Jotform for Beginners
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Gmail is a great alternative for sending form emails via Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) if you don’t have a business email address. But while Gmail SMTP is easy to use, you must do it most securely. One requirement is to ensure that you have enabled Two-Step Verification for your Google account. For more information, visit: Turn on Two-Step Verification.
Note:
While this guide focuses on using a free Gmail account, this also applies to Google Workspace accounts. You only need to ensure that Two-Step Verification is enabled.
Getting an App Password
After enabling Two-Step Verification, you must create an App-specific Password for your Jotform account. Without it, the SMTP will not work. To do so, please follow the steps below:
- Go to https://security.google.com/settings/security/apppasswords and sign in to your account.
- Choose Mail from the list of available apps.
- Choose Other from the device list.
- Enter your Custom Name. You can put “Jotform” in it.
- Click the Generate button.
- Copy and save the password to your computer.
- 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 Done.
Adding the Custom Sender Email
The last thing you need to do is add your Gmail account as your custom sender email. You can do it through your account settings. Please follow the steps below:
- Click your Profile Picture at the top-right of the navigation menu.
- Click Settings to access your account’s settings page.
- Scroll down to the Sender Emails section and click Edit on the right side.
- Click Add Sender Email.
- Enter the following information:
- Email Address: {your email address}
- Hostname: smtp.gmail.com
- Port: 587 or 465
- Username: {your Gmail address}
- Password: {your Gmail app-specific password}
- Security Protocol: TLS or SSL
Note
Port 587 should be paired with TLS as the Security Protocol. If you select Port 465, you should select SSL.
- Click the Send Test Email button to confirm that everything is working.
- Click the Add Email button to complete the setup.
Once done, it should let you send Jotform email alerts using your Gmail account.
If you want to learn more about setting up SMTP in general, visit: How to Setup SMTP for a Form.
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10 Comments:
This doesn't work for me :(
Thank you very much for your info! It really worked.
This don't work
This is not always a feasible solution. For many organisations, sender email address has to be set as that of a default mailbox which is commonly a shared mailbox. However, shared mailboxes don't normally have two-factor authentication enabled.
Therefore, Google Workspace admins prefer to configure such mail transport through SMTP Relay along with IP whitelisting, which can be easily configured in GW Admin Console (Gmail advanced configuration). However, for this to work, Jotform's server IP addresses must be known.
Now, can you publish all the IP addresses used by Jotform's SMTP server?
Do we have an update on this? We use Google Workspace so can't enable it.
Google doesn't allow Less sure apps feature anymore.
Hello my SMTP is not working any idea why?
Google says that from May 30, 2022:
Less secure apps & your Google Account
To help keep your account secure, from May 30, 2022, Google no longer supports the use of third-party apps or devices which ask you to sign in to your Google Account using only your username and password.
Important: This deadline does not apply to Google Workspace or Google Cloud Identity customers. The enforcement date for these customers will be announced on the Workspace blog at a later date.
Effective May 30th, 2022 gmail is discontinuing the option to use less secure apps.
FROM GOOGLE:
Less secure apps & your Google Account
To help keep your account secure, starting May 30, 2022, Google will no longer support the use of third-party apps or devices which ask you to sign in to your Google Account using only your username and password.
Please note this deadline does not apply to Google Workspace or Google Cloud Identity customers. The enforcement date for these customers will be announced on the Workspace blog at a later date.
For more information, please continue reading.
Special Note on Apple Device Sign-Ins. Users who have not recently signed into their Google Account using only username and password will be able to only make new sign in attempts using the Google account type starting from February 28, 2022. Existing users may continue to sign into their Google Account using their username and password until May 30, 2022.
If an app or site doesn’t meet our security standards, Google might block anyone who’s trying to sign in to your account from it. Less secure apps can make it easier for hackers to get in to your account, so blocking sign-ins from these apps helps keep your account safe.
Can you update this with the new SMTP relay option in Google Workplace. Enabling less secure app access is not always an option.