Then - why don’t you just update the productive site for a 15 Minute test? You can roll back any time.
The old site is in RW8 and has loads of “problems” (lots of “missing” stacks) hence why I have rebuilt it in Elements. I do not have a working copy to republish so I assume this is what you mean by ‘roll back"?
@PMUK Yes, I see. Then:
add a test folder in ftp so the address is dontbeaclot.com/test
Add this folder as the destination in the publishing and the URL in the settings to dontbeaclot.com/test
Publish and test there.
This way you do not touch any existing site and have a folder on the main domain to test with.
Thanks Jan,
The form doesn’t work when published locally either, so I don’t think the problem can be at chillidog’s end (although it might be, if Element’s local server has the same problem).
Running the site in Vivaldi generates a slightly more verbose error report:
This is something RealMac has to have a look at…
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OK I’ve stripped the Core and Essentials Contacts forms down completely
I started with the Core - Contact form. Put in test page. On preview it works instantly, in published site error.
I then removed every field one at a time and left just the message field - republishing each time. Same works on test but not published site.
I then added one at time the Essentials form fields and removed the messages filed. Once again it worked on test but not published.
I then put email field in and the test failed and published failed.
I then deleted this field and added a brand new clean field and this failed.
I then added the full essentials contact form and it failed in both test and published.
I then removed the email field and it worked on test but not published.
I am now at a stage where I just need some help as I can not do any more.
@ben - you have kindly changed the field name for update in Essentials contact form but I have tried everything to get this to work.
I am sorry this is detailed above but I am trying to give a pointer somewhere to some one with more knowledge than me. It’s not strange that I am not the only one having problems.
@differentdan following on from email I have just sent the above is where I am at - might give you a clue? TIA
I’d really have to see it and test it out on your server. Let’s save it for the one-on-one tomorrow as I think we’ll be able to clear it up (or at least find out what’s causing the breakdown) much faster than back and forth via text. 
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I have solved my particular problem. I erroneously set the PHP version for my site to 8.4 but I have now learned from elsewhere in the forum that it must be 8.2. Weirdly, my site passed the /?apicheck test and that lured me into a false sense of security.
Thank you to everyone who helped - it was very kind of you.
Hi @BrettHannam
I unmarked your answer as the solution because that shouldn’t be the case. The Contact Form component works with any PHP version 8.2 or above, meaning it should also work on PHP 8.3, 8.4, and even 8.5.
If your Contact Form was not working on PHP 8.4 then it wasn’t the PHP version that was causing the issue, but something else, perhaps a missing PHP module from your 8.4 branch that was included on the 8.2 branch.
If you’d like to switch back to PHP 8.4 I can try and help you get that working, or you can stay on PHP 8.2 if you’re not bothered by it (8.2 is still getting security updates until the end of this year).
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Thanks @DifferentDan. This is very weird. I’m sure I didn’t change anything in my project except the PHP version and the form suddenly worked. I have changed back to 8.4 and it still works, which supports your view that whatever the problem was, it wasn’t PHP.
I did switch off the computer over the weekend - perhaps something was cleared out when it restarted? Whatever the cause, I now have a working form - for which relief much thanks!
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Hey that’s all that matters, a working contact form! 
Happy it’s sorted for you now. If you encounter any other troubles just let us know.
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The email form on my own host has worked from the first moment, but I’m trying to convince a friend to let me re-do his old website. I got his credentials, and long story short, I’ve been pulling my hair out for 2 days with the same problems being talked about above. Here’s the “fix” I came up with. Please tell me if this is dangerous or outright wrong. In the forms Authentication section, I inserted “localhost” with port 587. Encryption is set to “None” and the Username and Password were left blank. The rest of the form was filled out properly. After re-publishing the site, the email worked great. This seems kind of like a nuclear option, but until I find out more, or why I shouldn’t do this, that’s my solution. Please comment.
I’m shocked that’s working.
But no, those are terrible form settings lol.
Whose the web host of your friend? I can try and round up some docs that list what the SMTP settings should be.
None of the hosts recommended settings would work. They recommend TLS, Port 465 over SMTP, but all my friends email devices use port 587. We got online with support from the host (over 40 minutes) and THEY couldn’t understand why it wasn’t working. I’m not very confident in his hosting provider (HostGator). We tried every combination of TLS and SSL with port 465 and 587. All the typical settings have been tried. He’s on PHP 8.3 (the highest version they offer). I also spent over 5 hours with ChatGPT trying all kinds of stuff. Every re-publish was taking 40 minutes. The Elements API was working correctly. This poor solution (localhost) was the only thing I could come up with.
I don’t blame you.
If you want me to have a closer look feel free to DM me or email me at support@realmacsoftware.com
We’d probably have to do a Zoom call, if you want to schedule one let me know.