What does return mail send phpmailer

When using PHPMailer, "return mail" refers to the process of sending a copy of the email back to the sender (i.e., the person who sent the email) when the email bounces or is undeliverable.

In PHPMailer, you can enable return mail by setting the Sender property to the email address of the sender, and then setting the ReturnPath property to the same email address. This tells the mail server to send a copy of the email back to the sender if it bounces or is undeliverable.

Here's an example of how to enable return mail in PHPMailer:

$mail = new PHPMailer();
$mail->setFrom('[email protected]', 'Sender Name');
$mail->addAddress('[email protected]', 'Recipient Name');
$mail->Sender = '[email protected]'; // Set the sender email address
$mail->ReturnPath = '[email protected]'; // Set the return path email address

When you set the ReturnPath property, PHPMailer will include a Return-Path header in the email that specifies the email address to which the mail server should send a copy of the email if it bounces or is undeliverable.

For example, if you set the ReturnPath property to [email protected], the email might look like this:

From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: Test email

...

Return-Path: [email protected]

When the email is sent, the mail server will check if the email is deliverable. If it's not deliverable (e.g., because the recipient's email address is invalid or the email server is down), the mail server will send a copy of the email back to the ReturnPath email address (in this case, [email protected]). This allows the sender to be notified that the email was undeliverable.

Note that return mail is not the same as bcc (blind carbon copy), which sends a copy of the email to multiple recipients without revealing their email addresses to each other. Return mail is specifically designed to send a copy of the email back to the sender when the email is undeliverable.