{"id":677,"date":"2011-08-26T15:35:10","date_gmt":"2011-08-26T19:35:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.inmotionhosting.com\/support\/2011\/08\/26\/how-to-set-up-formmail\/"},"modified":"2026-08-26T15:07:45","modified_gmt":"2026-08-26T19:07:45","slug":"how-to-set-up-formmail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.inmotionhosting.com\/support\/website\/how-to-set-up-formmail\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Set up FormMail"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This guide shows you how to set up FormMail, the NMS Perl script that converts a contact form submission into an email message. FormMail runs as a Common Gateway Interface (CGI) script on a VPS or Dedicated Server. If you host on Shared hosting, read the warning first.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Warning:<\/strong> FormMail is not supported on InMotion Hosting Shared hosting plans, and mail sent through it is blocked on Shared servers. The script sends mail without authenticating with a mailbox, and Shared servers block unauthenticated script-generated mail. If you host on Shared, use SMTP authentication instead, which is the recommended method for sending mail from your site: Using PHPMailer to Send Mail through PHP<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Notice:<\/strong> Before you begin, download the FormMail “compat” package from NMS FormMail<\/a>. The compat package is the easiest one to install.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Set Up FormMail<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Customize the FormMail.pl script<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
    \n
  1. Un-compress the file you downloaded, then upload FormMail.pl<\/code> to the cgi-bin<\/code> directory. You only need FormMail.pl<\/code>; the rest of the download is documentation.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Open FormMail.pl<\/code> and find the @referers<\/code> line. Replace the example entries with your own domain, both with and without www<\/code>, separated by a single space:<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
    @referers = <\/span>qw(example.com www.example.com)<\/span>;<\/span><\/span><\/code><\/pre><\/div>\n\n\n\n
      \n
    1. Find the @allow_mail_to<\/code> line. List the email addresses that the form is allowed to send to, separated by a single space, and remove localhost<\/code> from the list:<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
      @allow_mail_to = <\/span>qw(webmaster@example.com admin@example.com)<\/span>;<\/span><\/span><\/code><\/pre><\/div>\n\n\n\n
        \n
      1. Save FormMail.pl<\/code>.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
        Configure your contact form<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
          \n
        1. Point your contact form’s action<\/code> attribute at the script:<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
          <<\/span>form<\/span> <\/span>ac<\/span> <\/span>Code<\/span> <\/span>tion<\/span>=<\/span>"https:\/\/www.example.com\/cgi-bin\/FormMail.pl"<\/span> <\/span>method<\/span>=<\/span>"post"<\/span>><\/span><\/span><\/code><\/pre><\/div>\n\n\n\n
          Note:<\/strong> Replace example.com<\/code> with your own domain, and update the path if you uploaded FormMail.pl<\/code> to a location other than cgi-bin<\/code>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
            \n
          1. Add hidden fields to your form so FormMail knows where to send the submission. Start with the recipient<\/code> field, which sets the email address the submission is sent to:<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
            <<\/span>input<\/span> <\/span>type<\/span>=<\/span>"hidden"<\/span> <\/span>name<\/span>=<\/span>"recipient"<\/span> <\/span>value<\/span>=<\/span>"webmaster@example.com,admin@example.com"<\/span> \/><\/span><\/span><\/code><\/pre><\/div>\n\n\n\n
            Warning:<\/strong> Every address you list in recipient<\/code> must also appear in the @allow_mail_to<\/code> line in FormMail.pl<\/code>. If it does not, FormMail returns a bad recipient error page instead of sending the message.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
              \n
            1. Add a subject<\/code> field to set the subject line of the email:<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
              <<\/span>input<\/span> <\/span>type<\/span>=<\/span>"hidden"<\/span> <\/span>name<\/span>=<\/span>"subject"<\/span> <\/span>value<\/span>=<\/span>"From the contact form"<\/span> \/><\/span><\/span><\/code><\/pre><\/div>\n\n\n\n
                \n
              1. Optionally, add a redirect<\/code> field to send the visitor to a thank-you page after a successful submission:<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
                <<\/span>input<\/span> <\/span>type<\/span>=<\/span>"hidden"<\/span> <\/span>name<\/span>=<\/span>"redirect"<\/span> <\/span>value<\/span>=<\/span>"https:\/\/www.example.com\/thankyou.html"<\/span> \/><\/span><\/span><\/code><\/pre><\/div>\n\n\n\n
                Note:<\/strong> Replace the URL with your own thank-you page. If you leave this field out, FormMail displays its own confirmation page listing the submitted fields.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
                Change file permissions<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
                Important:<\/strong> Set the permissions on FormMail.pl<\/code> to 755. The file needs execute permission, or the web server cannot run the script and your contact form returns an error instead of sending mail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
                Change permissions using cPanel<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
                  \n
                1. Log in to cPanel<\/a>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                2. Under Files<\/strong>, click File Manager<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                3. Navigate to public_html<\/code>, then cgi-bin<\/code>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                4. Right-click FormMail.pl<\/code> and select Change Permissions<\/strong>. You can also select the file and click Permissions<\/strong> in the toolbar.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                5. Set User<\/strong> to read, write, and execute (rwx), and set Group<\/strong> and World<\/strong> to read and execute (r-x).<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                6. Click Change Permissions<\/strong> to save.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
                  Change permissions using SFTP<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
                  If you manage your files with a Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP) client instead, connect to your server, browse to the cgi-bin<\/code> directory, and right-click FormMail.pl<\/code>. Choose the option for changing file permissions, which most clients label File Permissions<\/strong> or CHMOD<\/strong>, then set the value to 755.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
                  Your FormMail script is now set up and ready to process submissions from your contact form. Submit a test entry to confirm mail arrives at the address you configured. If delivery does not go through, check that the recipient address also appears in the @allow_mail_to<\/code> line.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
                  This guide shows you how to set up FormMail, the NMS Perl script that converts a contact form submission into an email message. FormMail runs as a Common Gateway Interface (CGI) script on a VPS or Dedicated Server. If you host on Shared hosting, read the warning first. Warning: FormMail is not supported on InMotion Read More ><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_ayudawp_aiss_exclude":false,"_ayudawp_aiss_exclude_summary":false,"_ayudawp_aiss_summary":"This guide shows you how to set up FormMail, the NMS Perl script that converts a contact form submission into an email message. Notice: Before you begin, download the FormMail \"compat\" package from NMS FormMail. Your FormMail script is now set up and ready to process submissions from your contact form.","_ayudawp_aiss_summary_provider":"extractive","_ayudawp_aiss_summary_hash":"805fe558eb012e3afa9b2d4ccaf5829201635c14","_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4288],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-677","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-website"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nHow to Set up FormMail | InMotion Hosting<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Set up the NMS FormMail script on a VPS or Dedicated Server. FormMail is blocked on Shared hosting, so use PHPMailer with SMTP authentication there.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.inmotionhosting.com\/support\/website\/how-to-set-up-formmail\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How to Set up FormMail | InMotion Hosting\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Set up the NMS FormMail script on a VPS or Dedicated Server. 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