Can't send email with Namecheap

Product Support

AI-generated summary

User snatri is unable to send emails via Namecheap’s mail.privateemail.com SMTP server in their Discourse installation, despite successful webmail login and working Gmail SMTP config. They tested ports 25, 465, and 587 with and without TLS, but emails show as ‘sent’ without delivery. omfg advises using Namecheap’s official SMTP settings from their KB, warning against random configurations. anon20391312 suggests using SendGrid as an alternative, especially since their free tier supports up to 12,000 emails/month with analytics. snatri confirms the issue was resolved — though they mention trying Namecheap’s documented settings (ports 465/SSL, 25/26/TLS, auth enabled, SPA disabled) without success earlier, implying the fix may have been elsewhere (e.g., configuration syntax, rebuild timing, or environment). The setup runs on DigitalOcean’s Discourse one-click installer, and snatri questioned whether manual install might help — though no follow-up on that was provided. The resolution appears to stem from applying correct Namecheap SMTP settings or possibly SendGrid, though the exact fix isn’t fully detailed.

1

  1. I can login to Namecheap webmail using MYMAIL & MYPASS

  2. Redmine can send emails with Namecheap using this configuration:

     enable_starttls_auto: false
 address: mail.privateemail.com
 port: 25
 authentication: :login
 user_name: MYEMAIL
 password: "MYPASS"

  3. Emails work with gmail using this configuration:

    DISCOURSE_SMTP_ADDRESS: smtp.gmail.com # (mandatory)
    DISCOURSE_SMTP_USER_NAME: MYMAIL # (optional)
    DISCOURSE_SMTP_PORT: 587 # (optional)
    DISCOURSE_SMTP_PASSWORD: MY_APP_PASS # (optional, WARNING the char ‘#’ in pw can cause problems!)
    #DISCOURSE_SMTP_ENABLE_START_TLS: false

  4. This setup says “sent” when sending test mail, but it doesn’t deliver the mails.

    DISCOURSE_SMTP_ADDRESS: mail.privateemail.com # (mandatory)
    DISCOURSE_SMTP_USER_NAME: MYMAIL # (optional)
    DISCOURSE_SMTP_PORT: 25 # (optional)
    DISCOURSE_SMTP_PASSWORD: MYPASS # (optional, WARNING the char ‘#’ in pw can cause problems!)
    #DISCOURSE_SMTP_ENABLE_START_TLS: false # (optional, default true)

  5. I also tried ports 465, 587 and 25 with both TLS on and off (rebuilt it with every test)

  6. This is installed by the one-click installer in digitalocean. Should I install this manually?

2

Don’t try miscellaneous settings. Use the correct settings required by your email service provider.
https://www.namecheap.com/support/knowledgebase/article.aspx/1179/2175/general-configuration-for-mail-clients-and-mobile-devices

3

An alternative can be to offload the sending of e-mails to a 3rd party provider, I’ve used SendGrid for this in the past. If you send less than 12,000 emails per month, their free plan will suit you just fine. In addition, you get some nice features such as analytics.

4

Thanks a lot, this worked!

5

Yes I tried the settings on that page. Any of these settings worked:

Outgoing server (SMTP): 465 port for SSL, 25 or 26 for TLS/STARTTLS
Outgoing server authentication should be switched on, SPA (secure
password authentication) must be disabled.