How to configure Joomla 2.5 to send email using SMTP

By default, Joomla 2.5 uses the php mail() function to send emails from the server. At InMotion Hosting, our servers support the php mail() function, however not all servers have this enabled. If you are not hosting with InMotion Hosting and your server does not support the php mail() function, you can configure Joomla to send email using SMTP. This method is also a good way to resolve the Could not instantiate mail funtion error. Using SMTP to send email requires that you have a valid email address, so if you haven't already, be sure to create an email address.

To configure Joomla 2.5 to use SMTP:

1. Log into your Joomla Dashboard
2. In the top menu, hover over Site and then click Global Configuration
3. Click the Server tab
4. Under Mail Settings, configure the following settings and then click Save:
   

   Mailer	Set this to SMTP
   SMTP Authentication	Set this to Yes
   SMTP Security SMTP Port	If your SMTP server uses SSL, select this option from SMTP Security and then enter the SSL Port required for your SMTP server
   SMTP Username	Enter your SMTP Username, which generally is your full email address
   SMTP Password	This will usually be your email address' password
   SMTP Host	If your email account you're sending email from is on the same server as your Joomla 2.5 site, use "localhost" here. Otherwise, enter your SMTP hostname here.

   
5. Congratulations, your Joomla 2.5 website is now configured to use SMTP! Be sure to test your site and ensure emails are sending properly. We tested this by signing up for new users within Joomla and monitored the email notifications sent to the administrators.