Troubleshoot Gmail not getting contact form messages

If you’re having issues with Gmail not receiving contact form messages from your web site, try the solutions in this article. This article has troubleshooting information for common issues with contact forms, including:  

• Gmail isn’t getting expected messages from contact forms.
• Valid messages from your website contact form are sent to spam or rejected, including messages sent from these contact form providers:
  • Contact Form 7
  • GoDaddy
  • Zendesk
  • Squarespace
  • Shopify

Tips: 

• Usually, the form itself isn't the cause of the issue, but how the message is sent from the form by the sending mail delivery system.  
• Contact Forms Pro is a solution that might help you manage your contact form messages.

How contact forms send messages to Gmail 

Websites often include a Contact us form that automatically sends an email message when someone submits information in the form. If your website has a contact form, the messages are typically sent to a Google Workspace Gmail account that you set up for this purpose. 

Here’s how a website contact form sends messages to a Gmail mailbox:

1. Someone enters information in the contact form (A), then submits the form.
2. The contact form automatically creates and sends an email message, which passes through Google email servers (B).
3. Before delivering the message, Gmail scans it to make sure it’s not spam and doesn’t contain harmful software.
4. Gmail delivers the message to the account that you set up to get contact form messages (C).

Contact form messages are sent to spam or rejected

Sometimes, Gmail marks contact form messages as spam, or rejects the messages. Often, the root cause of this issue is how the contact form provider authenticates email. Contact form messages are typically authenticated with SPF, SMTP relay, or DKIM.

Take these steps to identify and troubleshoot the authentication method for your form messages:

Step 1: Verify your form provider’s authentication method 

Contact your form provider to find out if they use their own mail sending servers and require you to set up SPF or DKIM DNS records, or if you have to provide external SMTP credentials for sending contact form messages. SPF, DKIM or external SMTP connections are the most common authentication methods for form communication.

If your provider uses:

• SPF, go to Step 2a: Update your SPF record to include all email senders
• SMTP relay, go to Step 2b: Verify your SMTP password at your provider
• DKIM, go to Step 2c: Use DKIM to authenticate

In these steps, we’ve included a list of the most common contact forms providers, with links to their help documentation.

Step 2a: Update your SPF record to include all email senders

SPF is an email authentication method that specifies the domains and IP addresses that are allowed to send email for you. When servers get messages that appear to be from your domain, they check your SPF record to verify that the sender is authorized by you.

This video explains how SPF records work:

Add third-party senders to your SPF record

When you send email using only your Workspace Gmail account, you can use the default SPF record for Google:

v=spf1 include:_spf.google.com ~all

However, when other services send email for your domain, you must update your SPF record to include these senders. If you don’t, messages from these senders are more likely to be marked as spam. A contact form that automatically sends messages is an email sender for your domain. You must update your SPF record to include the IP address or the domain for the contact form provider.

If your SPF record doesn’t include all third-party senders for your domain, update your record to include those senders. For detailed steps, visit Define your SPF record—Basic setup.

Example SPF records for common third-party senders

These are some examples of how Google Workspace SPF records are updated for some common providers.

Important: Providers may change their SPF requirements at any time. Always refer to your provider’s current support information for the latest IP addresses or domains to include in your SPF record. 

Use the SPF include: mechanism, as shown in these examples, to add email senders to your default SPF record. 

Verify your SPF record includes all senders

Use the Google Admin Toolbox to check your SPF record and verify that it includes all third-party senders for your domain. For detailed steps, visit Check if you have an existing SPF record. 

Providers that use SPF for authentication

Below, we’ve provided links to SPF help information for some common contact form providers. 

• GoDaddy
• Shopify: Shopify recommends using Wufoo for contact forms on your website.
• Zendesk
• 123formbuilder
• FormAssembly
• WordPress recommends using one of the following services for contact forms on your website:
  • WPForms
  • Formidable Forms
  • HubSpot Forms

Note: Links might change. If you have issues, go directly to your provider’s help center.

If you’re still having issues

If you’re still having SPF record issues, contact your website or form provider.

Step 2b: Verify your SMTP password at your provider

Some email senders use SMTP to authenticate outgoing messages. Senders verify their identity by logging into the SMTP server with a username and password. This helps ensure that only valid senders use the SMTP server to send messages.

To set up SMTP relay, you need connection information from your SMTP provider. If you plan to use SMTP from Gmail, go to Send email from a printer, scanner, or app for connection details.

Check your SMTP username and password

If your provider uses SMTP to send and authenticate contact form messages, make sure your login information for the SMTP server is correct. Check your username and password at your website or form provider, not in your Google Admin console.

Providers that use SMTP for authentication

We’ve provided links to the SMTP help information for some common contact form providers:

• Shopify: Shopify recommends using Jotform for contact forms using SMTP relay.
• WPForms: Uses SMTP relay method
• Formstack: Uses SMTP/OAuth authentication

Note: Links might change. If you have issues, go directly to your provider’s help center.

If you’re not getting email from Contact Form 7…

If you’re having issues receiving mail from Wordpress Contact Form 7, you can try the WP Mail SMTP plug-in. The plug-in connects directly to your Gmail or Workspace Account and sends messages on your behalf. For more information and detailed instructions, go to Why is Contact Form 7 not sending emails.

Step 2c: Use DKIM to authenticate 

Some providers who offer their own mail services to send form communication to users, might ask you to set up DKIM to authenticate messages that are sent on your behalf. DKIM ensures that recipients can verify that messages sent from a third party service are allowed to be sent on your behalf and that these messages weren't altered during transport. 

To set up DKIM, you need a personal DKIM public key and selector from your form provider. Add the DKIM key and selector to your DNS records. You follow a similar procedure when you set up Workspace to use Google Forms, Calendar, or Drive to send messages to recipients. 

• If Google is your forms provider, follow the instructions in Turn on DKIM for your Domain.
• For other form providers, please refer to their documentation on how to retrieve the DKIM key and selector and how to set up authentication. 

Providers that use DKIM for authentication

We’ve provided links to the DKIM help information for some common contact form providers:

• Mailchimp 
• Squarespace
• 123formbuilder
• Zendesk

Note: Links might change. If you have issues, go directly to your provider’s help center.

Step 3: Use Email Log Search to find missing messages

Email Log Search (ELS) helps you find messages that you’re expecting, but weren’t delivered as expected. If you can’t find messages from your contact form in Gmail, use ELS to search for them. 

For detailed steps about using ELS to find missing messages, visit Find messages with Email Log Search.

If you find a missing message in ELS, review the message status to get more information about why the message wasn’t delivered as expected. For detailed message status descriptions, visit Email Log Search delivery status definitions.

DMARC error message in ELS

If ELS results include the following error, it’s possible that your SPF record doesn’t include all email senders for your domain. 

550-5.7.26 Unauthenticated email from domain-name is not accepted due to domain-name’s DMARC policy 

Go to Add third-party senders to your SPF record on this page.

SMTP error messages in ELS

Sometimes, ELS results include SMTP error messages. For error message descriptions that might help you identify the problem, visit Gmail SMTP errors and codes.  

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