Use an appropriate address on your website’s domain in From, and the visitor’s email field in Reply-To. The configuration warning checks syntax and domain choices; clearing it does not verify inbox delivery.
Why the visitor’s email should not be the sender
A form visitor might use Gmail, Yahoo or their employer’s domain. Your website is not automatically authorised to send as that address. Contact Form 7 expects the From address to belong to the website’s domain.
For a website at example.com, a domain address such as website@example.com can be the starting point. It must also fit the rules of your actual sending provider. Do not assume that typing an address into the form configures or verifies it at that provider.
Set the sender and reply address separately
Open the form’s Mail tab. Confirm the To address is the mailbox that should receive enquiries. Set From to the appropriate domain sender. In Additional headers, use the visitor’s email mail-tag as Reply-To.
The example below assumes the form’s email field is called your-email. If your field has another name, use its actual mail-tag.
From: Website <website@example.com>
Reply-To: [your-email]Save, then test the whole journey
Contact Form 7’s validator does not send a real email. A warning-free editor and a working visitor-facing form are different checks. Keep both in your verification process.
- Save the form and inspect any remaining configuration warnings.
- Submit the public form with a test message you can recognise.
- Confirm that the message reaches the intended mailbox.
- Use Reply and check that the destination is the test visitor’s address.
If the warning is gone but mail is still missing
Record what happens after submission and inspect the sending route. If the provider rejects the sender, resolve that provider’s identity or authentication requirement. If the provider accepts the message, investigate the receiving side using its available delivery evidence.
Avoid disabling the validator just to hide the warning. Preserve the previous configuration before editing, change one thing at a time, and keep a record of the successful end-to-end test.
Explore form and email repair.
Official references
Use these references alongside the checks and questions in this guide. Interfaces and provider requirements can change.