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How to use the free Gmail SMTP server?

What is SMTP?

SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) is a network protocol used to transfer email between email servers and other network devices. SMTP is the standard used for sending email over the Internet, and allows messages to be transferred from an email client to an email server, and from an email server to another email server, until it is finally delivered to the final recipient.

Now that we've explained what SMTP is, let's start the tutorial on how to use a Gmail SMTP server:

Step 1: Sign in to your Gmail account

The first thing you need to do is sign in to your Gmail account at https://mail.google.com/. If you don't have one, you can create one for free at https://accounts.google.com/signup.

Step 2: Enable the option to access less secure applications

To allow an external application or device to connect to Gmail's SMTP server, you need to allow access to less-secure applications in your Google Account. To do this, follow the steps below:

  1. Go to the security section of your Google Account at https://myaccount.google.com/security.
  2. Scroll down to "Access less secure applications" and enable it.

Step 3: Configure the email client

To send emails through the Gmail SMTP server, you need to configure the email client you will use to send emails.

These are the configuration details that you must enter:

  • Username: Your full Gmail email address
  • Password: Your Gmail account password
  • SMTP server: smtp.gmail.com
  • Port: 587
  • Encryption Type: TLS

info Check that the username and password are correct. Also check that the port and encryption type are those specified in the configuration.

Step 4: Check the connection

Once you have entered the configuration details, you should check that you can connect to the Gmail SMTP server. To do this, follow the steps below:

  1. Open the email client you have configured.
  2. Create a new email and enter the email address you want to send the email to.
  3. Send the email and check that it has been sent correctly.

success If you follow these steps, you can use Gmail's SMTP server to send email. Remember that you can also use the Gmail API to integrate email sending into your applications or websites.