How to connect your CMS to SMTP email

Most Content Management Systems (CMS) have the ability to set up the email configuration to use SMTP instead of the PHP mail function. This allows you to send email from your server using an SMTP connection like for your Gmail or Yahoo email address. This works similar to a email client like Outlook or Mac mail, except the email is being sent from your website.

On some servers the PHP mail function is disabled requiring your CMS to be set up as SMTP. When using the PHP email function, the server will send your email with nobody@ or userna5@ as the sending email address. To allow your website to send from a specific email address, you can use the SMTP server configuration. For more information on email set up for your email with us, please see the Getting Started Guide: Email. The following explains the basic SMTP settings found in most Content Management Systems.

General SMTP server configuration settings for a CMS

Common SMTP settings
E-Mail Transport Method SMTP:This is the method in which the website is sending the email. You can choose SMTP or SMTPAUTH in your CMS email configuration. SMTPAUTH will authenticate the email from the server where SMTP sends as the cpanel user.
SMTP Email Account Mailbox:This is the email account your are sending from. If you are using Gmail or Yahoo, you will put that email address in here. For example; [email protected] or [email protected].
SMTP Email Account Password:This is the password for your specific email address. For example, If using your Gmail or Yahoo, you would put the Gmail or Yahoo email password here.
SMTP Email Mail Host:
The email host is your server host for the email address. If you are sending with Gmail or Yahoo, you will use their server host to connect. Click here for Googles settings. Click here for Yahoo settings.
 
For SMTP set up with an email address on your server with us, you will use “localhost“.
SMTP Email Mail Server Port:The server will use port 25 for SMTP by default. If using an SSL connection you can use port 465 or you can use port 587 on a TLS depending on the email provider.

General SMTP set up CMS admin location

Below are some Content Management System (CMS) SMTP configuration locations in the administrator sections of the CMS. The list is not exhaustive and is only to show basic locations where you can find the SMTP configuration for the specified software.

WordPress: Instructions on configuration may be found in our article on using SMTP authentication in WordPress.

ZenCart: Admin > Configuration > Email Options

Prestashop: Admin > Preferences > Email tab

Open cart: Admin > Settings > Mail

OS Commerce: Admin > Configuration > Email
Further reading: Setting up SMTP with OsCommerce

Joomla: Site > Global Configuration > Server tab > Mail Settings
Further reading: How to configure Joomla 2.5 to send email using SMTP

Moodle: Site administration > Plugins > Message outputs > Email
Further reading: Setting up an SMTP connection in Moodle

For more specific information in regarding your SMTP configuration in your Content management System that you are using, you will want to consult the documentation from the CMS developers.

10 thoughts on “How to connect your CMS to SMTP email

  1. hi 

    can any one sugesst me corretion as am receving empty mail message on server.

     

    <?php

         $email_to = ‘[email protected]’;

    $subject = “Contact US”;   

    $name =$_POST[‘flname’]; 

        $email_from = $_POST[’email’]; 

        $message = $_POST[‘message’]; 

    $headers = ‘From: ‘.$email_from.”\r\n”.

    ‘Reply-To: ‘.$email_from.”\r\n” .

    ‘X-Mailer: PHP/’ . phpversion();

        $body = ‘Name: ‘ . $name . “\n\n” . ‘Email: ‘ . $email . “\n\n” . ‘Subject: ‘ . $subject . “\n\n” . ‘Message: ‘ . $message;

    $success=@mail($email_to, $subject, $body, $headers);  

    header(‘Content-type: application/json’);

    $status = array(

    ‘type’=>’success’,

    ‘message’=>’Email sent!’

    );

    //    $success = @mail($email_to, $subject, $body, ‘From: <‘.$email_from.’>’);

    echo json_encode($status);

    //header(“Location: index.php”);

        

    //header(‘Location: https://www.khawabnama.com/index.php’);

        //die; 

     

     

  2. Hello sir, please how can i create a php mailer that i can use to send mass emails to my business contacts ? I have a cpanel host please what can i do? Thanks IN Advance.

    1. Hello Robbert,

      Thank you for contacting us. Of the many mailing list software options, PHPlist seems to be very popular.

      If you have any further questions, feel free to post them below.

      Thank you,
      John-Paul

  3. Hi in my CMS i have these settings but i cant find a way to make them work

    Do you see any errors i made?

     

    Thanks

     

    SMTP Settings

    Server / Port:
     
    : 
        
    Requires Auth:
     
     
        
    Username:
         
    Password:
         
    Encryption:
          
    Sendmail Settings
    Sendmail Path:
         
    Queue Settings
    Send:
     emails at once.   
    Enter the number of emails to be sent from queue every time the cron its called. If you are using external server its recomanded not to use more then 10 email. For local servers you can use up to 100 emails.
    1. Hello Max,

      Thanks for the question. I’m not really seeing any settings so I can’t say if you’ve made any mistakes. I would suggest using the SMTP settings for an existing email address. You can find that information by going to the document on how to find the email settings. You should have a port number, and a user name for the email address.

      Once you have those settings, then you should be able to send emails with the SMTP method. Let us know if you have any further questions.

      Regards,
      Arnel C.

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