If you are having trouble sending email from a mail program such as Outlook, Apple Mail, or a phone, check the following against the outgoing (SMTP) server settings:
- SMTP Authentication is switched on for the outgoing server.
- The user name is your full email address, not just the part before the @ sign.
- The password is entered against the outgoing server as well as the incoming one. See the note below, as this is the single most common cause.
- The port and the encryption method match each other: port 465 with SSL/TLS, or port 587 with STARTTLS. A mismatched pair produces errors such as "the server does not support the connection encryption type you have specified".
- The mail program has been fully closed and reopened after any change.
Incoming mail can keep working while sending fails. Most mail programs, and Apple Mail in particular, store the outgoing server password separately from the incoming one. When a mailbox password is changed, the program often picks up the new password for incoming mail and keeps the old one saved against the outgoing server. Mail continues to arrive normally, only sending fails, and the repeated failed attempts can get the whole connection blocked by our firewall. If receiving works and only sending is broken, re-enter the password on the outgoing server specifically.
Server name. Use the mail server name that applies to your account. For most accounts this is your own domain, for example mail.yourdomain.com. The correct name depends on which of our mail platforms your domain is on, so if you are not certain which one applies, please open a ticket and we will confirm it rather than have you guess.
Menu names differ between versions of each program, so use the nearest equivalent to the steps below.
Outlook: File, then Account Settings, then Account Settings again. Select the account and click Change, then More Settings, then the Outgoing Server tab. Tick "My outgoing server (SMTP) requires authentication" and "Use same settings as my incoming mail server". On the Advanced tab, set the outgoing port and encryption method as above.
Apple Mail: Mail, then Settings (called Preferences on older versions), then Accounts. Select the account and open the Server Settings tab. Under Outgoing Mail Account choose Edit SMTP Server List. Untick "Automatically manage connection settings" so you can set the port and encryption yourself. Authentication should be set to Password, the user name is your full email address, and the password needs entering here as well as on the incoming side.
iPhone or iPad: Settings, then Mail, then Accounts. Tap your account, tap the account name again, then Outgoing Mail Server and the primary server. Enter the host name, your full email address as the user name, and the password. Authentication should be set to Password.
If sending still fails after checking all of the above, open a ticket with the exact error message your mail program shows and we will look at the connection attempts on the server.
