Magic Link / OTP emails not sending

If Magic Link or Email OTP codes aren’t arriving in your inbox, don’t panic. In most cases the plugin is working correctly and the issue is with email delivery on the site (wp_mail), SMTP settings, or a small misconfiguration.

This guide walks you through everything to check before you contact support.

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When this guide applies

Use this article if:

• Users click “Send Magic Link” or “Login with Email OTP”

• VentraConnect shows a success message (no error on the form)

• But no email arrives in their inbox

If you see an error code/message on the screen instead, see the dedicated error explanation article (for invalid email, throttling, max attempts, etc.).

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1. Confirm Magic Link / OTP is actually enabled

First make sure the features themselves are turned on.

1. Go to VentraConnect → Login Methods.

2. Open the relevant tab:

   • Magic Link (Pro)

   • OTP (Email) (Pro)

3. Check:

   • Active toggle is On

   • Code length / Expiry / Resend throttle and other options are set as you expect

4. Scroll down and make sure the method is not restricted by:

   • Registration mode (e.g. “Login only (existing users)”)

   • Any access rules that might stop the email from being generated

If the method is Off or heavily restricted, turn it On, save changes, and test again.

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2. Check that buttons are visible on the form

If users can’t see the Magic Link / OTP buttons, they obviously can’t trigger an email.

WordPress core login form

1. Go to VentraConnect → Settings → General.

2. Under Show on WordPress login/register, confirm that:

   • Login form toggle is On

   • (Optional) Register form is On if you want it there too

3. Scroll down and check that your button layout/theme settings look correct.

WooCommerce / membership / LMS / comments

For other areas:

• WooCommerce → VentraConnect → WooCommerce tab

• Memberships & communities → relevant plugin tab

• Courses & LMS → LMS tab

• Comments → VentraConnect → Comments

Make sure:

• Integration is enabled

• The relevant form placement options are set (above form / below form / inside form)

• You can actually see the Magic Link / OTP buttons on the front-end form you’re testing

If you don’t see the button at all, fix that before chasing email delivery.

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3. Use the built-in test/send tools (if available)

VentraConnect lets you send test messages directly from the settings page.

1. Go to VentraConnect → Login Methods → Magic Link (or OTP (Email)).

2. Look for the Preview & test section.

3. Enter a test email address that you can access.

4. Click Send test (or equivalent button).

Now check your inbox:

• If the test email works, but real login/OTP emails don’t, skip ahead to
  “7. Check for throttling, attempts, and rate limits”.

• If the test email also doesn’t arrive, continue with the hosting / SMTP checks below.

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4. Test your site’s email using another plugin

We need to figure out if this is a global email problem or VentraConnect-only.

1. Install a simple contact form plugin (e.g. Contact Form 7, WPForms Lite – anything lightweight).

2. Create a basic form that sends an email to your own address.

3. Submit the form.

Now compare:

• Scenario A – No emails from anything
  – Contact form emails don’t arrive
  – Magic Link / OTP test emails don’t arrive
  ➜ Your site email (wp_mail) is broken or blocked. This is a hosting / SMTP issue, not a VentraConnect bug.

• Scenario B – Contact form emails work, VentraConnect does not
  ➜ Move on to sections 5–7 – we’re dealing with config, deliverability, or plugin conflict.

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5. Fix basic deliverability: use a proper SMTP plugin

Most hosts are bad at sending PHP mail. Even if it “works”, messages often land in spam.

For a production site you should always send via SMTP or an email service.

Recommended approach:

1. Install a transactional email plugin (examples: WP Mail SMTP, FluentSMTP, etc.).

2. Connect it to a real mail provider:

   • Your host’s SMTP

   • Your domain email (e.g. via cPanel or a mail service)

   • Or a dedicated service like SendGrid, Mailgun, Amazon SES, etc.

3. Use the SMTP plugin’s test email feature to ensure delivery works.

4. Once this test succeeds, retest:

   • Magic Link test send

   • OTP test send

   • Real login / OTP flows from the front-end

If SMTP test emails don’t work, fix that first – VentraConnect can’t send emails if wp_mail itself is failing.

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6. Check spam/junk and “Promotions” tabs

It sounds stupid, but you will save yourself time by verifying this up front:

• Check the Spam/Junk folder of your test mailbox

• Check “Promotions” or “Updates” tabs (Gmail, etc.)

• Search your inbox for:

  • Subject line you configured in VentraConnect

  • Sender name / email

If messages are there but marked as spam:

• Set a clearer From name and From address in your SMTP plugin

• Use a real mailbox like login@yourdomain.com, not no-reply@localhost

• Avoid spammy subject lines or all-caps

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7. Check throttling, attempts, and rate limits (OTP)

For Email OTP specifically, codes won’t be sent indefinitely if the user is hammering the form.

Go to VentraConnect → Login Methods → OTP (Email) and check:

• Resend throttle (sec) – how long after a send the user must wait before they can request another code

• Max attempts – how many wrong OTP entries are allowed before lockout

Common mistakes:

• Setting a very low throttle (e.g. 0) in testing, then forgetting you raised it later

• Setting max attempts = 0 or 1, then wondering why codes stop working after one mistake

Try with:

• Resend throttle: 30–60 seconds

• Max attempts: 5

Save, then test again using a fresh browser session or private window.

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8. Check Magic Link expiry and token reuse

Magic Links are single-use and tied to an expiry time.

In Magic Link settings:

• Make sure expiry (minutes) isn’t set to something tiny (like 1–2 minutes) when you’re testing slowly.

• If a user clicks an old link or reuses the same email multiple times in a row, they might be clicking an already-used or expired link.

Good test setup:

• Expiry: 10–30 minutes for normal sites

• Remember: the latest link sent is the one that remains valid; old links will fail.

If you’re testing many times, always use the most recent email.

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9. Check for plugin conflicts or custom code

If everything above looks good and you still get nothing only for Magic Link / OTP:

1. Temporarily disable:

   • Security / firewall plugins (Wordfence, iThemes, etc.)

   • Login/redirect plugins that also modify wp-login.php

   • Aggressive caching/plugins that might cache forms or AJAX responses

2. Clear caches (plugin + host + browser).

3. Test again.

If the emails suddenly start working:

• Re-enable plugins one at a time to find the culprit.

• For the conflicting plugin, you may need to:

  • Exclude VentraConnect’s login/OTP routes from blocking

  • Disable one of its overlapping features (e.g. separate 2FA/OTP system)

  • Add compatibility rules on your security plugin

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10. Collect diagnostics before contacting support

If you’ve gone through all steps and Magic Link / OTP emails still won’t send, contact support – but send useful data so we don’t play email ping-pong.

1) Copy VentraConnect diagnostics

1. Go to VentraConnect → Diagnostics & Tools.

2. Scroll to Logs & export.

3. Click Copy diagnostics to clipboard.

4. Paste this into your support email/ticket.

2) Include these details

Along with the diagnostics blob, please include:

• A short description: “Magic Link emails not sending on WooCommerce checkout” (for example)

• The exact form you’re using:

  • WordPress login

  • WooCommerce login / checkout / My Account

  • Comment form

  • Membership / LMS login page

• A screenshot of your:

  • Magic Link settings

  • OTP (Email) settings (if relevant)

• Whether:

  • SMTP plugin test emails work

  • Contact form plugin emails work

Send this to support and we can see very quickly if it’s a configuration issue, host-level email problem, or a genuine bug.