Do you want to change the WordPress admin email for your website?
By default, WordPress uses the first email address you provide as your website’s admin email. It is also used as the email address of the first admin account.
In this article, we will show you how to easily change the WordPress admin email address.
Why and When You Need to Change the WordPress Admin Email?
Normally, beginners use their personal email address when installing WordPress. Also, some WordPress hosting companies have auto-installers that automatically use your hosting account’s email address during the installation.
WordPress then uses this email address as the website’s email address as well as the email for the first admin user account.
WordPress will also send important notifications to this email address. For example, when a new user account is created, an auto-update is installed, and comment moderation notifications.
The admin user’s email address is used to recover lost passwords and notifications about the account.
Most website owners soon realize they want to use a professional business email address instead of generic free email accounts. They may also want to use a different email address for site administration and the admin user.
Having said that, let’s look at how to change the WordPress admin email address easily.
Things to Do Before Changing Admin Email Address in WordPress
First, you need to choose the email address you want to use as your WordPress admin email address. You can use a free email service like Gmail or Yahoo. However, this does not look very professional.
Ideally, you will want to use a branded email address using your website’s domain name. For instance: [email protected]
For detailed instructions, see our guide on how to get a free business email address.
Secondly, you will need to ensure you can receive emails from your WordPress website.
Once you change your admin email address, WordPress will send an email to verify the new email address. If you cannot receive emails from your WordPress site, you cannot verify the new admin email address.
To ensure that, install and activate the WP Mail SMTP plugin. For more details, see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.
Note: There is also a free version of WP Mail SMTP that you can try. We recommend upgrading to the pro version to unlock more features.
For detailed instructions, see our guide on how to set up WP Mail SMTP with any hosting company.
Now that you are all set, let’s take a look at how to change the WordPress admin email address. You can use the quick links below to jump to the method you want to use:
Method 1: Changing WordPress Admin Email Address via Admin Area
This method is simpler and recommended for beginners. In most cases, you will be using this method to change your WordPress site email and your WordPress admin user account’s email address.
To change the WordPress website email address, just go to Settings » General and change the ‘Email Address’ option.
Don’t forget to save your changes.
WordPress will now save your new admin email address. However, it will not change the admin email address until you verify the email.
Once you have verified the email address, WordPress will start sending important administration related emails to the new address.
Next, if you want to change the email address of the admin user account, then you need to visit the Users » All Users page and click on the ‘Edit’ link below the user you want to change.
This will open the profile edit page for that particular user account.
Simply scroll down to the Email option and then change the email address.
Don’t forget to click on the ‘Update profile’ button to save your changes.
If you are currently logged in to the user account that you are changing, then WordPress will now send an email notification to the new email address.
You need to click on the link in the email to confirm the change of your email address.
Method 2: Change WordPress Admin Email Without Verification (Using a Plugin)
If you are unable to get the verification email to change the admin email address, then you can use this method.
It basically allows you to bypass the WordPress verification and directly change the admin email address.
First, you need to install and activate the Change Admin Email plugin. For more details, see our step by step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.
Upon activation, you need to visit the Settings » General page. Go to the ‘Administration Email Address’ option and enter the new email address you want to use.
Finally, click on the ‘Save Changes’ button to store your changes.
The plugin will immediately change the admin address without verification. It will also send you a test email to the new admin email address.
Method 3: Change WordPress Admin Email via phpMyAdmin
In this method, we will show you how to change both of these email addresses via phpMyAdmin. This method should only be used when you are unable to access the WordPress admin area.
First, you need to visit the cPanel dashboard in your hosting account. Under the Databases section, you need to click on the phpMyAdmin icon.
Note: Depending on your hosting company, your cPanel dashboard may look slightly different than the above screenshot. We are using Bluehost, so that’s the screenshot of our control panel.
This will launch the phpMyAdmin app. It is a database management tool, and we will be using it to directly change the admin email address in the WordPress database.
In the phpMyAdmin window, you will see your database listed in the left column. Clicking on it will show you all the tables inside it. You need to locate the _options table and click to open it.
It will now show you the data rows inside the options table. You need to click on the ‘Edit’ button next to the row where option_name is admin_email.
phpMyAdmin will now open the row in a form where you can just go ahead and change the admin email for your site.
Don’t forget to click on the ‘Go’ button to save your changes.
You have successfully updated the email address for WordPress website email notifications.
Let’s go ahead and change the email address for the admin user account.
Click to open the _users table in phpMyAdmin window. Next, click on the ‘Edit’ button next to the row where the user login matches the user you want to edit.
phpMyAdmin will now open the user row in a form. You can enter the new email address in the user_email field.
Don’t forget to click on the ‘Go’ button to save your changes.
Troubleshooting
Sometimes WordPress email notifications may never reach your inbox. It is a common issue, and you might be unable to receive password reset or user confirmation emails because of this.
If you cannot receive WordPress email notifications, please see our guide on how to fix the WordPress not sending email issue.
We hope this article helped you learn how to change the WordPress admin email. You may also want to see our ultimate guide on WordPress user role permissions and our expert picks for the must have WordPress plugins for all websites.
If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.
Syed Balkhi says
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Gretchen Heber says
Thank you so much! This has been dogging my client forEVER (leftover problem from pvs developer). Method 2 did the trick and I’m the hero!
WPBeginner Support says
You’re welcome! Glad our guide was helpful
Admin
DG says
PhpAdmin option was quick & easy! Thank you
WPBeginner Support says
You’re welcome! Glad our guide was helpful
Admin
Julie says
Hello,
I would like to thank you for all the great, current, useful info on this site. Thanks to this site, I used the aforementioned plug-in and was able to change the admin email address with ease. This site has taught me so many wonderful things!
Thank you so much for your time and sharing your knowledge!
Julie
WPBeginner Support says
Glad you found our content helpful!
Admin
Jaff says
Well done, thanks!
WPBeginner Support says
Glad our guide was helpful!
Admin
Molly Gregg says
So helpful, thank you!!
WPBeginner Support says
You’re welcome!
Admin
Rifat A. says
PhpMyAdmin method worked. Thanks guys…
WPBeginner Support says
Glad our recommendation could help!
Admin
Cathy says
I did step by step and it did not change my email address in wordpress admin
WPBeginner Support says
If one method did not work for you, we would recommend trying one of the other methods from our guide which should work for you!
Admin
Alena says
THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OMG, exactly what I was looking for!
WPBeginner Support says
Glad to hear our guide was helpful!
Admin
Prathmesh Gawai says
The second method worked for me. Thanks for sharing this.
Is it ok to delete the plugin now from my site?
WPBeginner Support says
Unless we hear otherwise, after it has updated your email you should be able to remove it
Admin
Afee says
Thank you so much, it worked perfectly.
WPBeginner Support says
Glad our guide could help!
Admin
Jamie says
With any of these 3 options, do the notification or confirmation emails go to the original site admin email address? Either when we input a new email or when the new email is confirmed?
Either using the dashboard, a plugin, or PHPMyAdmin?
WPBeginner Support says
If you wanted to avoid the confirmation email you would want to use either the second or third method from this article.
Admin
Abhishek Rana says
I have not received email verification mail from WordPress. what to do?
Semih says
Thank you very much. I fixed problem.
WPBeginner Support says
Glad our guide was helpful
Admin
Brett Bumeter says
If you are using the plugin above, make sure you cancel your pending request first.
The plugin method only works after the pending change is cancelled. Then you can make a fresh attempt and the plugin worked for me (wp 5.6.2 Mar of 2021)
Good luck!
WPBeginner Support says
Thanks for sharing what worked for you
Admin
mudasir abbas turi says
This is 3rd time my problem solved very easily with your article thanks.
WPBeginner Support says
Glad our guides could help
Admin
Grey says
The first worked. Thanks
WPBeginner Support says
Glad our guide was helpful
Admin
Anita says
I have been trying to change my admin. email to try business name from personal and I saved my changes but from days ago it still says “There is a pending change to your email”. It says an email will be sent to the new email for verification, I have yet to received this email. Thanks for your help.
WPBeginner Support says
If you are not receiving an email then you would want to set up SMTP to help ensure you receive emails from your site:
https://www.wpbeginner.com/plugins/how-to-send-email-in-wordpress-using-the-gmail-smtp-server/
Admin
Faris Rashid says
Thank you so much! I was able to login back to my admin area just now after changing the email in the database. That was so helpful. Thanks again!
WPBeginner Support says
You’re welcome, glad our guide was helpful
Admin
Linda says
I need to have a clickable link on my website redirect to a new email address- how do I make this change?
WPBeginner Support says
For email address links you would want to take a look at our article below:
https://www.wpbeginner.com/beginners-guide/how-to-link-to-an-email-address-in-wordpress/
Admin
Mayuree says
The email notification of inventory not sent to our admin email. How to solve this problem.
WPBeginner Support says
You would want to check in the settings of the plugin or tool you are using for your inventory in case there is a specific setting for what you’re using.
Admin
Mark Livermroe says
If you change the admin email address using either of these methods – what happens to the admin password? is the admin password still the same (as set by the original admin)? Thanks
WPBeginner Support says
Your password would stay the same
Admin
Rene Boast says
I use google cloud to host my website and changed the email address on administration but received this –
The new address will not become active until confirmed.
There is a pending change of the admin email to ” but not getting any email to the new address.
WPBeginner Support says
You may want to try setting up SMTP to help ensure the email gets sent to you, for how to set up SMTP we would recommend taking a look at our article below:
https://www.wpbeginner.com/plugins/how-to-send-email-in-wordpress-using-the-gmail-smtp-server/
Admin
Zahid Hussain Arain says
hi
i got the mistake of changing the email of admin user, but i not received any email on my new account. now i am unable to login to my website by new or old email. please solve this. how i can now get to login to my site. still new email is on users menu
WPBeginner Support says
For that issue, you would want to follow our guide below:
https://www.wpbeginner.com/beginners-guide/how-to-change-your-password-in-wordpress/
Admin
Nihmath Hussain says
As per the article i edited the admin email table in db, changed admin email and clicked ‘Go’ but it automatically revert to old mail address. Any idea how to fix. It doesn’t work from wp-admin either
WPBeginner Support says
You may want to check with your hosting provider to ensure you are not being prevented from editing the address for some reason.
Admin
Andrew Griffith says
Thank you!. Is it possible to turn off the email notification for whenever you receive a comment on your blog?
WPBeginner Support says
For that, you would want to take a look at our article below:
https://www.wpbeginner.com/beginners-guide/how-to-turn-off-comments-notification-in-wordpress/
Admin
Aki Stepinska says
Thank you so much. I have two websites in BlueHost – one for me and one for my husband and I could not change the admin email in WordPress. It kept saying that an email was sent to my husband’s email address to verify change request but it never came. I followed your method 2 by updating it in phpMyAdmin. Now, the only reason why I was able to do that were your very detailed steps. Thank you!
WPBeginner Support says
Glad our guide was helpful
Admin
Kanak Sehgal says
Hey I have tried to change my email address by following method 1 but they didn’t send me the verification email. I repeated this few times , there is no response.
WPBeginner Support says
When not receiving the emails you would want to follow the recommendations in our guide below:
https://www.wpbeginner.com/plugins/how-to-send-email-in-wordpress-using-the-gmail-smtp-server/
Admin
Lee says
Thank you so much! Your site has been helping me for years!
WPBeginner Support says
You’re welcome, glad we can continue to be helpful
Admin
GARETH SHAW says
thanks so much, very helpful . Love your site. Brilliant
WPBeginner Support says
Glad you found our guides helpful
Admin
Mehedi hasan says
Thank you so much dear,,finally i solve this problem,,,
WPBeginner Support says
You’re welcome, glad our article was able to help
Admin
Mary-Lynn says
Thanks – had to help a client get things changed as the old web person used their personal gmail account as the admin email. The issue we were having was that the confirmation email wasn’t sending. Using your instructions via PhpMyAdmin worked great!
WPBeginner Support says
You’re welcome, glad our guide could be helpful
Admin
Roland says
Hi,
I change the email using my WordPress dashboard but after they sent me the mail i click on the confirm link but is does not change the email. And is still showing me email confirmation pending.
WPBeginner Support says
If the email is not in your spam folder, you would want to update your site to use SMTP to send your emails, we have a guide on how to do that here: https://www.wpbeginner.com/plugins/how-to-send-email-in-wordpress-using-the-gmail-smtp-server/
Admin
Sagar Bhalerao says
thanks a lot for the post
WPBeginner Support says
You’re welcome, glad you liked our post
Admin
Christopher Wills says
Naive question here. I am trying to set up a Mailerlite account. As part of the sign up process they require me to verify an email address associated with my website. Unfortunately the only email address their site will accept is one with @myname.com which is the end of my website address.
Can you tell me how to find my created email address ending in @myname.com so I can see if any emails have gone there?
WPBeginner Support says
If you have not set up an email at that address then you did not send the message to a working email address. You can set it up using the method from our article here: https://www.wpbeginner.com/beginners-guide/how-to-create-a-free-business-email-address-in-5-minutes-step-by-step/
Admin
Michelle says
Hi,
I managed to change the admin’s email address using the phpMyAdmin window, but my WP Form still isn’t sending the emails to the new email address. I reverted to the original admin email and it works! The original admin email is Gmail, and the new one is on Outlook Office.
Any ideas? Help, please. I’ve already spent over an hour trying to figure this out.
Thanks
Michelle
WPBeginner Support says
You may want to check the spam folder for Outlook, if it is not there you could ensure your emails are being sent using SMTP using the method in our article here: https://www.wpbeginner.com/plugins/how-to-send-email-in-wordpress-using-the-gmail-smtp-server/
Admin
Judd Dunagan says
Is there a way to remove an email from a site which you no longer have access to other than notifying the site owner?
WPBeginner Support says
Unless the site has a tool or method specific to it, you would need to reach out to the site owner
Admin
Kenny says
Nice and helpful write up. However, how do I change the default wordress@mywebsite email address from email notifications. Thanks
WPBeginner Support says
For that, you would normally want to use WP Mail SMTP to modify that email: https://www.wpbeginner.com/plugins/how-to-set-up-wp-mail-smtp-with-any-host-ultimate-guide/
Admin
Tracey says
Hey, thanks a lot. The instructions awas detailed and accurate.
WPBeginner Support says
Glad our tutorial could be helpful
Admin
Sumit Bahl says
We get this message “The new address will not become active until confirmed.
There is a pending change of the admin email to ” but not getting any email to the new address plz help.
WPBeginner Support says
More than likely the message is being blocked due to how WordPress sends emails by default. You can get around this using SMTP which we explain how to set up in our article here:
https://www.wpbeginner.com/plugins/how-to-send-email-in-wordpress-using-the-gmail-smtp-server/
Admin
John Dee says
I am the author of the change admin email plugin. If you install the plugin after you create a failed pending change, you’ll get stuck with this message. Just click “Cancel”. This will cancel the previous pending change. Then you’ll be able to do a new change from scratch.
Diana Alt says
Hello! I don’t see the email address setting on the General > Settings page for my site. Do I need to upgrade to a business account? I am hosting directly at wordpress.com.
Thanks!
WPBeginner Support says
Our tutorials are for WordPress.org site would be part of the issue, WordPress.com would require you to change your account settings.
Admin
Sarang Hole says
Thanks man. I really need this article, and i Solve my email updaton problem, thanks
WPBeginner Support says
You’re welcome, glad our article could help
Admin
Com says
Hi, We currently have 2 admins on our WP site. The first original admin guy’s email address appears as the site admin while I am in logged in. If I were to change it to my email address while I am logged in as admin, would that change mean there are now 2 admin emails? Is this even possible, or can a WP site only have 1 admin email? It would be good to have more than one person getting admin info, so how can I do this change to make 2 admin emails? Thanks.
WPBeginner Support says
By default, you can only have one admin email, there are plugins to allow multiple admin emails but unless I hear otherwise we do not have a specific one we would recommend at this time.
Admin
Pradip Nalwaya says
Thank you !! I had installed WordPress in AWS. but don’t know to how to change default Email Address. After Read This Awesome Article and easy step i have done it.
WPBeginner Support says
Glad our article could help
Admin
Eleni says
Congratulations on your website. It is full of excellent articles that have really helped a beginner like me!
I have tried to change my admin email using method 1, but I have not recieved any emails from wordpress in order to confirm my new email address.
What could be the problem?
Should I use method 2?
If you have any advise to give me, I would greatly appreciate it!
Thank you!