, and notifications@formblade.com as the from email.

Testing your email setup

After configuring an email provider:

1. Click the Send Test Email button in the Email Provider section
2. FormBlade will send a test notification to your configured email address
3. Check your inbox (and spam folder) for the test email
4. If the test fails, you will see an error message with details — usually an authentication error or an unverified sender address

Backup email Business tier

Business plan users can configure a backup email provider. If the primary provider fails to send a notification (e.g., API key expired, SMTP server down), FormBlade will automatically retry with the backup provider.

To set up a backup:

1. In your form's Settings tab, scroll to the Backup Email Provider section
2. Select a provider and enter credentials, just like the primary provider
3. Click Save

The backup can be a different provider type than the primary. For example, you might use SendGrid as your primary and Gmail SMTP as your backup. The backup is only used when the primary fails — it does not send duplicate emails.

Free plan email branding

On the free plan, all notification emails include a small footer: "Sent via FormBlade". This applies whether you use FormBlade's default sending or your own custom SMTP. Upgrading to Pro removes the branding from all emails.

Troubleshooting

Emails going to spam

• Use an API provider (SendGrid, Postmark, etc.) instead of SMTP for better reputation
• Verify your sending domain with SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records
• Make sure your "From Email" matches the domain you verified

Authentication errors

• Gmail: make sure you are using an App Password, not your regular password
• Outlook: check if your organization blocks SMTP access — ask your IT admin
• API providers: regenerate the API key and paste it again (no extra spaces)

Emails not sending at all

• Check that you have a notification email address set on the form
• Verify the provider credentials with the Send Test Email button
• For SMTP, confirm the port and encryption settings match your provider's requirements