Sending a plain-text email<\/span><\/h2>\nHere’s a complete, minimal script that connects to your ChemiCloud SMTP server and sends a plain-text message. Replace the placeholder credentials and addresses with your own.<\/p>\n
<?php\r\nuse PHPMailer\\PHPMailer\\PHPMailer;\r\nuse PHPMailer\\PHPMailer\\Exception;\r\n\r\nrequire 'vendor\/autoload.php';\r\n\r\n$mail = new PHPMailer(true); \/\/ \"true\" turns on exceptions for easier debugging\r\n\r\ntry {\r\n \/\/ --- SMTP configuration ---\r\n $mail->isSMTP();\r\n $mail->Host = 'mail.yourdomain.com'; \/\/ your ChemiCloud mail server\r\n $mail->SMTPAuth = true;\r\n $mail->Username = 'noreply@yourdomain.com'; \/\/ full email address\r\n $mail->Password = 'your-email-password';\r\n $mail->SMTPSecure = PHPMailer::ENCRYPTION_SMTPS; \/\/ SSL\r\n $mail->Port = 465;\r\n\r\n \/\/ --- Addresses ---\r\n $mail->setFrom('noreply@yourdomain.com', 'Your Website');\r\n $mail->addAddress('customer@example.com', 'Customer Name');\r\n\r\n \/\/ --- Content ---\r\n $mail->isHTML(false); \/\/ plain text\r\n $mail->Subject = 'Thanks for getting in touch';\r\n $mail->Body = \"Hi there,\\n\\nWe received your message and will reply soon.\\n\\nBest regards,\\nYour Website Team\";\r\n\r\n $mail->send();\r\n echo 'Message sent successfully.';\r\n} catch (Exception $e) {\r\n echo \"Message could not be sent. Error: {$mail->ErrorInfo}\";\r\n}<\/code><\/code><\/pre>\nWhen the script runs without errors, you’ll see \u201cMessage sent successfully\u201d and the email will arrive in the recipient’s inbox within a few seconds.<\/p>\n
Sending an HTML email<\/span><\/h2>\nFor richer messages, switch the format to HTML with isHTML(true)<\/code> and provide both an HTML body and a plain-text alternative. The alternative is shown by mail clients that can’t (or won’t) render HTML, and including it also helps with deliverability.<\/p>\n<?php\r\nuse PHPMailer\\PHPMailer\\PHPMailer;\r\nuse PHPMailer\\PHPMailer\\Exception;\r\n\r\nrequire 'vendor\/autoload.php';\r\n\r\n$mail = new PHPMailer(true);\r\n\r\ntry {\r\n $mail->isSMTP();\r\n $mail->Host = 'mail.yourdomain.com';\r\n $mail->SMTPAuth = true;\r\n $mail->Username = 'noreply@yourdomain.com';\r\n $mail->Password = 'your-email-password';\r\n $mail->SMTPSecure = PHPMailer::ENCRYPTION_SMTPS;\r\n $mail->Port = 465;\r\n\r\n $mail->setFrom('noreply@yourdomain.com', 'Your Website');\r\n $mail->addAddress('customer@example.com', 'Customer Name');\r\n $mail->addReplyTo('support@yourdomain.com', 'Support Team');\r\n\r\n $mail->isHTML(true);\r\n $mail->Subject = 'Welcome aboard!';\r\n $mail->Body = '<h1>Welcome!<\/h1><p>Your account is ready. We\\'re glad to have you.<\/p>';\r\n $mail->AltBody = 'Welcome! Your account is ready. We\\'re glad to have you.';\r\n\r\n $mail->send();\r\n echo 'HTML message sent.';\r\n} catch (Exception $e) {\r\n echo \"Message could not be sent. Error: {$mail->ErrorInfo}\";\r\n}<\/code><\/pre>\nSending to multiple recipients (To, CC, and BCC)<\/span><\/h2>\nPHPMailer lets you add as many recipients as you need across the To, CC, and BCC fields. Simply call the relevant method once per address:<\/p>\n
$mail->addAddress('first@example.com', 'First Recipient');\r\n$mail->addAddress('second@example.com', 'Second Recipient');\r\n\r\n$mail->addCC('manager@example.com', 'A Manager');\r\n\r\n$mail->addBCC('archive@yourdomain.com');\r\n$mail->addBCC('records@yourdomain.com');<\/code><\/pre>\nEveryone in the To and CC fields can see each other’s addresses; anyone in BCC stays hidden from the rest. If you’re emailing a list of people who don’t know one another, put them in BCC \u2014 or, better, send individual messages (see the loop example further down).<\/p>\n
Sending emails with attachments<\/span><\/h2>\nTo attach a file that already exists on your server, point PHPMailer at its path. The optional second argument sets the filename the recipient sees:<\/p>\n
$mail->addAttachment('\/home\/username\/invoices\/invoice-1042.pdf', 'invoice.pdf');<\/code><\/pre>\nYou can attach more than one file by calling the method again:<\/p>\n
$mail->addAttachment('\/home\/username\/reports\/summary.xlsx', 'summary.xlsx');<\/code><\/pre>\nIf the data you want to attach isn’t a file on disk \u2014 say it’s stored in a database or generated on the fly \u2014 use a string attachment instead. This avoids having to write a temporary file:<\/p>\n
\/\/ Attach data pulled from a database (e.g. a stored PDF)\r\n$mail->addStringAttachment($pdfData, 'document.pdf');<\/code><\/pre>\nYou can also attach the contents of a remote URL:<\/p>\n
$mail->addStringAttachment(file_get_contents('https:\/\/example.com\/report.pdf'), 'report.pdf');<\/code><\/pre>\nEmbedding images in the email body<\/span><\/h2>\nSometimes you want an image to appear inside the message rather than as a downloadable attachment \u2014 a logo in a header, for instance. PHPMailer handles this with embedded (inline) images referenced by a content ID, or \u201cCID.\u201d<\/p>\n
$mail->addEmbeddedImage('\/home\/username\/assets\/logo.png', 'logo_cid');\r\n$mail->isHTML(true);\r\n$mail->Body = '<img src=\"cid:logo_cid\" alt=\"Logo\"><p>Welcome to our store.<\/p>';<\/code><\/pre>\nHere’s how that fits into a full script:<\/p>\n
<?php\r\nuse PHPMailer\\PHPMailer\\PHPMailer;\r\nuse PHPMailer\\PHPMailer\\Exception;\r\n\r\nrequire 'vendor\/autoload.php';\r\n\r\n$mail = new PHPMailer(true);\r\n\r\ntry {\r\n $mail->isSMTP();\r\n $mail->Host = 'mail.yourdomain.com';\r\n $mail->SMTPAuth = true;\r\n $mail->Username = 'noreply@yourdomain.com';\r\n $mail->Password = 'your-email-password';\r\n $mail->SMTPSecure = PHPMailer::ENCRYPTION_SMTPS;\r\n $mail->Port = 465;\r\n\r\n $mail->setFrom('noreply@yourdomain.com', 'Your Website');\r\n $mail->addAddress('customer@example.com', 'Customer Name');\r\n\r\n $mail->isHTML(true);\r\n $mail->Subject = 'Our latest newsletter';\r\n $mail->addEmbeddedImage('\/home\/username\/assets\/logo.png', 'logo_cid');\r\n $mail->Body = '<img src=\"cid:logo_cid\" alt=\"Logo\"><h2>This month\\'s updates<\/h2><p>Here is what is new.<\/p>';\r\n $mail->AltBody = 'This month\\'s updates - here is what is new.';\r\n\r\n $mail->send();\r\n echo 'Newsletter sent.';\r\n} catch (Exception $e) {\r\n echo \"Message could not be sent. Error: {$mail->ErrorInfo}\";\r\n}<\/code><\/pre>\nLooping through a list of recipients<\/span><\/h2>\nWhen you need to send a personalized message to several people, reuse a single PHPMailer instance and clear the recipient list between sends. Turning on SMTPKeepAlive<\/code> keeps the connection open so you’re not reconnecting for every message, which is noticeably faster.<\/p>\n<?php\r\nuse PHPMailer\\PHPMailer\\PHPMailer;\r\nuse PHPMailer\\PHPMailer\\Exception;\r\n\r\nrequire 'vendor\/autoload.php';\r\n\r\n$mail = new PHPMailer(true);\r\n\r\n$mail->isSMTP();\r\n$mail->Host = 'mail.yourdomain.com';\r\n$mail->SMTPAuth = true;\r\n$mail->Username = 'noreply@yourdomain.com';\r\n$mail->Password = 'your-email-password';\r\n$mail->SMTPSecure = PHPMailer::ENCRYPTION_SMTPS;\r\n$mail->Port = 465;\r\n$mail->SMTPKeepAlive = true; \/\/ keep the connection open between messages\r\n\r\n$mail->setFrom('noreply@yourdomain.com', 'Your Website');\r\n$mail->isHTML(true);\r\n\r\n$recipients = [\r\n ['email' => 'alice@example.com', 'name' => 'Alice'],\r\n ['email' => 'bob@example.com', 'name' => 'Bob'],\r\n];\r\n\r\nforeach ($recipients as $person) {\r\n try {\r\n $mail->addAddress($person['email'], $person['name']);\r\n $mail->Subject = 'A quick update, ' . $person['name'];\r\n $mail->Body = \"<p>Hi {$person['name']}, here is your update.<\/p>\";\r\n $mail->AltBody = \"Hi {$person['name']}, here is your update.\";\r\n\r\n $mail->send();\r\n echo \"Sent to {$person['email']}\\n\";\r\n } catch (Exception $e) {\r\n echo \"Failed for {$person['email']}: {$mail->ErrorInfo}\\n\";\r\n }\r\n\r\n $mail->clearAddresses(); \/\/ reset for the next recipient\r\n}\r\n\r\n$mail->smtpClose();<\/code><\/pre>\nIf you anticipate sending a high volume of mail, do the actual sending in the background through a queue rather than during a page load, and pace your sends so you stay within your account’s hourly limits (more on that below).<\/p>\n
Debugging connection problems<\/span><\/h2>\nWhen mail won’t send, PHPMailer’s built-in SMTP debugging is the fastest way to see what’s happening. Add this line to your configuration:<\/p>\n
$mail->SMTPDebug = 2;<\/code><\/pre>\nThe debug levels are:<\/p>\n
\n- 1<\/strong> \u2013 shows messages your script sends to the server.<\/li>\n
- 2<\/strong> \u2013 adds the server’s replies (this is usually the most useful setting).<\/li>\n
- 3<\/strong> \u2013 adds connection-level details, helpful for diagnosing TLS\/STARTTLS issues.<\/li>\n
- 4<\/strong> \u2013 very low-level, verbose output.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Two of the most common errors and what they mean:<\/p>\n
\u201cSMTP connect() failed\u201d \/ connection timed out.<\/strong> Usually the host or port is wrong, or the connection is being blocked. Double-check that the host is your real mail hostname and that the port matches your encryption type (465 with SSL, 587 with STARTTLS). Note that some office networks and public Wi-Fi hotspots block outbound SMTP ports \u2014 if you’re testing from such a network, try from the server itself instead.<\/p>\n\u201c535 Authentication failed\u201d \/ \u201cCould not authenticate.\u201d<\/strong> The username or password is wrong. Confirm that the username is the full<\/strong> email address and that the password matches the one set in cPanel. If you’re not certain, reset the mailbox password under Email Accounts<\/strong> and try again.<\/p>\nIf you’re still stuck after checking these, our support team is available 24\/7 via live chat and can help confirm the correct settings for your account.<\/p>\n
A note on sending limits and deliverability<\/span><\/h2>\nTo protect every customer on the server and keep our IPs in good standing, our mail servers enforce hourly sending limits. For routine transactional email \u2014 confirmations, resets, contact forms \u2014 these limits are generous and you won’t notice them. If your application sends large newsletters or bulk campaigns, however, a dedicated bulk\/transactional email service is the better tool, and you can route PHPMailer through it by simply swapping in that provider’s SMTP host, port, and credentials.<\/p>\n
A few quick wins for staying out of spam folders:<\/p>\n
\n- Publish SPF<\/strong>, DKIM<\/strong>, and DMARC<\/strong> records for your domain. DKIM and SPF are configured for you on our platform; you can review them in cPanel under Email Deliverability<\/strong>.<\/li>\n
- Send from a real address on your own domain, not from a free webmail address like Gmail or Yahoo.<\/li>\n
- Always include a plain-text alternative alongside your HTML.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Wrapping up<\/h2>\n
PHPMailer plus your ChemiCloud SMTP server is a solid, secure foundation for any PHP application that needs to send email. Once you’ve created a sending account, plugged in your mail host and credentials, and confirmed a test message arrives, you can extend the same setup to HTML emails, attachments, inline images, and personalized batches.<\/p>\n
If you run into trouble, enable SMTP debugging to see exactly where the conversation with the server breaks down \u2014 and remember that our support team is one chat away whenever you need a hand.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
If your website runs on PHP and you need it to send email, order confirmations, password resets, contact-form notifications, or account alerts \u2014 PHPMailer is the most popular and dependable library for the job. Instead of relying on PHP’s built-in mail() function, which is unauthenticated and frequently lands in spam…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","footnotes":""},"ht-kb-category":[188,19],"ht-kb-tag":[146,240,163],"class_list":["post-8695","ht_kb","type-ht_kb","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","ht_kb_category-support-resources","ht_kb_category-email","ht_kb_tag-mail","ht_kb_tag-phpmailer","ht_kb_tag-smtp"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chemicloud.com\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ht-kb\/8695","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chemicloud.com\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ht-kb"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chemicloud.com\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/ht_kb"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chemicloud.com\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chemicloud.com\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8695"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/chemicloud.com\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ht-kb\/8695\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8696,"href":"https:\/\/chemicloud.com\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ht-kb\/8695\/revisions\/8696"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chemicloud.com\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8695"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"ht_kb_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chemicloud.com\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ht-kb-category?post=8695"},{"taxonomy":"ht_kb_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chemicloud.com\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ht-kb-tag?post=8695"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Send](\"https:\/\/chemicloud.fsn1.your-objectstorage.com\/phpmailer_chemicloud_article_header.svg\")
<\/p>\n