Gmail and G Suite for SMTP

What's the difference between Gmail & G Suite?

A Gmail account is a free Google account with an email address that ends in @gmail.com. A G Suite account has an administrator who manages all accounts associated with its edition (Basic, Business, Enterprise, etc.).

If you are using either of these, you will need to make sure to allow access by Less Secure Apps.

LESS SECURE?? It's ok, don't worry! This is not an indictment on the security of our platform or any others, but rather Google just making sure you understand that connecting to your SMTP by a simple user/pass is not the most secure way since anyone who might get possession of your password would be able to do the same.

This step alone may be all you need to get SMTP working. If not, continue to the steps below.

I'm using Gmail! What are the extra steps I need to take?

STEP 1: First things first, you will need to allow access by Less Secure Apps.

STEP 2: If you see the above message, you may need to create an App Password.

For added security, Google requires users to create an App Password for their device to connect to their email account. In order to use an App Password, you MUST also turn on 2-Step Verification.

Log into your Google Account, and click Security on the left sidebar menu.

Find App Passwords in the Signing into Google section. You must enable 2-Step Verification for this to show up.

Select Other from the Select App dropdown menu. You can name it whatever you'd like for your reference.

Click the Generate button. You will now be given the password that you will need to use for the platform.

Copy and paste this App Password into the platform in the Password field.

Fill out the remaining required fields:

Server: smtp.gmail.com
Port: 587
Connection Encryption: TLS

Click the Save SMTP Settings button and you're good to go!

TIP: If you're still having trouble, try turning off 2-Step Verification, re-enabling it, and creating a new App Password. Due to this newly implemented process in Google, sometimes it can cause issues if you already have used 2-Step Verification before setting up an App Password.

I'm using G Suite! What are the extra steps I need to take?

STEP 1: First things first, you will need to allow access by Less Secure Apps.

STEP 2: If you see the message above it means that turning on LSA is not allowed on an individual basis based on enterprise rules.

As the domain administrator, follow these steps:

Login to your Google Account with your G Suite account.
Navigate to the admin dashboard here: https://admin.google.com.
Click on Security.
Choose Basic settings.
Scroll down to Less secure apps.
Click on the Go to settings for less secure apps.
Select the option Allow users to manage their access to less secure apps.

It takes 10 minutes or so to be available to you on the individual account.

After that's enabled, you can click here: https://myaccount.google.com/lesssecureapps and you should see the ability to turn it on.

STEP 3: If just enabling LSA didn't work, you might need to also use an App Password

For added security, Google requires users to create an App Password for their device to connect to their email account. In order to use an App Password, you MUST also turn on 2-Step Verification.