How to Install the MailerPress Plugin

This guide shows you how to install MailerPress, complete the setup wizard that opens after activation, and add MailerPress Pro if you bought a license. No technical skills are needed.

Requirements

MailerPress and MailerPress Pro need:

• WordPress 6.5 or greater
• PHP 8.2 or greater
• MySQL or MariaDB

PHP and MySQL/MariaDB are provided by your web host. To check your versions, open Tools > Site Health > Info in WordPress, or ask your host.

Install MailerPress (free)

1. In your WordPress admin, go to Plugins > Add Plugin.
2. Search for MailerPress.
3. Click Install Now, then Activate.

The MailerPress setup wizard then opens (for administrators).

Set up MailerPress with the wizard

The wizard sets up the essentials in four steps, or five when MailerPress finds data from another newsletter plugin. Click Back to return to a previous step, or Exit in the top bar to leave at any time. Until you save a default sender, the wizard opens again each time you open MailerPress.

Welcome screen

Click Get Started.

Already set up MailerPress on another site? Use Already have a configuration? instead: click Import file and select a settings file exported from MailerPress > Tools > Export / Import. MailerPress imports the settings and jumps to the final screen. See Export and Import Settings.

Migration (only if another plugin is detected)

This step appears only when MailerPress finds MailPoet or Newsletter data on your site.

1. Choose the source in Import data from.
2. Select the data to import: lists, custom fields and contacts (plus tags from MailPoet).
3. Click Start migration, or Skip migration if you don’t need it.

You can run a migration later from MailerPress > Tools > Migrations.

Sender Identity

Enter how subscribers will see you in their inbox:

• From Name (required): your company or personal name.
• From Email (required): the sender address. An address on your own domain (such as [email protected]) improves deliverability, meaning your emails are more likely to reach the inbox instead of spam.
• Reply To (optional): Reply To Name and Reply To Email receive your subscribers’ replies. If empty, the From Name and From Email are used.

Check the preview and click Continue. You can change the sender later in MailerPress > Settings > General: see Customize the default sender name and email address.

Tags

Tags are labels that help you organize subscribers (for example Newsletter, VIP, Customer). This step is optional.

1. Type a tag name and press Enter or click Add.
2. Click Create Tags & Continue. To skip, click Continue without adding tags.

Email Provider

Choose the service that will send your emails. Each provider card has a Configure button to enter its settings and an Enable toggle.

• MailerPress (free) includes PHP Mail (sends through your web server, fine for testing) and Custom SMTP (sends through the mail server of your email provider, more reliable).
• Without MailerPress Pro, a Pro Providers section lists the services that require MailerPress Pro: WordPress Default and the other email service providers.

Click Continue. You can change the provider at any time in MailerPress > Integrations. See Choose your email sending service.

Security & Compliance

• Essential Pages: these are the pages where subscribers manage their subscription or unsubscribe. For the Manage Subscription Page and the Unsubscribe Page, keep Use default page on, or turn it off to choose one of your own pages. Click Preview to see a page.
• Spam Protection: turn on Honeypot Protection (an invisible field that catches bots) and Rate Limiting (5 form submissions per minute maximum from the same IP address, that is, the same connection).

Click Complete Setup.

You’re all set

The last screen offers three shortcuts: Import Contacts, Create Your First Campaign and Go to Dashboard. You can also subscribe to MailerPress product news with Get MailerPress updates (optional).

To run the wizard again, go to MailerPress > Settings > General and click Restart Setup Wizard. For your next steps, follow the Quick start guide.

Install MailerPress Pro

MailerPress Pro is an add-on: it needs the free MailerPress plugin to work. If the free plugin is missing or inactive when you activate MailerPress Pro, it is installed and activated automatically.

1. Purchase MailerPress Pro from the Pricing page.
2. In your Customer Area, download the MailerPress Pro ZIP file. Don’t unzip it.
3. In your WordPress admin, go to Plugins > Add Plugin and click Upload Plugin.
4. Select the ZIP file, click Install Now, then Activate.
5. Enter your license key to receive updates: see Activate your MailerPress Pro license.

The automatic installation of the free plugin requires a user who can install plugins. If it fails, WordPress shows an error: install and activate MailerPress from Plugins > Add Plugin, then activate MailerPress Pro again.

Keep both plugins active. If you deactivate the free MailerPress plugin, MailerPress Pro is deactivated too.