Are you having trouble sending emails from your WordPress site? One easy way to solve this is by sending WordPress emails using the Gmail SMTP server. In this article, we will show you how to send emails from your WordPress site using the Gmail SMTP server.
Why and When You Need Gmail SMTP Server for WordPress Emails
Your WordPress site sends emails to notify you of new user registration, lost password reset, automatic updates, and even notifications from your contact forms.
By default, WordPress uses the PHP mail function to send out email notifications. However, this function does not work as expected due to a number of reasons.
Most WordPress hosting companies restrict usage of this function to prevent abuse and spam.
Spam filters on popular email service providers check incoming emails to monitor if they are sent from authentic mail servers. Default WordPress emails fail this check and sometimes may not even make it to the spam folder.
SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) is the industry standard for sending emails. Unlike PHP mail function, SMTP uses proper authentication which increases email deliverability.
Gmail provides SMTP service that you can use to send out emails from your WordPress site. If you just want to send WordPress notification emails to yourself and few users on your site, then Gmail SMTP servers are the best option.
However, if you are planning on sending newsletter emails using WordPress, then you should use a mass emailing service provider, like MailGun or SendGrid.
Free vs Paid Gmail SMTP Service for WordPress
You can use your free Gmail account to send out WordPress emails. However, for better deliverability, we recommend using paid Google Apps for Work with Gmail.
With Google Apps for Work, you get your own professional branded email address such as (name@yoursite.com).
Google Apps require you to add MX records to your domain name which means that your emails will appear to be coming from your own domain name boosting authenticity and ensuring better deliverability.
We use Google Apps for Work for WPBeginner and can honestly say it’s the best.
How to Send Email using Google SMTP Video Tutorial
If you don’t like the video or need more instructions, then continue reading.
How to Send WordPress Emails Using Gmail SMTP Server
If you decided to use Google Apps for Work, then you first need to set up your domain to work with Google Apps. We have a step by step tutorial on how to setup a professional email address with Google Apps and Gmail.
Rest of the instructions are the same whether you are using paid or free Gmail account.
First thing you need to do is install and activate the WP Mail SMTP plugin. For more details, see our step by step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.
Upon activation, you need to visit Settings » WP Mail SMTP page to configure the plugin settings.
First you need to make sure that you use your Gmail email address in the ‘From Email’ field. Next, you need to provide the sender name.
WP Mail SMTP plugin offers two ways to connect your WordPress site to the Gmail servers.
The first method uses OAuth Authentication. This is a more secure method to send emails using Gmail servers.
The second method is by entering Gmail SMTP settings manually. This method is not recommended because it is less secure.
That being said, let’s set up WordPress to use Gmail SMTP for sending emails.
Method 1: Setting up Gmail to Send WordPress Emails using OAuth Protocol
This method is recommended for all users. It is more secure and once you set it up, you’ll never have to do that again.
You need to start by selecting Gmail as your mailer and set the return path to be the same as sender.
Next, you will see the option to enter your Client ID, Client Secret, and a URL in ‘Authorized redirect URI’ field.
Let’s set up these fields.
Creating an App and Generate API Keys for Gmail
Visit the Google Developers Console website and create a new project.
If you don’t see the blue button to create a project, then you can also click on select a project drop down and create a new project.
You’ll be asked to provide a name for your project. Give it a memorable name, so that you can easily recognize it in the future.
After that, click on the create button to continue.
Developer console will now create your project and take you to its dashboard. Google offer developers access to many of their APIs and services. You need to enable the APIs that you will be needing for this project.
Click on Enable APIs and services button to continue.
This will bring you to the APIs library page. Next, you need to type Gmail in the search box to quickly find the Gmail API and click to select it.
You will now see an overview of the API and what it can do. Simply click on the ‘Enable’ button to continue.
Now that your API is enabled, the next step is to create credentials that you can use in your WP Mail SMTP plugin settings.
Click on the create credentials button to continue.
On the next screen, you will need to select ‘Web browser JavaScript’ in ‘Where you’ll be calling the API from’ field. After that click on the ‘User Data’ option.
To continue, click on the ‘What credentials do I need?’ button.
You will now be asked to provide a name for your OAuth client name. You can enter ‘WP Mail SMTP’ here.
Under JavaScript origins field, you need to add your website’s domain name. Next, you need to copy and paste the authorized redirect URL from WP Mail SMTP plugin settings.
After that click on the ‘Create client ID’ button to continue.
Next, you need to enter a name for OAuth consent screen. You can put the plugin’s name here.
After entering the details, click on the continue button and the developer console will show your client ID. You can copy and paste this in the WP Mail SMTP plugin’s settings page. However, you will still need to add your client secret key.
Go ahead and click on the Done button to move on.
You will now be taken to your project’s credentials page. You will see your recently created credentials listed there. You need to click on the edit icon next to your credentials to continue.
This will bring you to the edit credentials page where you will be able to see your client secret key. You need to copy and paste the key in your plugin’s settings page.
Return back to plugin’s settings page in your WordPress admin area. Now that you have both client ID and client secret keys, you need to click on the save settings button to continue.
The plugin will now store your settings and reload the page. After that you need to scroll down to the bottom of the settings page and click on the ‘Allow plugin to send emails using your Google account’ button.
This will take you to your account on Google, and you will be asked to give the website permission to send emails on your behalf.
Click on Allow button to give permissions.
After that, you will be redirected back to your website where you will see a success message.
Method 2: Setting up Gmail SMTP as SMTP Sender
This method allows you to manually connect to Gmail’s SMTP servers to send your WordPress emails.
First, you need to visit Settings » WP Mail SMTP page to configure the plugin settings.
You need to start by providing the Gmail address you want to use in the From email field, and your name in the name field.
Next, you need to select ‘Other SMTP’ as your mailer and check the box next to return path.
After that, scroll down to the Other SMTP section to configure more settings.
Here is the exact configuration you need to add in the plugin settings:
- SMTP Host: smtp.gmail.com
- SMTP Port: 465
- Encryption: Use SSL encryption
- Authentication: Turn on authentication
- Username: Your complete Gmail address, e.g. john.smith@yourdomain.com or john.smith@gmail.com
- Password: Password of your Gmail account
Once you are done, click on the save changes button to store your settings.
That’s all, you have successfully setup WP Mail SMTP to use Gmail SMTP servers.
Testing Your WP Mail SMTP Settings
WP Mail SMTP plugin allows you to test your email settings, so you can make sure that everything is working properly.
You need to visit Settings » WP Mail SMTP page and click on the ‘Email Test’ tab. Simply provide an email address that you can access in the send to field and click on the send email button.
You will see a success message. You can now check your inbox to see a message with the subject line ‘WP Mail SMTP: Test Email to…’.
That’s all, you have successfully setup your WordPress site to send emails using Gmail SMTP servers.
Troubleshooting Gmail SMTP Not Working Issues
We have seen users encounter few issues when using Gmail SMTP with certain shared hosting configurations.
Take the following steps to fix the Gmail SMTP issue:
- Login to your cPanel account and create an email account that matches your Google apps email address. This might seem strange because you’re not using your server for emails. This step basically tricks your server into believing that you’re sending the email through the server.
- In your cPanel account, go to the MX Records and change the MX routing from automatic to remote. It might be a little tricky to find since each host now has custom cPanel interface. You need to look for a small link next to MX that says Email Routing: Remote Mail Exchanger.
- After that log back into your WordPress site and send a test email.
We hope this article helped you learn how to send email in WordPress using the Gmail SMTP server. You may also want to see our list of the 5 best contact form plugins for WordPress.
If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.
Just wanted to say THANK YOU! I was totally struggling to get my contact form to send emails correctly until I came across your post. I used the first method and it worked like a charm. However there was a step (probably recently introduced) where I had to set up a consent form? Took me to a different screen not featured in the video, but was relatively straight forward. Thanks again!
Thank you for letting us know and glad our article could help
First method (configuring inside GCloud) seemed too long to me.
So adapted the 2nd method (don’t agree with you that 2nd method is more difficult). 2nd method has just 3-4 steps.
But it didn’t work. SMTP couldn’t authenticate me. Although my ID/pW is fully correct.
If you reach out to the plugin’s support with your specifics they should be able to help you find the problem
Thanks again for the awesome tutorial, the forms work fine now! I have a question: I’d like to change the From Name in the plugin settings, but it’s impossible. I’ve tried to reintstall the plugin, all my settings were still saved tho. Is there any way I could change the From Name of the email now?
You would want to reach out to the plugin’s support for how to set that up but for the moment, if you set it to the default method it should allow you to change those settings.
Hello there,
I’m really tired with this issue of CF7 not able to send mails to gmail from my site. It seems everyone has this issue.
I followed your instructions to the letter and got to the point I’m supposed to allow plugin to send emails using my google account, an error appears telling me of a URI mismatch. What’s that? I copied and pasted the uri as you said. What did I do wrong. Please help me, have not been sleeping because of this.
Thanks.
Hi Afam,
You may not have saved the redirect URI when creating the app, follow the steps again and make sure that you copy the exact URL from plugin’s settings page to enter in your app.
Hello,
I have followed the instructions you provided, than you! I got all the way to the “allow plugin to send emails….” for gmail and when i click on that button it gives me the message that the app hasn’t been verified.
I have tried multiple fixes but it is still isn’t working.
I am using bluehost and WP mail stmp.
Any suggestions?
Thank you
your really save my day man !! hope you are doing well. Thank you
Don’t work for me. I’m using Google Cloud and Cloudflare and when i try to send a test email give me a error:
“Could not authenticate your SMTP account.”
Hi Raphael,
Check your mailer settings, SMTP information, username and password.
My client use g suite for email, I have created WordPress page website with contact form 7 plugin. I have analyzed contact form was not sending email from website to Gmail.
Therefore, I have used ‘WP Mail SMTP’ plugin and create gmail API, Now email is working.
But I am facing one issue, when submit contact us form email receive in gmail but all email recived from title is ‘me’.
Therefore, every time show like I have to send email to myself.
I want in email ‘Sender name’ appear at from.
Please help me.
Hi Mohd Tariq Khan,
This could happen if you are sending and receiving email on the same address.
For example, if you are using john.smith@example.com in WP Mail SMTP and sending contact form messages to john.smith@example.com then Gmail would show sender name as ‘me’.
Hope this helped.
i think the key is create a same name account in bluehost within email , so as to trick host , the problem is the email will be taken as spam .
hi.. i have tried to send mail using wp-mail-smtp on wordpress BY gmail as per tutorial..
when i try to OAUTH 2 in gmail on wordpress,, it shows error.
—————————
Not Acceptable!
An appropriate representation of the requested resource could not be found on this server. This error was generated by Mod_Security.
—————————–
i have contacted hosting hostgator support.. Mod_security settings cant be whitelisted, as it may will leave the website vulnerable.
please advise how to send mails
Thank you for the thorough instructions! This site has saved me so many times. I really appreciate the great content!
Great Article, this worked for me, thanks a ton guys!
thanks a lot for this tutorial . i have this problem for an week and the issue has solved with this tutorial.
Hello,
I setup an email address to send the emails and it worked.
But I need to change the email account.
I already tried the Method 2, but it doesn’t work on my server.
I already unnistalled and re-install the plugin but all the data are stored.
Can anybody help me?
Thanks so much. This was a huge help!
Thank you so much! This was so helpful for me.
thankyou for this amazing tutorial
is this tutor works with free gmail account?
thanks for great tutorial you make..
i search anything about wp and your site in top of google..just wow
I just went through this and got the following message after trying to send a test email:
Connection: opening to smtp.gmail.com:587, timeout=300, options=array ()
Connection: Failed to connect to server. Error number 2. “Error notice: stream_socket_client(): unable to connect to smtp.gmail.com:587 (Network is unreachable)
SMTP ERROR: Failed to connect to server: Network is unreachable (101)
SMTP connect() failed.
Hi please help me when i click on grant permission button it show me that error.
400. That’s an error.
Error: invalid_scope
You don’t have permission to access some scopes. Your project is trying to access scopes that need to go through the verification process. {invalid = [https://mail.google.com/]} If you need to use one of these scopes, submit a verification request.
Learn more
Request Details
client_id=940707600009-5f3lstctsc081s72c27h4hhmf5212a7p.apps.googleusercontent.com
That’s all we know.
I got . . .
Fatal error: Cannot redeclare class phpmailerException in /home/content/04/11965204/html/sofp/wp-includes/class-phpmailer.php on line 4040
I can’t seem to get this fixed no matter what solve I try. There doesn’t appear to be a contact form in our future
Google Search didn’t help with this error code. I can’t imagine that I’m the first one to get it . . .
I loved how helpful this was, unfortunately I still can’t make the “grant access” button appear! Any idea why that would happen? Googling isn’t working.
Thank you!
Hi, I used this tutorial last year to install and configure the Gmail SMTP plugin. Until very recently, the Gmail SMTP plugin in conjunction with my website’s contact form worked perfectly. But I tested my website’s contact form today, and I got the following fatal-error message:
Fatal error: Uncaught exception ‘Google_Auth_Exception’ with message ‘Error refreshing the OAuth2 token, message: ‘{ “error” : “invalid_grant” }”
I don’t have a clue what that means. I get the same fatal-error message when I use the plugin to send a test message at Gmail SMTP plugin>Settings>Test email.
I haven’t changed any of the plugin settings since I first installed it a year ago, and I haven’t done anything new with my Google Console account either. I’m using the most recent version of the Gmail SMTP plugin, and also the newest version of WordPress.
Any ideas or suggestions?
Thanks!
Hey David,
It seems like your Oauth2 token has expired. Try following the tutorial again from the beginning to set it up again.
Thank U very much – one of my problem was this “my emails goes to spam folder”
with this service(Method 1) Now It’s great – of course after 14 days you must pay for that but still it’s prefect
I have question;
Can I send 100 Emails like newsletter for my customer is it OK for Google!?
I afraid my Emails after it goes to spam folder again
I did everything as described, but the contact form on my website still does not work.
Hey, add a thing at the end for the troubleshooting thing: “Check with your website host and verify that they do not block outgoing requests by default.” I know 1. GoDaddy does this, and won’t let you unblock. and 2. Namecheap also blocks by default but you just gotta contact support, give em your info and ask em to unblock port 587 and boom, it’ll all work again.
You save my life!
Tks!
i keep getting a Error: redirect_uri_mismatch when i press ‘grant permission’. It’s driving me nuts as I can’t work out what is wrong? Everything seems to match.
Adam
Same here. i get redirect_uri_mismatch
This video has been a fantastic help.
I’m a complete WordPress beginner.The step-by step instructions are very easy to follow. Now my emails are working perfectly!! Plus I also learnt how to insert headers & footers with ease.
Thanks once again!!
Hi Macky,
We are glad you found the video helpful. You may also want to subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials.
Your tutorial saved my site! Thank you very much mate!
A follow-up question – because of the login conflict issue, I was also considering using WP Mail SMTP. However, many users on the support forum for that plugin express concern that the password for the email account is visible on the admin page in plain text.
I have a firewall set up that prevents non-admins from getting in to the back end, so is there any real security concern regarding the password showing in plain text? Any advice much appreciated!!!
After troubleshooting quite a bit, I finally relented and went with WP Mail SMTP, which requires the “allow less secure apps” solution – a tech support person at G Suite told me that it was safe, and it seems like the only way to go for my particular setup. Appears to be working now. Thanks for the incredibly clear instructions!!! I am now a firm fan of this site.
The video is fantastic, and the plugin installed perfectly. Unfortunately I didn’t realize until after I went through the whole process (because I didn’t read the documentation on the plugin carefully), the Gmail SMTP plugin eliminates the need for users to log in, and therefore it interfered with the login process that we have instituted for paid members on our website (which we manage through a plugin called PaidMembershipsPro).
Is there any way to disable that aspect of this plugin, so I can send all email via our Gmail account, but can still have users log in and out?
Great article! However, I am unclear on something when using WordPress for sending newsletters. What is the difference between those mass emailing service providers (mailgun & Sendgrid) and using Google Apps for work SMTP?
Can’t we use Google Apps for work to send newsletters just as well?
with Google Apps for Work, you can only send an email to 500 recipients max (for paid business accounts). You cannot use it for newsletters.
Thanks so much for your response! With Google Apps for Work only limiting to 500 recipients, then I suppose it would work if we sent it to 500 or less people.
My next question, is it max to send all at one time or per day? If we throttle it to only send out a few per minute, do you know if it would allow it to send thousands within a few hours?
Thank you so much! This was so helpful!
Hi, this was very informative thank you for posting. however i have a website hosted on aws ec2, and route53 for dns. i tried the secure configuration. it didn’t work. Is there a special configuration for self hosted websites on aws ec2/route53. btw : i don’t have a cpanel installed.
After granting access and clicking on the allow button, I was not being redirected back to wordpress and the SMTP status is still not connected.
Any advice on how I should go about doing it?
Thanks!
Doesn’t work: test email retuens Connection: opening to smtp.gmail.com:587, timeout=300, options=array ( ‘ssl’ => array ( ‘verify_peer’ => false, ‘verify_peer_name’ => false, ‘allow_self_signed’ => true, ),)
I checked Email Routing -> Remote Mail Exchanger but it didn’t help
Thanks for the write-up. It really helped me! 5stars!
This guide worked wonderfully until my server stopped sending emails and I can’t get it to work again. The “Test Email” tab doesn’t make it clear if the email has successfully sent or not since it just spews out 52 lines that don’t mean much to me. :/
Amazing Tutorial !!!!
Thank you
Ok, so I have followed the OAuth instructions and my SMPT status button has gone green. However, whether through test email or my site, I can not send an email through the contact us form (pluggin contact form builder by web Durado). The hanging message say waiting for and eventually I get a 405 error notice.
Any thoughts.
Hoping you can help me?
I tried setting up method 1 using gmail and I got the ‘green light’ from wordpress however when testing the email I receive the following error message after waiting 1 minute for it to send:
Connection: opening to smtp.gmail.com:587, timeout=300, options=array ()
Any ideas on how to fix this?
Very best,
Tom
This tutorial is awesome!
I have one question, though. I directed the contact form messages to a gmail group email address, but, for some reason, the messages aren’t being delivered. When I direct to a “real” e-mail address like the messages are normally delivered.
I would really appreciate if someone could give me a hand figuring out why this happens.
Thank you!!!
+1 for this question. Have exactly the same question as wish to use our info@.. address
Thanks guys for such useful article. I followed all the steps and was able to configure the email correctly. However, when I receive the email from mydomain.com address (sent by wordpress after purchasing a product), the user avatar (gmail picture) doesn’t appear even though mydomain.com has a picture already.
In fact, if I send an email directly from mydomain.com account via google for work, the receiver is able to see the image right away, but it’s not the case if the email is sent via wordpress.
Do you have any suggestions? Thanks a lot, and keep rocking!
Thanks for this helpful information. You really helped me out in setting this up, and I appreciate you taking the time to create this useful information!
Glad you found it helpful.
What is origin URI of the client application. its not accepting website URL ….please help me out
Excellent instructions and thanks for walking me through setting this up. I did try the MX record change but no luck there either.
I get a 405 Not allowed message when I try to send an email.
I am hosted by Bluehost and am using the DIVI theme.
If anyone has any ideas I would be very grateful.
Hello, having a similar issue. Getting a 405 error, and also hosted on Bluehost. By any chance, were you able to fix the problem? Thanks.
I had the same problem with bluehost. But this gave me the solution.
I uninstalled any extra plugin for mail, including smtp mailer or gmail smtp plugin and just used a random address like mynewaddress@example.com (replace example.com with your own domain name) and it worked. I sent an email to my gmail account I it passes all the filters. It seems that BlueHost validates the address if it is comming from the server that hosts that domain. In gmail you usually get a warning that says that this email might not have being validated, but my email are comming fine with custom wordpress email functions. No extra plugin needed.
Thank you so much. This was of great help. God Bless you!
Awesome tutorial!!!
I have this working brilliantly with a Google apps for work account for a woocommerce solution on wordpress, thank you.
Should this work if I use a Google group mail instead of an account?
Thanks very much.