---
title: "Settings: General"
description: "Every field on Settings > General: the default sender, your business details, who gets alerts, and what happens to your data on delete."
url: "https://hiveplugins.com/docs/hive-mail-settings-general/"
updated: "2026-10-28"
category: Hive Mail
---

# Settings: General

Open **Hive Mail > Settings > General**. It has four cards and one save bar (**Discard changes**, **Save changes**). You need to be an administrator or have **Manage settings**.

![The General tab with its four cards](https://hiveplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/hivemail-settings-general-overview-01.webp)

| Setting | What it does | Default |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **Default From name** (card **Sender**) | The name people see in their inbox. A campaign can set its own sender | Your site's name |
| **Default From email** | The address emails are sent from. Use an address on your own domain; gmail.com or yahoo.com turns the "From address" check on the Sending tab red | The site's admin email |
| **Reply-to email** | Where replies go | Empty (replies go to the From email) |
| **Business name** (card **Business details**) | Printed in the footer and the `{{business_name}}` merge tag | Empty (the site name is printed) |
| **Business address** | A postal address, required in marketing email in many countries. A campaign cannot be sent without it | Empty |
| **Business phone**, **Business website** | Kept with your details; not printed in emails by themselves | Empty |
| **Business logo** | **Choose logo**, **Replace logo**, **Remove**. Heads the alert and summary emails sent to you, not campaigns (that logo is in the [brand kit](/docs/hive-mail-brand-kit/)) | None |
| **Send alerts to** (card **Admin email addresses**) | Who gets alerts and the weekly summary; one address per line, up to 10. Contacts never see these. The Notifications tab has its own box, which wins when filled in | The site's admin email |
| **Delete all Hive Mail data when the plugin is deleted** (card **When the plugin is deleted**) | Wipes everything when the plugin is deleted from the Plugins page. Deactivating never deletes anything | Off |

The public pages (Unsubscribe, Email preferences, Subscription confirmed), the email footer and the confirmation email print the business name and address from here.

![The delete switch turned on, with the amber warning list under it](https://hiveplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/hivemail-settings-general-delete-switch-02.webp)

> **Warning:** With the delete switch on, deleting the plugin erases contacts, lists, tags, segments, campaigns, reports, automations, tracking data and all settings, including sending keys, for good. Export your contacts first: [Uninstalling and Delete all data](/docs/hive-mail-uninstalling-and-delete-all-data/).

Next: [Settings: Sending](/docs/hive-mail-settings-sending/), [Settings: Notifications](/docs/hive-mail-settings-notifications/).