Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about how BuddyPress Contact Me behaves. For error symptoms and fixes, see Troubleshooting.
Does it require BuddyPress?
Section titled “Does it require BuddyPress?”Yes. The plugin needs BuddyPress or BuddyBoss Platform to be active. It reads BuddyPress user data and hooks BuddyPress nav, notifications, and email.
Can senders and recipients reply back and forth inside the plugin?
Section titled “Can senders and recipients reply back and forth inside the plugin?”No. This plugin is single-shot contact, not a threaded messenger. From the single-message view a recipient can reply by email or, when the sender is a member and the BuddyPress Messages component is active, start a BuddyPress private message. There is no in-plugin thread.
Who can see a member’s inbox?
Section titled “Who can see a member’s inbox?”Only that member. The single-message view enforces ownership, and a direct URL to another member’s message ID returns “Message not found”.
Can guests contact members?
Section titled “Can guests contact members?”Yes, when the Visitors (not logged in) group is in the Who can send messages list. It is included by default. Guests solve a math captcha and provide a name and email. See Guest contact.
Does it work on multisite?
Section titled “Does it work on multisite?”Yes. Each subsite installs its own database table on activation and keeps its own settings. License activation is per site, so plan your license tier accordingly. There is no network-wide settings sync.
Can I embed the form outside a profile?
Section titled “Can I embed the form outside a profile?”Yes, with the [buddypress-contact-me] shortcode, targeting a member by id or user (login). See Shortcode.
Can I import old messages from another contact plugin?
Section titled “Can I import old messages from another contact plugin?”Not through a UI. The data lives in {prefix}contact_me with columns id, sender, reciever (the column name is a historical typo, preserved for backwards compatibility), subject, message, name, email, datetime. Insert rows that match this schema and the plugin reads them on the next page load. Use wp db query or a migration script.
Can I export messages?
Section titled “Can I export messages?”There is no built-in export. Run a SQL query and dump to a file:
wp db query "SELECT id, sender, reciever, subject, datetime FROM wp_contact_me ORDER BY datetime DESC" --skip-column-names > messages.tsvInclude message for the full body. Keep the file private; messages are sensitive.
Do I have to activate a license to use it?
Section titled “Do I have to activate a license to use it?”No. Every feature works without a license. Only automatic updates and priority support are gated. See the License tab.
How do I uninstall and remove all data?
Section titled “How do I uninstall and remove all data?”Deactivate and then delete the plugin from Plugins > Installed Plugins. The uninstall routine drops the messages table, removes the plugin options, clears the plugin-specific user-meta, and deletes the BuddyPress email post and the plugin’s notifications. 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?
Section titled “Where do I report a bug or request a feature?”Open a ticket from your wbcomdesigns.com account, or email support. Include the WordPress, BuddyPress, and PHP versions, and, for a bug, a copy of wp-content/debug.log with WP_DEBUG on. For visual issues, attach a screenshot.