How to use the free Gmail SMTP server?
What is SMTP?
SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) is a network protocol used for transferring email between email servers and other network devices. SMTP is the standard used for sending e-mails over the Internet, and allows the transmission of messages from an e-mail client to a mail server, as well as from a mail server to another mail server, until it is finally delivered to the end recipient.
Having explained what SMTP is, let's get started with the tutorial on how to use a Gmail SMTP server:
Step 1: Log in to your Gmail account.
The first thing you need to do is to log in to your Gmail account at https://mail.google.com/. If you don't have an account yet, you can create a free one from https://accounts.google.com/signup.
Step 2: Enable the option to allow access to less secure applications
To allow an external application or device to connect to the Gmail SMTP server, you must allow access to less secure applications in your Google Account. To do so, follow the steps below:
- Sign in to the security section of your Google account at https://myaccount.google.com/security
- Scroll down to "Less secure application access ” 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.
Here are the configuration details you must enter:
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Username: Your full Gmail email address.
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Password: Your Gmail account password
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SMTP server: smtp.gmail.com
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Port: 587
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Encryption Type: TLS
info Make sure that the username and password are correct. Also make sure that the port and encryption type are as specified in the configuration.
Step 4: Check the connection
Once you have entered the configuration details, you should check if you can connect to the Gmail SMTP server. To do this, follow the steps below:
- Open the email client you have configured.
- Create a new email and enter the email address to which you want to send the email.
- Send the email and check if it was sent successfully.
If you follow these steps, you will be able to use the Gmail SMTP server to send emails. Remember that you can also use the Gmail API to integrate email sending into your applications or web sites.