What happens when you send a test email via the plugin’s test mode?
https://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-mail-smtp/ enables you to change various mail settings which are not available in the default wordpress.
If you are running apache as a localhost testing site then you need to set up mail in the php.ini file. It was so long ago I can’t remember what else…
Alternatively, if your ISP has smtp mail available then you can set things up via the plugin to talk directly to the ISP’s smtp mail – If you are using something like MS Outlook locally then check out your ISP’s recommended settings…
The Plugin’s test mode can provide vital feedback as to what is happening and what might need changing…
Here is the error message I get after trying to send a test email:
SMTP -> ERROR: Failed to connect to server: No connection could be made because the target machine actively refused it.
(10061)
SMTP Error: Could not connect to SMTP host.
I tried putting in my username and password from Outlook, but I get the same message.
I googled apache mail php.ini but have not tried tinkering with that yet.
I also googled error 10061 and it suggests port 25 is being blocked.
What now? This may not be a crisis if I can send from my production server, which I haven’t tried yet. Thx.
The plugin is also needed for some shared hosting production servers…
I use both smtp and php mail locally, and on shared hosting.
If you can get php mail working properly on your testing server you may not need a plugin.
I just had a problem with email not sending, so I downloaded wp-mail-smtp after reading this to help configure the problem and it still wasn’t working, until I made a noreply@ email address and all is now working fine 
