How to use the free Gmail SMTP server?
What is SMTP?
SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) is a network protocol used for the transfer of email between email servers and other network devices. SMTP is the standard used to send emails over the Internet, and it allows the transmission of messages from an email client to a mail server, and also from one mail server to another mail server, until it is finally delivered to the final recipient.
Once what SMTP is has been explained, let's start with the tutorial on how to use a Gmail SMTP server:
Step 1: Access your Gmail account
The first thing you need to do is log in to your Gmail account at https://mail.google.com/. If you don't have an account yet, you can create a free one at https://accounts.google.com/signup.
Step 2: Enable the less secure apps access option
To allow an external application or device to connect to the Gmail SMTP server, you must allow access to less secure apps in your Google account. To do so, follow these steps:
- Access the security section of your Google account at https://myaccount.google.com/security
- Scroll down to 'Less secure app access' and enable it.
Step 3: Configure the email client
To send emails via the Gmail SMTP server, you need to configure the email client you will use to send the emails.
These are the configuration details that you must enter:
- Username: Your full Gmail email address
- Password: Your Gmail account password
- SMTP Server: smtp.gmail.com
- Port: 587
- Encryption type: TLS
info Make sure that the username and password are correct. Additionally, that the port and encryption type are those specified in the configuration.
Step 4: Check the connection
Once you have entered the configuration details, you must check if you can connect to the Gmail SMTP server. To do so, follow these steps:
- Open the email client you have configured.
- Create a new email and write the email address to which you wish to send the email.
- Send the email and check if it was sent correctly.
success If you follow these steps, you will be able to use the Gmail SMTP server to send emails. Remember that you can also use the Gmail API to integrate email sending into your applications or websites.