Post to your Wordpress blog using email
WordPress can be configured to use e-mail to post to a blog. To enable this functionality, you need to:
- Create a dedicated e-mail account to be used solely for posting to your blog,
- Configure WordPress to access that account, and
- Configure WordPress to publish messages from the e-mail account
You can blog by e-mail using most standard e-mail software programs or a Weblog Client — a program specifically designed to send posts via email.
Limitations: - Standard characters in the object - Plain text only
Setting Up Post via E-mail
Step 1 - Create an e-mail account
- Log in to WordPress with the administration login you use to administer your WordPress blog.
- Go to Settings > Writing.
- Read the instructions under Post via e-mail at the bottom of the page. At the end of these instructions, WordPress will suggest three random strings of numbers you may want to use for the login name of the new e-mail account you’ll create.
- Create a new e-mail account on your web host’s mail server or a separate e-mail server, using one of the suggested numeric strings (or your own secret word) for the username (also called a “login name”). A mail server receives e-mails on your behalf and stores them for retrieval. Do not use public, free e-mail servers like Yahoo, Hotmail, etc., for this account.
Note: It is strongly recommended that you use a “secret” address - that is, an e-mail account name that is very difficult to guess and known only to you, such as those suggested by WordPress. Any e-mail sent to this address will automatically be posted to your blog. Be aware, however, that some e-mail servers do not allow numbers-only e-mail accounts or accounts starting with a number. Please check with your web host.
Step 2 - Configure WordPress to access your new account
- When you are done creating the new e-mail account , return to the Writing Options panel and fill in the name of the mail server and port number your web hosting provider uses. (If you don’t know these, refer to your web hosting provider’s FAQ or manual pages. The port number is usually 110.) If your mail server requires an SSL (secure) connection, precede your mail server address with ssl://, e.g. ssl://pop.example.com.
- Next, enter the login name and password for your new e-mail account .
NOTE: In the Login Name field, use the full e-mail address (e.g., user@example.com).
- Choose the default category that will be assigned to posts submitted via e-mail.
- Click Update Options .
Step 3 - Publish Your E-mail Posts
You’ve created the new e-mail account and configured your WordPress blog to accept e-mails from that account, but you still need to set up WordPress to publish those e-mail messages on your blog. Do one of the following:
Manual Browser Activation
Go to the following link http://example.com/installdir/wp-mail.php immediately after you send an e-mail to your new e-mail account. (Note: You must do this every time you send a new post.)
Automated Browser Activation
An alternative to manual browser activation is to add the following iframe code to the footer of your blog:
<iframe src="http://yourblogdomain/wordpressinstalldir/wp-mail.php” name=”mailiframe” width=”0″ height=”0″ frameborder=”0″ scrolling=”no” title=”"></iframe>
Edit the above line of code so that it refers to the location of your wp-mail.php file. Add this line of code to the footer.php file in the directory for whatever theme you are using (don’t include it within an HTML paragraph).
You may have to refresh your blog to see the new post. New users may find this method the most helpful.
If you’re using or would like to use the Postie Plugin for WordPress, use the following iframe code, which will call Postie’s check mail commands:
<iframe src=”http://yourblogdomain/wordpressinstalldir/wp-content/plugins/postie/get_mail.php?Submit=Run+Postie” name=”mailiframe” width=”0″ height=”0″ frameborder=”0″ scrolling=”no” title=”"> </iframe>
Add this code to your footer, and the next time anyone goes to your blog, your new emails will be automatically posted, so you need to do nothing but send them. You may have to refresh the blog to see the changes.
WP-Cron Plugin Activation
Download, install, and activate the WP-Cron Plugin. It will work in the background without user intervention to update your site about every 15 minutes.
Cron Job Activation
Set up a UNIX cron job to have your blog periodically view http://example.com/installdir/wp-mail.php using a command-line HTTP agent like wget, curl or GET. The command to execute will look like:
wget -N http://example.com/installdir/wp-mail.php
If you use a different program than wget, substitute that program and its arguments for wget in this line.
Note: Another possibility is to run “php /full/path/to/wp-mail.php” in a cronjob. This will run the php-script using php, without the need for an extra program to run. (You are more likely authorized to run php than wget.)
