How Can I Receive the Best Support?

In order to receive the best support, there are steps that I will need you to take for me to properly troubleshoot any issues with you and potentially come to a solution. If you are being referred to this page via a support message, please follow it to the letter. If you choose to skip some steps from this page, then I may not be able to provide you with the support that you need which may result in your issue being left unresolved. Thanks for your understanding. Ok, ready? Let’s do this.

Steps to Diagnose a Problem

Here are a list of steps that you need to take to properly diagnose your issue. This is more-or-less the same for any issue that you may have where something isn’t working as expected.

1. Make sure all installed plugins are fully up-to-date.
2. Make sure WordPress is up-to-date.
3. Install and activate the Classic Editor plugin to make sure you’re not using the new Block Editor to trigger notifications. BNFW does work with the Block Editor/Gutenberg but it’s worth checking the Classic Editor is working as expected to rule out any issues.
4. Disable any server-side caching or caching plugins that are installed.
5. Deactivate all plugins, except for BNFW and/or any BNFW add-ons that you may be using.
6. Switch to the latest default theme that comes with WordPress (This is usually called called ‘Twenty-something’, such as ‘Twenty Twenty One’).
7. Re-test your problem. If it’s fixed, switch to the theme you want to use and continue to the next step. If it’s not, skip to step 11.
8. Re-test with your chosen theme. If your theme is causing the issue then you’ll need to investigate this or ask your developer/theme author to take a look and to get in touch with me if they need to. If it’s still fixed, continue to the next step.
9. Slowly, re-activate plugins one-by-one and re-test at each stage. If you find the culprit, let me and the plugin author know. Other email, login, notification, and membership plugins are likely candidates of causing conflicts as there is a certain amount of overlap functionality that they usually have.
10. Check your SPAM folder and/or any email filters at your host thoroughly.
11. Install the Email Log plugin and re-test a notification. Are the email notifications being logged in Email Log? If they are but you’re not receiving them, continue to the next step. If they’re not being logged, let me know and which notification(s) you’re trying to test.
12. Install and set-up an SMTP plugin. It’s possible that your site isn’t sending out your notification emails properly. You can test this by installing and setting-up an SMTP mail plugin such as WP Mail SMTP Pro (affiliate link). If this doesn’t fix your issue, continue to the next section.

Obtaining Support

Ok, so none of that worked, huh? What i’ll now need is the following information in a new support thread:

1. Confirmation that you’ve followed the above steps to the letter. Remember, I can only help you fully if you’ve done this.
2. Tell me if you’re using WordPress in single-site (default) or multisite mode.
3. Tell me what notification(s) you’re having issues with.
4. Tell me what you’re doing to trigger the notification.

A final, last resort step to test fully may involve creating a new, fresh WordPress installation. If this fails, you may need to test on a separate host too.