Anyone using gmail for SMTP?

Support
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Trying to get discourse up and running I used gmail for the SMTP mentoned in app.yml. A feature of gmail is allowing this according to this article. It doesn’t work. My settings are something like this (I changed my email and pw).

  ## on initial signup example 'user1@example.com,user2@example.com'
  DISCOURSE_DEVELOPER_EMAILS: 'myemail@gmail.com'

  ## TODO: The domain name this Discourse instance will respond to
  DISCOURSE_HOSTNAME: 'localhost'

  ## TODO: The mailserver this Discourse instance will use
  DISCOURSE_SMTP_ADDRESS: smtp.gmail.com 
  DISCOURSE_SMTP_PORT: 587
  DISCOURSE_SMTP_USER_NAME: myemail@gmail.com
  DISCOURSE_SMTP_PASSWORD: thepassword
  DISCOURSE_SMTP_ENABLE_START_TLS: true
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Trying to use gmail to send your email will not go over well.

It’s fine to use for incoming mail, as that’s much lower volume.

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It will only be for a couple of messages a day while I tinker. I wouldn’t consider using it for a production site :slight_smile:

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Pretty sure the terms and conditions of Google would disallow you from using GMail as an SMTP endpoint. You are probably risking freezing your account or something. Plenty of free options for an smtp service … https://sendgrid.com and for local dev you would just use mailcatcher.

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@sam If I’m reading the G Suite documents correctly, organizations with a business account can use gmail for SMTP. Is that how it reads to you?

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It reads as though you could try it out… I would go for a dedicated smtp service which would give you better visibility and diagnostics

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@clay knows what he is doing. Try it out and let us know.

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@clay, we have used a google for work email account setup for discourse with minimal issues. our reply via email works smoothly. I see they just renamed g suite

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I will - might be a few weeks, though.

Very glad to hear that. It would simplify the case I’m making to migrate to Discourse both at a school where I’m on the board and at my new job.

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I’ve also been trying to get setup with paid business gmail from a custom domain and using smtp-relay.gmail.com.

Haven’t got it working yet (but I’m a fumbling newbie with this stuff - so don’t write it off on my efforts thus far!)

Is anyone using smtp-relay.gmail.com without a hitch? Are there any particular settings that make or break the deal? i.e. http://crunchify.com/how-to-setup-email-for-discourse-forum-with-google-apps-smtp-relay-right-way/ suggests not to SMTP authenticate

Or is it advised that paid gmail is not a good enough dedicated email service to feature on the recommend list

Thanks!

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You might find this post useful for specific GMail related settings:
https://meta.discourse.org/t/troubleshooting-email-on-a-new-discourse-install/16326/128?u=deanmarktaylor

And always refer to the steps here when tracking down issues:
https://meta.discourse.org/t/troubleshooting-email-on-a-new-discourse-install/16326/2?u=deanmarktaylor

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Thanks Dean! (Hope life is good with you!)

I threw in the towel with gmail and took mailgun up on their free tier in the end - which worked pretty seamlessly.

I did try what was suggested in your linked thread (not to smtp auth) but didn’t get it working - I might have misconfigured something else though…

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