Common Issues & Frequently Asked Questions

A walkthrough of issues that actually come up against v1.5.0, with the real fix for each.

“BuddyPress is not active” notice on activation

The plugin requires BuddyPress (or BuddyBoss Platform). Install and activate BuddyPress, then activate Contact Me. The notice clears automatically.

Contact tab does not appear on a member’s profile

Three independent gates have to all open before the tab shows. Check them in this order:

1. Show a “Contact” tab on every member profile — go to Access tab and confirm the master toggle is on.
2. Recipient role allowed — confirm the member’s role is ticked in Who can be contacted. Administrators are always allowed regardless.
3. Member opt-out — visit the member’s BuddyPress Settings → General as them and confirm Let other members contact me is ticked. New users default to opted-in; this only matters if they explicitly turned it off.

If all three are open and the tab still does not render, clear any object cache and reload — BP nav items can be cached by site-level caching plugins.

Logged-out visitors see no form

Open Access → Who can send messages and tick Visitors (not logged in). Without this, BCM_Frontend_Nav::viewer_can_send() returns false for unauthenticated users and the form is hidden.

Messages send but no email arrives

Check, in this order:

1. WB Plugins → Contact Me → Notifications — is Email notification on?
2. WordPress core email delivery — does any other email work? (e.g., new user notifications, password resets.) If not, install a transactional email plugin like FluentSMTP, WP Mail SMTP, or Post SMTP. The plugin uses bp_send_email(), which uses wp_mail(), which depends on the host’s mail() function being able to actually send.
3. BuddyPress email post exists — at Dashboard → Emails, look for “A member received a contact message”. If missing, deactivate and reactivate Contact Me to re-run the installer.

Captcha is wrong but the answer looks right

The captcha uses wp_hash() on the answer to derive a hash that is rendered into a hidden field. If you have any plugin or browser extension that strips hidden fields, modifies form data, or auto-fills aggressively, the hash and answer will not match. Test in a clean browser profile / incognito window — if it works there, the culprit is in your normal browser.

Spam screen rejects a legitimate message

The built-in heuristic flags pharma, gambling, loan-spam, lottery wins, generic CTA phrasing, and three-or-more URLs in one message. If a real message hits one of these, soften the gate via the bcm_spam_check filter — see Hooks & filters. For a quick pass-through:

add_filter( 'bcm_spam_check', '__return_false', 99, 3 );

That disables the heuristic entirely. Use sparingly.

Inbox shows zero unread but notifications bell shows a count

The unread count in the Contact nav item and the Unread filter both query the BuddyPress notifications table for is_new = 1 rows. If the bell shows a higher count, those entries are unrelated to Contact Me — they are other BuddyPress notifications (mentions, friend requests, group invites) and the discrepancy is expected.

Old /contact-me/ URLs in stored emails or bookmarks

These work — BCM_Frontend_Nav::redirect_legacy_slug() 301-redirects them to the current /contact/ slug. No action required. If you want to update old emails for clarity, do so when you have the chance.

License activation fails with “not active for this URL”

Your key is bound to another site that has used up your activation slots. Either:

1. Visit the other site, go to License, and click Deactivate License — that frees the slot. Then activate on the new site.
2. Upgrade your license at wbcomdesigns.com to a higher site-count tier.

Multisite — does it work?

Yes. Each subsite installs its own database table on activation and has its own settings. License activation is per-site too, so plan your license tier accordingly. There is no network-wide settings sync.

Can I import old messages from another contact-form plugin?

Not via a UI. The data lives in {prefix}contact_me with columns id, sender, reciever (note the historical typo, preserved for backwards compatibility), subject, message, name, email, datetime. Inserting rows that match this schema is enough — the plugin reads them on the next page load. Use wp db query or a migration script.

Can I export messages?

There is no built-in export. Run a SQL query against the table and dump to CSV:

wp db query "SELECT id, sender, reciever, subject, datetime FROM wp_contact_me ORDER BY datetime DESC" --skip-column-names > messages.tsv

For full body export include message. Keep the file private — messages are sensitive.

How do I uninstall and remove all data?

Deactivate and delete the plugin from Plugins → Installed Plugins. The uninstall.php routine removes the database table, the plugin options, and the plugin-specific user-meta keys. Plain deactivation does not wipe data, so you can deactivate and reactivate without losing messages.

Where do I report a bug or request a feature?

Open a ticket from your wbcomdesigns.com account, or email support directly. Include the WordPress version, BuddyPress version, PHP version, and a copy of the plugin’s debug log (wp-content/debug.log with WP_DEBUG on). For visual issues, attach a screenshot.