Backdrop 1.2.0 includes a built-in Email module. For existing sites that have upgraded from a previous version of Backdrop, this module must be enabled to use its new functionality. This can be done by visiting the modules page (admin/modules), and checking the box for Email.

If your site previously was using the contributed module version of Email module (available from GitHub), the old module will continue functioning on your site. However, due to differences between the core Email module and the contributed Email module, it is recommended that the old module be removed from your installation to prevent problems in the future.

You can identify if your site is running the old version of Email module by checking your site's code directories. If a directory exists at /modules/email or /sites/*/modules/email, then your site is running the old Email module. The new core Email module resides at /core/modules/email and should not be changed.

Note that the core version of Email is slightly different from the contributed version. In particular:

  • The formatter for "Email SpamSpan" has been removed from the core module.
  • The formatter for "Email contact form" from the core module.

This functionality of the old Email module should be moved to a separate contributed module project (but one does not exist at the time of this writing). If your site is not using these features, you may safely switch to using the Core Email module by performing the following steps:

  1. Delete the directory containing the old module from your installation (usually /modules/email.
  2. Visit the modules page in the Backdrop UI to let Backdrop pick up the new core module location within /core/modules/email.
  3. Run update.php to have the new core module clean up its installation.

If you have never used the old contributed Email module, then no special steps are necessary. You may enable the new Email module at any time on your existing sites. The new Email module is enabled by default on new installations of Backdrop.

Introduced in branch: 
1.2.x
Introduced in version: 
1.2.0
Impacts: 
Architects, Administrators, Editors
Module developers