Email Notifications
Get notified about backup results, storage warnings, and weekly summaries via email.
Overview
SafeGuard sends email notifications to keep you informed about your backup health without needing to log in to the WordPress admin. Notifications are sent for:
- Successful backups — confirmation that a scheduled or manual backup completed
- Failed backups — immediate alert when a backup encounters an error
- Storage warnings — heads-up when a storage provider is running low on quota
- Weekly summary — a digest of all backup activity from the past seven days
By default, notifications are disabled. Once enabled, they are sent to the WordPress admin email address unless you specify a different recipient.
Notification Types
| Type | When it fires | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Successful backups | After every backup completes without errors | Enabled |
| Failed backups | When a backup job fails or is interrupted | Enabled |
| Storage warnings | When a connected storage provider exceeds 90% capacity | Enabled |
| Weekly summary | Every Monday morning (server time) | Disabled |
Failed backup notifications are the most critical. Even if you disable all other types, we recommend keeping failure alerts enabled so you are aware of problems immediately.
Configuration
Open notification settings
Navigate to SafeGuard → Settings in your WordPress admin. Scroll to the Email Notifications card.
Enable notifications
Toggle Enable email notifications to on. The card badge will change from "Disabled" to "Enabled".
Set the recipient email
Enter the email address that should receive notifications. This defaults to your site's admin email (Settings → General → Administration Email Address).
Choose notification types
Check or uncheck each notification type to control what you receive:
- Successful backups
- Failed backups
- Storage warnings
- Weekly summary
Verify delivery
Click Send Test Email to confirm notifications reach your inbox. See the Testing section below for details.
REST API
Read the current notification settings:
curl -X GET "https://example.com/wp-json/safeguard/v1/settings/notifications" \
-H "X-WP-Nonce: <nonce>"Update notification settings:
curl -X POST "https://example.com/wp-json/safeguard/v1/settings/notifications" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-H "X-WP-Nonce: <nonce>" \
-d '{
"enabled": true,
"emailAddress": "[email protected]",
"onSuccess": true,
"onFailure": true,
"onWarning": true,
"includeLogsSummary": false
}'Send a test email:
curl -X POST "https://example.com/wp-json/safeguard/v1/settings/notifications/test" \
-H "X-WP-Nonce: <nonce>"WP-CLI
You can also manage notification settings through WP options directly:
# Enable notifications
wp option update safeguard_email_enabled 1
# Set recipient
wp option update safeguard_email_address "[email protected]"
# Enable/disable individual types (1 = on, 0 = off)
wp option update safeguard_email_on_success 1
wp option update safeguard_email_on_failure 1
wp option update safeguard_email_on_warning 1Testing
Before relying on email notifications, verify that your site can deliver mail.
Open notification settings
Go to SafeGuard → Settings and scroll to the Email Notifications card. Make sure notifications are enabled and a valid email address is entered.
Send a test email
Click the Send Test Email button. SafeGuard sends a message with the subject "[SafeGuard Backup] Test Notification" to the configured address.
Check your inbox
Look for the test email in your inbox. If it does not arrive within a few minutes, check your spam/junk folder and review the Troubleshooting section.
SMTP Configuration
WordPress uses the PHP mail() function by default, which many hosting providers restrict or disable. For reliable delivery, configure an SMTP plugin:
SafeGuard sends email through the standard WordPress wp_mail() function. Any SMTP plugin you install will automatically apply to SafeGuard notifications — no additional configuration is needed inside SafeGuard.