# Enable SMTP for sending notifications for group messages

**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/enable-smtp-for-sending-notifications-for-group-messages/168233
**Category:** Support
**Created:** [October 26, 2020, 1:54am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/enable-smtp-for-sending-notifications-for-group-messages/168233 "2020-10-26T01:54:49Z")
**Posts on this page:** 4
**Page:** 1

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### Author: ![RBoy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@RBoy](https://meta.discourse.org/u/RBoy)
#### Post date: [October 26, 2020, 1:54am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/enable-smtp-for-sending-notifications-for-group-messages/168233/1 "2020-10-26T01:54:49Z")

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I’m seeing this option in the settings page and I see some commits around `enable_smtp` but I cannot find any information about what is settings is used for? Can anyone explain the purpose of this settings and why it’s disabled by default?

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### Author: ![itsbhanusharma](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/itsbhanusharma/32/180717_2.png) [@itsbhanusharma](https://meta.discourse.org/u/itsbhanusharma)
#### Post date: [October 26, 2020, 4:09am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/enable-smtp-for-sending-notifications-for-group-messages/168233/2 "2020-10-26T04:09:56Z")

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Please check this out:

> [@IMAP support for group inboxes](https://meta.discourse.org/t/imap-support-for-group-inboxes/160588):
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> rotating_light We are removing support for IMAP in Discourse. See this post for details [IMAP support for group inboxes - #39 by martin](https://meta.discourse.org/t/imap-support-for-group-inboxes/160588/39) . rotating_light We are happy to introduce an alpha version of IMAP support for group inboxes. This feature adds the ability to enter IMAP credentials and settings on a per-group basis to sync group inboxes with an email inbox. emailwarningwarning warning This is an alpha-stage feature, and as such it is not 100% complete and polished. It is very…

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### Author: ![martin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/martin/32/491371_2.png) [@martin](https://meta.discourse.org/u/martin)
#### Post date: [October 26, 2020, 4:10am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/enable-smtp-for-sending-notifications-for-group-messages/168233/3 "2020-10-26T04:10:52Z")

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> [@RBoy](#):
>
> Can anyone explain the purpose of this settings and why it’s disabled by default?

Along with what Bhanu said above, please note this feature is still very much in an alpha state, and may not work as expected.

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### Author: ![RBoy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@RBoy](https://meta.discourse.org/u/RBoy)
#### Post date: [October 26, 2020, 1:08pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/enable-smtp-for-sending-notifications-for-group-messages/168233/4 "2020-10-26T13:08:42Z")

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Thanks. I would only suggest that the setting description be updated to be clearer as it’s can be a little confusing. 🙂