This is how you learn by email when a backup fails, ends with warnings or does not happen at all. At the end you also know whether the emails of your website arrive.
Step 1: Enter recipients
In the WordPress menu, open cloneworx, then Settings. The tile Notifications is already unfolded, in both views.
- Email addresses takes the recipients. In the empty field, the admin address of the website appears in grey.
- On errors and warnings is on by default.
- On success is off by default.
- When the last good backup is older than the plan allows is on by default.
- Save saves the addresses.
- Inform me about important news and updates on cloneworx Backup opens the subscription to news from cloneworx, not to messages about your backups.
Enter up to 5 addresses, separated by commas, and click Save. The page reports Saved. If the field stays empty, the notifications go to the admin address of the website. The recipients are shown in the main tile after Notifications go to.
Step 2: Choose notifications
The three switches save immediately, without Save. The subject contains the name of the website in square brackets, for a backup also the name of the plan.
| Switch | An email comes | Subject |
|---|---|---|
| On errors and warnings | when a backup fails or ends with warnings, when a restore fails or has been undone and when a check finds a damaged backup |
[…] Backup failed: … […] Backup ended with warnings: … […] Restore failed […] Restore undone […] Backup check found damage: … backup(s) |
| On success | after every successful backup | […] Backup successful: … |
| When the last good backup is older than the plan allows | when a plan becomes overdue, then every three days as a reminder |
[…] No good backup for … […] Reminder: still no good backup for … |
Every email is plain text in the language of the website. For a backup it names the website, the plan, start, end, result, the targets with their state and a link to the Backup page, and in case of an error also the cause and the next step. No email contains credentials.
Step 3: Send a test email
In the main tile, click Send test email.
- Send test email sends an email to the recipients from step 1.
- The message Test email sent to …. names the addresses.
The message means: WordPress has handed over the email. Only your inbox shows whether it arrives. The subject is […] Test email from cloneworx Backup.
The warning about an overdue backup
A plan is overdue when its last good backup is older than its rhythm plus a fixed tolerance: half the rhythm, at least 6 hours. So a daily plan is overdue after 36 hours. A plan without a good backup is overdue as soon as its first missed run is longer ago than the tolerance.
The plugin checks this at every task source and when you open the dashboard or the plugin list of WordPress, at most every 15 minutes. The email names the cause and the next step. The next good backup of the plan ends the warning, without an email.
Three places also show an overdue plan without an email:
- The status tile of the Overview page is red.
- On the WordPress dashboard and in the plugin list there is a red notice: A backup plan has no good backup in time. Hide for three days hides it for you. With the next good backup it disappears on its own.
- Under Tools, Site Health, WordPress reports The last good backup is too old as a critical issue.
- The title names since when no backup has been made, depending on the situation with the name of the plan.
- Last good backup names the last good backup and leads to its log.
- The tile names as the cause that the schedule did not run.
- The next step is: back up now.
- Back up now starts a backup immediately.
Switching off the notification on errors
If you switch off On errors and warnings, the plugin asks: Switch off notifications?
- Cancel closes the dialog. The switch stays on.
- Yes, switch off switches the notification off.
Without this notification, no email comes about failed backups
The plugin records the time of switching off. As long as the switch is off, the Overview page shows a red message below the status tile.
- Notification on errors and warnings is switched off in the settings. This is a security risk for your data.
- Dismiss removes the message until you open the page again.
- Open settings leads to the Settings page.
If the email does not arrive
If sending the test email fails, the page shows it in two places:
- The main tile names in red the last email that could not be sent, with reason and time.
- The red message names the reason for the failure.
- Show log opens the general log.
| What happens | What you can do |
|---|---|
| The test email could not be sent. | After the message comes the reason WordPress names. Pass it on to your hosting provider. |
| No email address to send to. | The field is empty, and the website has no admin address. Enter an address. |
| One of the addresses is not valid. | Check the spelling of every address. Nothing is saved until all of them are valid. |
| The test email is sent but does not arrive. | Look in the spam folder. The plugin does not learn whether the email has arrived. |
Good to know
- An aborted backup never sends an email.
- The red line in the main tile stays, even if later emails succeed. What counts is the time stated in it.
See also
- The “Settings” page
- The “Overview” page
- Start backups on time: set up a system cron
- When a backup fails or ends with warnings
- State, logs and support with WP-CLI
On the command line
WP-CLI not set up yet? How to install WP-CLI.
You also set recipients and switches with WP-CLI. Switches take on or off. There is no confirmation dialog before switching off on the command line.
# Show recipients, switches, warnings and last failure wp cloneworx-backup notify status # Set the recipients, separated by commas wp cloneworx-backup settings set notify_emails "eins@example.com, zwei@example.com" # Enable the email after every successful backup wp cloneworx-backup settings set notify_success on # Send a test email wp cloneworx-backup notify test # Check now whether a backup plan is overdue wp cloneworx-backup notify check