Process: Configuring Your Email Settings

Having the ability to email your students is a crucial feature in a Student Management System. In this article, we will go over the process of configuring your email settings.

SMTP Information

You will need an SMTP email provider in order to send emails out of your system. Some commonly used options are:

• Gmail - Gmail SMTP can be used as an email provider, you will need to follow the instructions in this article on their help centre: Send email with the Gmail SMTP server
• Microsoft Outlook - Outlook can be used as an email provider as well, you will need to follow the instructions in this article on their help centre: Enable or disable authenticated client SMTP submission (SMTP AUTH) in Exchange Online
  Note that SMTP authentication for sending emails is disabled by default and will need to be re-enabled.

Finding your Email Settings

To get to your email settings, go to Administration → Configuration → Preferences. 

Click on the Communications tab on the left side of the page and click on the Edit button. 

SMTP Server Settings

1. Hostname: The hostname URL for your SMTP server. 
2. Port: The port used by your SMTP server. 25 and 587 are common ports for sending emails. 
3. Disable TLS Certificate Verification: Disables TLS verification when making a connection to the SMTP server.
4. Username: The username that you use to log into your SMTP server.
5. Password: The password that you use to log into your SMTP server.
   
   

    Warning

   If you have Two Factor Authentication enabled with your SMTP service, you will need to use an Application Password in order to use the service with your system.

   Here is some documentation from their help centres covering this:

   • Microsoft Outlook
   • Gmail

   The Application Passwords generated will need to be used in the password field in your system SMTP server settings.

6. Authentication: Sets the authentication method when an email is sent to the server from your system. 
7. Auto STARTTLS: If this is enabled, it will attempt to upgrade the connection to your SMTP server to an encrypted connection. 
8. TLS: Secures your emails using a TLS layer.  

Email Address Settings

This is where your sender email addresses can be configured. Click on the New button to add a sender email address.

• From address: The email address that you would like to send emails from. This doesn’t need to be the same as the username entered above, but it does need to be entered as a sender email address in your SMTP provider settings. 
• From name: The display name for the email sender. The email will display this name instead of the email address.
• Reply to user: If this option is enabled, replies to emails sent from this address will be forwarded to the inbox of the email address.
• Primary: Sets this sender address as the primary email address for your system.