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How to Use Your Gmail Account as Your Email Sender via SMTP

November 23, 2021

In hindsight, Gmail SMTP seems to be easy to use. But a lot of people are struggling on how to make it work and they experience difficulty in finding the lacking element that should allow their Gmail accounts to send emails using SMTP. Here are the related steps that you need to accomplish in order for you to be able to use your Gmail account as an email sender for Jotform email alerts. These steps are divided into two parts, depending on whether two-step verification is enabled or not enabled on your account.

If Two-Step Verification Is Disabled

Please follow the steps below if the feature is NOT enabled for your G Suite or Gmail account:

  1. Go to https://www.google.com/settings/security/lesssecureapps and sign in to your account.
  2. Google requires the account to have less secure apps enabled before it can allow the email account to be accessed by a 3rd party.
  3. Turn on the access for less secure apps.
  1. Once done, you should receive an email regarding the enabling of access for less secure apps.

If Two-Step Verification Is Enabled

The less secure apps option is unavailable for use if this is the case for your G Suite or Gmail account. You will have to get an app-specific password for Jotform for the SMTP to work. To do so, please follow the steps below:

  1. Go to https://security.google.com/settings/security/apppasswords and sign in to your account.
  2. Select Mail from the list of apps available.
  3. Select Other from the device list.
  4. Enter your Custom Name. You can put "Jotform" in it.
  1. Click the Generate button.
  2. Copy and save the password to your computer.
  3. Click the Done button, and that's it.

You need to save the password for future use. Otherwise, you'll have to generate a new one again since Google does not allow you to view the password once you click the Done button.

Add Sender Email

  1. Proceed to My Account > Settings. Or, you can visit this link directly: https://www.jotform.com/myaccount/settings
  2. Click the Add Sender Email button.
  1. Enter the following information:
    • Email Address: {your email address}
    • Hostname: smtp.gmail.com
    • Port: 587
    • Username: {your Gmail address}
    • Password: {your Gmail or app-specific password}
    • Security Protocol: TLS
  1. If you are done, click the Send Test Email button to confirm that everything is working. If it works, click the Add Email button. Otherwise, correct the details.

Once done, it should let you send Jotform email alerts using your Gmail account.

Related Guide: How to Setup SMTP for a Form.

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