How Can We Help?

Almost always one of three things:

1. PHP version. The plugin needs PHP 7.4 or newer. Check under Tools → Site Health → Info → Server. Most hosts let you change this in cPanel under "Select PHP Version".
2. A half-finished upload. Deactivate, delete the plugin completely, then upload the zip again. Updating over the top of a partial upload leaves broken files behind.
3. Stale rewrite rules from an older version. Go to Settings → Permalinks and click Save Changes without altering anything.

Still stuck? Turn on the error log by adding define('WP_DEBUG', true); and define('WP_DEBUG_LOG', true); to wp-config.php, reproduce the problem, then send us the last 20 lines of wp-content/debug.log with your ticket.

WordPress caches its URL rules and doesn't always notice new ones. Go to Settings → Permalinks and click Save Changes. Nothing needs to be edited; saving is what rebuilds the rules.

Make sure your permalinks are set to Post name rather than Plain. The directory, newsletter archive and business portal pages all need pretty permalinks to work.

• Check the key. City Newsletter → Settings → AI. The key should start with sk- and have no spaces at either end.
• Check your OpenAI balance. A key with no credit on the account returns an error on every request. Add a small amount at platform.openai.com → Billing; typical use runs a few dollars a month.
• Check the model. If your OpenAI account doesn't have access to the model selected in Settings, generation fails. Switch to the other model in the dropdown and try again.
• Long waits. Content with live web search can take 30–60 seconds. Some hosts cut PHP off before that; ask your host to raise max_execution_time to 120.

That's expected. GetResponse has no transactional email API, so single test emails fall back to your site's own mail. Two ways to preview an issue properly:

1. Use Save as Draft in GetResponse in the builder. The issue lands in GetResponse under Email Marketing → Newsletters where you can send yourself a test with their tools.
2. Install any SMTP plugin so WordPress can send mail reliably, then Send Test works from WordPress directly.

Send Newsletter is unaffected — it pushes the issue to your GetResponse list as normal.

• Confirm the API key and the list or campaign ID in City Newsletter → Settings → Email, then use Test Connection.
• GetResponse needs the campaign ID, not the campaign name. It's in the URL when you open the list in GetResponse.
• Someone who already exists on the list is treated as a success, not an error. That's normal and prevents duplicates.
• Subscribers are always stored in WordPress too, under City Newsletter → Subscribers, so nothing is lost while you sort the connection out.

The directory needs a published page containing the [city_directory] shortcode. Recent versions create it for you on activation; if yours doesn't have one, add a page called Directory with that shortcode, then save Settings → Permalinks.

Without that page, listing links fall back to your site root and the business sitemap points at your home page.

• Always preview before sending. The builder's preview renders the same template the email uses.
• Keep images under 600px wide. Anything wider gets scaled by the mail client and can look soft.
• Gmail clips messages over roughly 102KB and shows "View entire message". Shorter issues get read more anyway.
• Outlook ignores some background colors. Stick to the supplied blocks rather than pasting custom HTML.

City name, state and all your branding live in City Newsletter → Settings, so changing city is a settings change, not a reinstall.

A second city means a second WordPress site with its own domain and its own copy of the plugin and theme. Your license covers your own sites, so there's no extra purchase.

We email you when a new version is ready. Deactivate and delete the old plugin, then upload the new zip and activate it. Deleting the plugin does not touch your newsletters, subscribers, listings or settings — those live in your database.

Take a backup first anyway. Any decent host has one-click backups.