RE: Topic subscription emails not sent on reply

wpForo Support — Thu, 09 Jul 2026 08:15:37 +0000

Hi thorostergaard,

Thanks for the detailed setup information—this is a common issue with wpForo subscriptions, and I think I can help you pinpoint what's happening. Based on the related forum content here, there's a critical detail that often gets overlooked: post approval status directly affects whether subscription emails are sent. If replies to topics are set to require admin approval before being published, wpForo won't send subscription notification emails until after that approval is granted. Even then, the email timing depends on whether the post was approved at the time of creation or afterward.

Here's a step-by-step approach to troubleshoot this:

Check your wpForo settings for post moderation: Navigate to your WordPress admin panel and look for wpForo settings related to post approval or moderation. Verify whether replies in the specific forum(s) where you're testing require admin approval before being published.
Test with an unapproved post: Have a board member reply to a topic and leave it unapproved. Confirm that no email is sent. This will confirm whether moderation is the culprit.
Test with an auto-approved post: Disable post approval for that forum (or temporarily for testing), then have a board member reply again. Check whether the subscription email is now sent immediately.
Verify subscriber settings: In your `wpforo_subscribes` table entries, ensure that the `is_email_confirmed` field is set to a value (typically `1`), not `null`. According to the related posts, a `null` value can prevent emails from being sent.
Check post creation flow: Since you're inserting subscriptions directly into the database, also verify that when replies are created, they're being inserted into the appropriate wpForo tables with the correct status flags (particularly the `post_status` field).

My suspicion is that your replies are either requiring approval or have an issue with the `is_email_confirmed` field on your subscriber records. Can you confirm whether post moderation is enabled for the forum where you're testing, and whether your subscriber records show `null` or an actual value for `is_email_confirmed`?

Topic subscription emails not sent on reply

thorostergaard — Thu, 09 Jul 2026 05:21:26 +0000

**Topic subscription emails not sent on reply**

I have set up topic subscriptions for a specific user group (board members) by inserting directly into the `wpforo_subscribes` table. When a new topic is created, subscribers correctly receive an email notification. However, when someone replies to the topic, no email is sent to the subscribers.

**Setup:**
- WordPress 6.x with wpForo (latest version)
- Fork FSE theme
- Email sending works correctly (tested with wp_mail())
- Subscriptions are inserted via PHP using `$wpdb->insert()` on the `wpforo_after_add_topic` hook
- Subscription records have `active = 1`, correct `userid`, `user_name`, `user_email`, `confirmkey`

**Database record example:**
```
itemid: 29 | type: topic | userid: 204 | active: 1 | user_name: | user_email:
```

**What works:**
- New topic notification is sent correctly to forum-level subscribers
- WordPress sends email correctly via wp_mail()
- In-forum notification bell works

**What does not work:**
- No email is sent to topic subscribers when a reply is posted

**Question:**
Is there a specific setting that needs to be enabled for reply notifications to topic subscribers? Or is there a requirement for how subscriptions must be created for the reply notification to trigger?

Topic subscription emails not sent on reply - How-to and Troubleshooting - wpForo 3.0

RE: Topic subscription emails not sent on reply

Topic subscription emails not sent on reply