This is the SMTP server configuration accessible only in the Premium edition, which is asking for the server provided to you by your email host, e.g. Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, your ISP, or whoever provides your ‘domain’ (the @whatever.com part of your address.) If you do not know what these settings are, please consult your email provider’s documentation.
Note: Yes, the settings as pictured above will work for Gmail accounts, provided you replace “my-email-address” with your actual email.
FAQ:
Why does this app need my email password?
While this app can send email TO your specified address, it also sends that email FROM your address, and in order to send email from your email address on your behalf, it needs your password. This is because any program that sends email needs an email (SMTP) server in order to send that email, and in this case it is expecting to use YOUR server, NOT MINE. For this reason, the app needs both your email address (which is your server login) and your email password (again, also required to login to your server.) By YOUR server I mean the server provided to you by your email host, e.g. Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, your ISP, or whoever provides your ‘domain’ (the @whatever.com part of your address.)
Why do you not provide an email server for this app to use?
There are several reasons. First and foremost, SPAM. My particular email server at my web hosting company is shared, and has had issues lately with being blacklisted for SPAM (though not from my domain – it’s someone else – but it affects me as well.) So some of the major SPAM services like SORBS and SpamCop may from time to time blacklist that email server temporarily, until my web host can find the spammer, resolve the issue, and dispute the blacklisted entries with these respective companies. During that time, many email providers who use these various SPAM services will reject emails sent from my particular server’s IP address — and if my app’s emails aren’t getting to you for this reason, then the feature does you no good! For another thing, I’ve had reports that the server may get overloaded at times and automated emails may be delayed up to 12 hours from the time they are originally sent for whatever reason, again this does you no good if you don’t receive the alert in a timely fashion. For these reasons I made the decision to NOT use my web host’s server, and require that you use your own email provider’s server for the app’s email capabilities.
Where is my password stored?
The password is stored in your dMaintenanceHome.INI file in plain text, although it is encrypted so it is not legible to the naked eye, and will appear to be a big jumble of characters.
Is TLS encryption supported?
No, only SSL is supported.
My Gmail account doesn’t seem to work with this app, got any ideas?
Yes, several.
- First, be certain to include the domain name (e.g. @gmail.com) in the email address field.
- Second, you may have two factor authentication enabled, or perhaps you should enable it if not… but if you ARE using it, you will need an “application specific password” in order to connect properly to the server through this app. Learn more and obtain application specific passwords here: https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/185833?hl=en
- Finally, I’ve had users report that Gmail will sometimes block what it considers a ‘suspicious login’ and that it should alert you of this the next time you login to the webmail interface. I haven’t personally experienced this nor am I certain if there is a way to tell Gmail that your login isn’t ‘suspicious’ — but if anyone encounters this issue I would appreciate a screen shot of the message and if possible, a quick how-to on disabling this alert and hopefully allowing the app to send email.