Guard Dog’s email customizer controls how its emails look and read: your logo and colors, the subject line, and the text of each message. From 1.9.61 it covers every email Guard Dog sends, and it can also style five of WordPress’s own emails if you turn that on.
Location: Guard Dog → Appearance → Email Templates → Customize
How It Works
- Choose a message under Select Email Template.
- Edit the controls on the left. The preview on the right updates as you edit.
- Select Save Changes. Each template is saved separately.
- Select Send Test Email to receive the saved version in your own inbox.
Two things to know about test emails:
- Save first. A test email uses the last saved version of the template, not unsaved edits in the preview.
- A provider is required. Test emails are sent through your Guard Dog email provider, so configure one before testing.
Every templated email is sent as HTML with a plain-text version for mail clients that need it. If no email provider is configured, Guard Dog sends through WordPress’s normal mail path instead.
Guard Dog’s Emails
| Template | Sent when | Placeholders |
|---|---|---|
| Two-Factor Authentication Code | A user requests an email 2FA code | {site_name}, {name} |
| Email Verification | A new user must verify their address | {site_name}, {name}, {hours} |
| Password Expiration | A password is about to expire, or has expired | {site_name}, {name}, {days_until}, {expiration_date} |
| Suspicious Session Activity (Admin) | Unusual session activity is detected | {site_name}, {type}, {username} |
| Suspicious Session Activity (User) | The affected user is notified (optional) | {site_name}, {name} |
| Social Sign-In Confirmation | A social sign-in must be confirmed by email before it links or creates an account | {site_name}, {provider}, {account} |
| Magic Login Link | Someone requests a Magic Login link | {site_name}, {minutes} |
| User Enumeration Alert (Admin) | One IP address keeps probing for usernames | {site_name}, {ip}, {attempts}, {location} |
| User Enumeration Report (Admin) | The daily or weekly enumeration summary | {site_name}, {period}, {total} |
Each control’s description lists the placeholders that work in that field. Use only those: a placeholder in a field that doesn’t support it is not filled in.
The last four templates are new in 1.9.61. Before that, those emails had fixed wording and went out as plain text. Their default text is unchanged, but they now arrive as branded HTML emails like the rest. If you never open their templates, the defaults apply.
The Social Sign-In Confirmation template has two versions of its subject and request text: one for linking a social account to an existing user, one for creating a new account. The email keeps naming the provider account and telling the recipient to ignore it if they didn’t sign in, whatever wording you choose, as long as you keep the {account} placeholder and the security notice.
WordPress’s Own Emails
Guard Dog can also send five emails that WordPress itself generates, using the same customizer:
| Template | WordPress email |
|---|---|
| Password Reset (WordPress) | The link sent when someone asks to reset their password |
| New Account Details (WordPress) | The email to a new user, with a link to set their password |
| New User Registration (WordPress, Admin) | The notice to the site admin when a user registers |
| Password Changed (WordPress) | The notice to a user that their password changed |
| Email Changed (WordPress) | The notice to a user’s old address that their email changed |
Each One Is Off Until You Turn It On
Every WordPress template starts with a checkbox: Use this template for WordPress’s … email. It is off by default. Until you turn it on and save, WordPress sends its own email exactly as before.
To use one:
- Select the template, for example Password Reset (WordPress).
- Turn on the checkbox at the top of the Content section.
- Adjust the text and colors, then select Save Changes.
- Trigger the real email with a test account and check it. For a password reset, use Lost your password? on the login screen.
The reset and set-password links in these emails are the ones WordPress issued, so they work exactly as they do in WordPress’s own email.
If Another Plugin Changes the Same Email
WooCommerce, membership plugins and mail plugins often replace these same emails. Guard Dog does not compete with them.
Each time one of these emails is sent, Guard Dog checks whether anything else is changing it. If another plugin, your theme or a must-use plugin is, Guard Dog leaves the email alone and it goes out as that plugin made it. Your Guard Dog template is paused for that email, not lost.
The template’s screen tells you when this happens and names what it found, for example:
WooCommerce also changes this email, so Guard Dog’s template is paused for it. To use Guard Dog’s template, turn off the other version of this email.
If Guard Dog can already see another plugin changing the email, it says so before you turn the template on. Some plugins only step in at the moment an email is sent, so the note can also first appear after the next send.
You can dismiss the note. It comes back if the list of plugins changing that email changes.
There is no setting that forces Guard Dog’s template to win. To use it, turn off the other plugin’s version of that email. Guard Dog’s template takes over the next time the email is sent, and the note clears after that send.
Turning It Off Again
Turn off the checkbox and save, or deactivate Guard Dog. WordPress goes back to sending its own email, unchanged.
Delivery
These emails are still sent by WordPress. They go through your Guard Dog email provider only if Use Guard Dog Email Provider for all WordPress emails is on. See Email Provider Configuration.
Theme File Export
Export to Theme File writes a template into your theme so a developer can edit its markup. It is available for three templates: Two-Factor Authentication Code, Suspicious Session Activity (Admin) and Suspicious Session Activity (User). The other templates use their saved settings only.
A theme file takes priority over the customizer for that email. If you exported a file and later want the customizer’s version back, remove the file from your theme’s guard-dog/emails/ folder.
Troubleshooting
My changes aren’t in the email
- Check you selected Save Changes for that template. Switching templates does not save.
- For a WordPress email, check its checkbox is on, and look for a “paused” note at the top of the template’s screen.
- For the three exportable templates, check whether a theme file is overriding the customizer.
The email shows the default text after updating
Before 1.9.61, the Email Verification email was sent with its default body even when you had customized it; only the subject changed. That is fixed. If you customized that template in the past, review it now, because real verification emails use it from this version on.
A WordPress email still looks like WordPress’s
That is expected while its template is off, or while another plugin changes that email. Open the template and read the note at the top.
Requirements
The WordPress email templates need WordPress 6.0 or later, which is also Guard Dog’s minimum from 1.9.61.