several users tried to configure Discourse with privateemail without luck including me. you can read more about this problem here “https://meta.discourse.org/t/cant-get-admin-email-to-send-working-with-using-namecheap-email-server/57423”. but after a month of investigations, i finally found the solution. the main problem was the “from” field discourse by default use noreply@yourdomain.com for notification emails but privateemail SMTP server needs the mail address of the mailbox you have. there is no why to solve this issue while installation @codinghorror so after installation you have to re-open containers/app.yml file and make the following adjustments. SMTP Configurations DISCOURSE_SMTP_ADDRESS: mail.privateemail.com DISCOURSE_SMTP_PORT: 587 DISCOURSE_SMTP_USER_NAME: mailBox@yourdomain.com DISCOURSE_SMTP_PASSWORD: "****************" #DISCOURSE_SMTP_ENABLE_START_TLS: true # (optional, default true) 1- use port 587 2- use your mailbox address instead of mailBox@yourdomain.com 3- uncomment DISCOURSE_SMTP_ENABLE_START_TLS and set it to true Notification E-Mails Configurations At the end of the file you would find ## Any custom commands to run after building run: - exec: echo "Beginning of custom commands" ## If you want to set the 'From' email address for your first registration, uncomment and change: ## After getting the first signup email, re-comment the line. It only needs to run once. #- exec: rails r "SiteSetting.notification_email='mailBox@yourdomain.com'" - exec: echo "End of custom commands" 1- uncomment - exec: rails r "SiteSetting.notification_email='mailBox@yourdomain.com'" 2- use your mailbox address instead of mailBox@yourdomain.com now ./launcher rebuild app and have fun :wink:

For beginners who don’t know where to find the containers/app.yml, here is the path full: /var/discourse/containers/app.yml

I’ve been seraching for a solution for the same problem for about 4 hours. I agree this should be included in the documentation. Really, please.

This post is still solving problems 5 years later. Thank you so much for sharing this.

Confirmed this is still working as of 6/4/2025 :smiley:

Solution for privateemail configurations

anon23840344 August 17, 2020, 2:53am 2

Brilliant work, thank you. This should be incorporated into official documentation. Cheers.

Topic		Replies	Views
Troubleshoot email on a new Discourse install Self-Hosting email , configuring , how-to	36	186087	April 27, 2026
Who can help me ? Thanks!有没有人愿意帮我解决一下邮箱问题？ Product Support email	4	342	June 1, 2025
Need help with SMTP settings from Brevo to Discourse Product Support	3	302	May 12, 2025
Email doesn't work after fresh install Self-hosting docker , email	11	4473	January 29, 2016
Mail subdomain problem Self-hosting	3	922	June 8, 2022