Unable to save an empty email address when the field is marked as optional #7476
Description
Description
It is not possible to save an existing post with an empty email address field even though it is marked as optional.
Version
3.3.4
Testing Instructions
- Create a new POD, add an email field and set to not required
- Create a new post and add email address
- Edit post, try to remove email address
Screenshots / Screencast
Possible Workaround
Manually remove the postmeta data from the database. This also allows you to save the post, even when the email address field is empty.
Site Health Information
`
### wp-core ###
version: 6.9
site_language: en_GB
user_language: en_GB
timezone: Europe/London
permalink: /%postname%/
https_status: true
multisite: false
user_registration: 0
blog_public: 1
default_comment_status: undefined
environment_type: production
user_count: 3
dotorg_communication: true
### wp-paths-sizes ###
wordpress_path: /var/www/vhosts/example.com/releases/157/web/wp
wordpress_size: loading...
uploads_path: /var/www/vhosts/example.com/releases/157/web/app/uploads
uploads_size: loading...
themes_path: /var/www/vhosts/example.com/releases/157/web/app/themes
themes_size: loading...
plugins_path: /var/www/vhosts/example.com/releases/157/web/app/plugins
plugins_size: loading...
fonts_path: /var/www/vhosts/example.com/releases/157/web/app/uploads/fonts
fonts_size: loading...
database_size: loading...
total_size: loading...
### wp-dropins (2) ###
advanced-cache.php: true
object-cache.php: true
### wp-active-theme ###
name: Hello Elementor Child (hello-elementor-child)
version: 2.0.0
author: Elementor Team
author_website: https://elementor.com/
parent_theme: Hello Elementor (hello-elementor)
theme_features: core-block-patterns, widgets-block-editor, block-templates, responsive-embeds, menus, post-thumbnails, automatic-feed-links, title-tag, html5, custom-logo, align-wide, editor-styles, editor-style, woocommerce, wc-product-gallery-zoom, wc-product-gallery-lightbox, wc-product-gallery-slider
theme_path: /var/www/vhosts/example.com/releases/157/web/app/themes/hello-elementor-child
### wp-parent-theme ###
name: Hello Elementor (hello-elementor)
version: 3.4.5
author: Elementor Team
author_website: https://elementor.com/?utm_source=wp-themes&utm_campaign=author-uri&utm_medium=wp-dash
theme_path: /var/www/vhosts/example.com/releases/157/web/app/themes/hello-elementor
### wp-mu-plugins (4) ###
Bedrock Autoloader: version: 1.0.3, author: Roots
Disable status tests: version: 1.0.0, author: Roots
Register Theme Directory: version: 1.0.0, author: Roots
Set WordPress Mail From Address: version: 1.0.0, author: ib3 Limited
### wp-plugins-active (10) ###
Converter for Media: version: 6.5.0, author: matt plugins
Dynamic Visibility for Elementor: version: 6.0.2, author: Dynamic.ooo
Elementor: version: 3.34.1, author: Elementor.com
Elementor Pro: version: 3.34.0, author: Elementor.com
Pods - Custom Content Types and Fields: version: 3.3.4, author: Pods Framework Team
Post Types Order: version: 2.4.1, author: Nsp Code
Rank Math SEO: version: 1.0.262, author: Rank Math SEO
Site Custom Code: version: 1.0.0, author: ib3 Limited
W3 Total Cache: version: 2.9.1, author: BoldGrid
Wordfence Security: version: 8.1.4, author: Wordfence
### wp-media ###
image_editor: WP_Image_Editor_Imagick
imagick_module_version: 1810
imagemagick_version: ImageMagick 7.1.2-12 Q16-HDRI x86_64 23490 https://imagemagick.org
imagick_version: 3.8.1
file_uploads: 1
post_max_size: 50M
upload_max_filesize: 40M
max_effective_size: 40 MB
max_file_uploads: 20
imagick_limits:
imagick::RESOURCETYPE_AREA: 7 GB
imagick::RESOURCETYPE_DISK: 9.2233720368548E+18
imagick::RESOURCETYPE_FILE: 768
imagick::RESOURCETYPE_MAP: 3 GB
imagick::RESOURCETYPE_MEMORY: 2 GB
imagick::RESOURCETYPE_THREAD: 1
imagick::RESOURCETYPE_TIME: 9.2233720368548E+18
imagemagick_file_formats: 3FR, 3G2, 3GP, AAI, AI, APNG, ART, ARW, ASHLAR, AVCI, AVI, AVIF, AVS, BAYER, BAYERA, BGR, BGRA, BGRO, BIE, BMP, BMP2, BMP3, BRF, CAL, CALS, CANVAS, CAPTION, CIN, CIP, CLIP, CMYK, CMYKA, CR2, CR3, CRW, CUBE, CUR, CUT, DATA, DCM, DCR, DCRAW, DCX, DDS, DFONT, DJVU, DNG, DOT, DPX, DXT1, DXT5, EPDF, EPI, EPS, EPS2, EPS3, EPSF, EPSI, EPT, EPT2, EPT3, ERF, EXR, FARBFELD, FAX, FF, FFF, FILE, FITS, FL32, FLV, FRACTAL, FTP, FTS, FTXT, G3, G4, GIF, GIF87, GRADIENT, GRAY, GRAYA, GROUP4, GV, HALD, HDR, HEIC, HEIF, HISTOGRAM, HRZ, HTM, HTML, HTTP, HTTPS, ICB, ICN, ICO, ICON, IIQ, INFO, INLINE, IPL, ISOBRL, ISOBRL6, J2C, J2K, JBG, JBIG, JNG, JNX, JP2, JPC, JPE, JPEG, JPG, JPM, JPS, JPT, JSON, JXL, K25, KDC, KERNEL, LABEL, M2V, M4V, MAC, MAP, MASK, MAT, MATTE, MDC, MEF, MIFF, MKV, MNG, MONO, MOS, MOV, MP4, MPC, MPEG, MPG, MPO, MRW, MSL, MSVG, MTV, MVG, NEF, NRW, NULL, ORA, ORF, OTB, OTF, PAL, PALM, PAM, PANGO, PATTERN, PBM, PCD, PCDS, PCL, PCT, PCX, PDB, PDF, PDFA, PEF, PES, PFA, PFB, PFM, PGM, PGX, PHM, PICON, PICT, PIX, PJPEG, PLASMA, PNG, PNG00, PNG24, PNG32, PNG48, PNG64, PNG8, PNM, POCKETMOD, PPM, PS, PS2, PS3, PSB, PSD, PTIF, PWP, QOI, RADIAL-GRADIENT, RAF, RAS, RAW, RGB, RGB565, RGBA, RGBO, RGF, RLA, RLE, RMF, RSVG, RW2, RWL, SCR, SCT, SF3, SFW, SGI, SHTML, SIX, SIXEL, SPARSE-COLOR, SR2, SRF, SRW, STEGANO, STI, STRIMG, SUN, SVG, SVGZ, TEXT, TGA, THUMBNAIL, TIFF, TIFF64, TILE, TIM, TM2, TTC, TTF, TXT, UBRL, UBRL6, UIL, UYVY, VDA, VICAR, VID, VIFF, VIPS, VST, WBMP, WEBM, WEBP, WMF, WMV, WMZ, WPG, X, X3F, XBM, XC, XCF, XPM, XPS, XV, XWD, YAML, YCBCR, YCBCRA, YUV
image_format_transforms: image/heic → image/jpeg, image/heif → image/jpeg, image/heic-sequence → image/jpeg, image/heif-sequence → image/jpeg
gd_version: 2.3.3
gd_formats: GIF, JPEG, PNG, WebP, BMP, AVIF, XPM
ghostscript_version: not available
### wp-server ###
server_architecture: Linux 5.14.0-570.52.1.el9_6.x86_64 x86_64
httpd_software: Apache
php_version: 8.3.30 64bit
php_sapi: fpm-fcgi
max_input_variables: 1000
time_limit: 120
memory_limit: 256M
max_input_time: 60
upload_max_filesize: 40M
php_post_max_size: 50M
curl_version: 7.76.1 OpenSSL/3.5.1
suhosin: false
imagick_availability: true
pretty_permalinks: true
static_robotstxt_file: false
current: 2026-01-19T11:27:24+00:00
utc-time: Monday, 19-Jan-26 11:27:24 UTC
server-time: 2026-01-19T11:27:23+00:00
### wp-database ###
extension: mysqli
server_version: 10.5.29-MariaDB-log
client_version: mysqlnd 8.3.30
max_allowed_packet: 16777216
max_connections: 51
### wp-constants ###
WP_HOME: https://www.example.com
WP_SITEURL: https://www.example.com/wp
WP_CONTENT_DIR: /var/www/vhosts/example.com/releases/157/web/app
WP_PLUGIN_DIR: /var/www/vhosts/example.com/releases/157/web/app/plugins
WP_MEMORY_LIMIT: 40M
WP_MAX_MEMORY_LIMIT: 256M
WP_DEBUG: false
WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY: false
WP_DEBUG_LOG: false
SCRIPT_DEBUG: false
WP_CACHE: true
CONCATENATE_SCRIPTS: false
COMPRESS_SCRIPTS: undefined
COMPRESS_CSS: undefined
WP_ENVIRONMENT_TYPE: production
WP_DEVELOPMENT_MODE: undefined
DB_CHARSET: utf8mb4
DB_COLLATE: undefined
### wp-filesystem ###
wordpress: not writable
wp-content: not writable
uploads: writable
plugins: not writable
themes: not writable
fonts: does not exist
mu-plugins: not writable
### pods ###
pods-version: 3.3.4
pods-first-version: 3.0.4
pods-last-version: 3.3.3
pods-server-software: Apache
pods-user-agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/143.0.0.0 Safari/537.36
pods-session-save-path: /var/lib/php/session
pods-session-save-path-exists: Yes
pods-session-save-path-writable: Yes
pods-session-max-lifetime: 1440
pods-opcode-cache-apc: No
pods-opcode-cache-memcached: No
pods-opcode-cache-opcache: Yes
pods-opcode-cache-redis: No
pods-object-cache-apc: No
pods-object-cache-apcu: No
pods-object-cache-memcache: No
pods-object-cache-memcached: Yes
pods-object-cache-redis: No
pods-memory-current-usage: 15.436M / 40M
pods-memory-current-usage-real: 18.000M
pods-network-wide: No
pods-install-location: /var/www/vhosts/example.com/releases/157/web/app/plugins/pods/
pods-developer: No
pods-tableless-mode: No
pods-relationship-table-enabled: Yes
pods-relationship-table-status: 18
pods-light-mode: No
pods-strict: No
pods-allow-deprecated: Yes
pods-api-cache: Yes
pods-shortcode-allow-evaluate-tags: No
pods-can-use-sessions: Yes
pods-settings-types_only: Enable [types_only=0]
pods-settings-watch_changed_fields: Disable [watch_changed_fields=0]
pods-settings-metadata_integration: Disable [metadata_integration=0]
pods-settings-metadata_override_get: Disable [metadata_override_get=0]
pods-settings-register_meta_integration: Disable [register_meta_integration=0]
pods-settings-media_modal_fields: Enable [media_modal_fields=0]
pods-settings-session_auto_start: Disable [session_auto_start=0]
pods-settings-dynamic_features_allow: Enable [dynamic_features_allow=1]
pods-settings-dynamic_features_enabled: Display and Form [dynamic_features_enabled=display,form]
pods-settings-show_access_restricted_messages: Disable [show_access_restricted_messages=0]
pods-settings-show_access_admin_notices: Enable [show_access_admin_notices=1]
pods-settings-dynamic_features_allow_sql_clauses: Restricted [dynamic_features_allow_sql_clauses=simple]
pods-settings-display_callbacks: Restricted [display_callbacks=restricted]
pods-settings-display_callbacks_allowed: esc_attr,esc_html
`
Pods Package
{
"@meta": {
"version": "3.3.4",
"build": 1768822177
},
"settings": {
"types_only": "0",
"watch_changed_fields": "0",
"metadata_integration": "0",
"metadata_override_get": "0",
"register_meta_integration": "0",
"media_modal_fields": "0",
"session_auto_start": "0",
"dynamic_features_allow": "1",
"dynamic_features_enabled": [
"display",
"form"
],
"show_access_restricted_messages": "0",
"show_access_admin_notices": "1",
"dynamic_features_allow_sql_clauses": "simple",
"display_callbacks": "restricted",
"display_callbacks_allowed": "esc_attr,esc_html",
"wisdom_opt_out": "1",
"active_components": [
"migrate-packages",
"templates"
]
},
"pods": [
{
"name": "person",
"id": 12,
"label": "People",
"description": "",
"type": "post_type",
"storage": "meta",
"label_singular": "Person",
"public": "1",
"show_ui": "1",
"rest_enable": "1",
"supports_title": "1",
"supports_editor": "1",
"_migrated_28": "1",
"pick_object": "custom-simple",
"required": "0",
"placeholder_enter_title_here": "Add name",
"show_in_menu": "1",
"menu_icon": "dashicons-businessperson",
"show_in_nav_menus": "1",
"show_in_admin_bar": "1",
"publicly_queryable": "1",
"capability_type_extra": "1",
"has_archive": "1",
"has_archive_slug": "team",
"rewrite": "1",
"rewrite_custom_slug": "team",
"rewrite_feeds": "1",
"rewrite_pages": "1",
"query_var": "1",
"supports_thumbnail": "1",
"supports_excerpt": "1",
"delete_with_user": "1",
"exclude_from_search": "0",
"capability_type": "post",
"capability_type_custom": "person",
"disable_create_posts": "0",
"hierarchical": "0",
"can_export": "1",
"rewrite_with_front": "0",
"default_status": "draft",
"revisions_to_keep_limit": "0",
"built_in_taxonomies_link_category": "0",
"supports_quick_edit": "1",
"groups": [
{
"name": "more_fields",
"id": 13,
"label": "More Fields",
"description": "",
"weight": 0,
"fields": [
{
"name": "listing_image",
"id": 1464,
"label": "Listing image",
"description": "",
"weight": 0,
"type": "file",
"sister_id": "-- Select One --",
"required": "1",
"file_format_type": "single",
"file_uploader": "attachment",
"file_type": "images",
"file_attachment_tab": "upload",
"file_upload_dir": "wp",
"file_edit_title": "0",
"file_show_edit_link": "0",
"file_linked": "0",
"file_limit": "0",
"file_field_template": "rows",
"file_add_button": "Add Image",
"file_modal_title": "Attach an image",
"file_modal_add_button": "Add Image",
"file_wp_gallery_link": "file",
"file_wp_gallery_columns": "3",
"file_wp_gallery_size": "thumbnail",
"repeatable": "0",
"repeatable_format": "default",
"roles_allowed": "administrator",
"enable_conditional_logic": "0",
"rest_pick_response": "array",
"rest_pick_depth": "1"
},
{
"name": "role",
"id": 14,
"label": "Role",
"description": "",
"weight": 1,
"type": "text",
"sister_id": "-- Select One --",
"required": "1",
"text_allowed_html_tags": "strong em a ul ol li b i",
"text_max_length": "255",
"repeatable": "0",
"repeatable_format": "default",
"roles_allowed": "administrator",
"enable_conditional_logic": "0",
"rest_pick_response": "array",
"rest_pick_depth": "1"
},
{
"name": "email",
"id": 914,
"label": "Email",
"description": "",
"weight": 2,
"type": "email",
"sister_id": "-- Select One --",
"required": "0",
"email_max_length": "255",
"email_html5": "0",
"repeatable": "0",
"repeatable_format": "default",
"roles_allowed": "administrator",
"enable_conditional_logic": "0",
"rest_pick_response": "array",
"rest_pick_depth": "1",
"default_evaluate_tags": "0",
"default_empty_fields": "0",
"revisions_revision_field": "0"
},
{
"name": "linkedin_url",
"id": 769,
"label": "LinkedIn URL",
"description": "",
"weight": 3,
"type": "website",
"sister_id": "-- Select One --",
"required": "0",
"website_format": "normal",
"website_allow_port": "0",
"website_clickable": "0",
"website_new_window": "0",
"website_nofollow": "0",
"website_max_length": "255",
"website_html5": "0",
"repeatable": "0",
"repeatable_format": "default",
"roles_allowed": "administrator",
"enable_conditional_logic": "0",
"rest_pick_response": "array",
"rest_pick_depth": "1"
}
]
}
]
}
]
}