How do I use Gmail as my mail server?

From Joomla! Documentation

Revision as of 05:07, 5 May 2014 by Toivo (talk | contribs) (explained uncommenting)

If you have a working Gmail account you can use Gmail as your mail server by setting it in the global configuration.

On the server tab set the following:

  • Mailer: SMTP
  • Set the next three lines with your information, leave your path untouched unless you are sure it needs to change for some reason.
  • SMTP Authentication: Yes
  • SMTP Security: SSL
  • SMTP Port 465
  • SMTP username: your gmail username
  • SMTP password: your gmail password
  • SMTP host: smtp.gmail.com

The following is also a working combination:

  • SMTP Security: TLS
  • SMTP Port 587

The SSL module does not need to be enabled in Apache.

The OpenSSL extension needs to be enabled in PHP. The details can be found at http://www.php.net/manual/en/openssl.installation.php

If you are using WAMP on Windows, the openssl module is not enabled by default and you need to enable it. To do this:

  1. Open the php.ini file and uncomment the line extension=php_openssl.dll by removing the semicolon ; from the beginning of the line.
  2. Save the php.ini file and restart the Apache service.
Note

Note that if you use 2-step verification in Gmail, you need to add a new password in Settings - Accounts - Change accounts settings - Other Google Account settings - Security - 2-step verification - Manage your application specific passwords.

When the new Application Specific Password (ASP) is presented in groups of four characters separated by spaces, make sure that you do NOT enter the spaces into the SMTP password in the mail server settings in Joomla.