Issues setting up new outgoing emails in GMail through WA domains
Hi.
I've had an issue setting up a new email account on a WA domain, which I wanted to link to GMail (to receive and send emails through that domain).
The Issue With GMail
The problem is, GMail no longer lets you send email from their smtp.gmail.com outgoing mail server - instead, changing to your domain server - eg. smtp.yourdomain.com
Unfortunately, WA is doing something similar. I asked Carson about it:
He advised: "What we have discontinued is allowing webmail to be used using our SMTP settings which can mess things up with using 3rd party email clients like Microsoft Outlook (yuk). There are actually VERY few people that use 3rd party programs like outlook with webmail."
So...
It should still work for existing account setup before the start of August, but this thread from Google https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!msg/gmail/GyeMcHv1U-g/OC2v0YPf2T8J notes:
"We rolled out a change yesterday for new accounts where if you would like to send mail as from a non-Gmail or non-Google Apps account (see updated help center article here: https://support.google.com/mail/answer/22370) you can no longer use the option of Gmail's servers to send your mail. Google is a strong supporter of email authentication standards including DKIM, SPF and DMARC. This is one in a series of changes to strengthen email authentication, and end any practices by Google products which break authentication."
So, it seems we're stuck if you're setting up new email accounts.
WA won't allow you to use their SMTP servers to relay emails, and Google has done the same for the reasons stated above.
The problem that leaves us is, when you try to setup a "Send Mail As" from GMail - it will now ask you for your SMTP server - which if it's a new email on WA - you can't do.
Workaround :)
There are two things we can do if you still want to have "mail@yourdomain.com":
- Start using the built-in webmail - which is really poor in functionality etc or
- Setup a new GMail account for each new email address you setup within WA.
Then amend the settings in GMail to change the Reply-To address to:
You can do that by:
- Clicking on the Gear icon in GMail
- Select the Accounts & Import tab
- In Send Mail As, click Edit Info
- Click on Specify a different Reply-To address
- enter your original email: mail@yourdomain.com
This isn't ideal - but we've got to work with what we've got - and if it's beefing up on security, and reducing spam/scammers activity, then I suggest we just accept it, and get on with it.
I hope this helps?
All the best, Mark
Recent Comments
93
I just tested WA hosted site email which was set up previously and it still works. Does what you have written above imply that it is going to stop working and that I need to keep checking that it works? And then decide on my next option?
Hi - I'm not certain - what I've quoted came from Carson and Google (separately relating to WA and GMail) - I don't have any issues yet with "older" accounts - but I setup a domain recently (start of August), which is when I started having the issue.
Older emails appear ok for now - new ones setup, I run into this problem which is being reported.
Cheers, Mark
Hi Mark, yup, same problem with me... I was setting up my domain email to gmail about a week ago (August).
I was going to post about the same issue when I discovered a couple weeks ago that none of my outbound WA email was working from my Gmail account. I opened a ticket with WA support and was basically told they discontinued that feature and that I should use the webmail client. Unfortunately, I haven't found a decent webmail client that I like other than Gmail.
I'm a little surprised WA would make the decision to stop allowing outbound SMTP on hosted domains that we pay for without notifying anyone. I suspect the vast majority of folks here were using email in this fashion with their gmail accounts. Every other hosting companies I've used in the past, and still use (besides WA), allows outbound SMTP on my domains.
The best solution I've found so far is to use the SMTP server provided by my local ISP. It works exactly as my WA outbound mail used to work, with the only downside being that the mail headers reveal who my local ISP is as well as my account name. I don't like that, but at least it's a workaround until I can move my remaining domains off of WA hosting.
Hi - I suspect if Gmail and WA are stopping this service, then other ISPs won't be far behind.
If spam filters and other email delivery servers are starting to block emails that come through SMTP servers other than the actual domain server, then email hosts will start to be blacklisted - and that is a very bad thing to happen to any reputable host.
So I'm not sure how much longer the local ISP will be happy to provide that service (if for ever more - then great).
Cheers, Mark
Somebody has to allow outbound SMTP email! :) That's exactly why our PAID WA domains should allow us to pass outbound SMTP email through our own shared servers, especially when we are authenticating against the mail server with our domain account credentials. It really makes no sense that WA would disable this feature.
Ahhh...I'm connecting the dots now. A few of us had issues with our emails being rejected saying WA had been balcklisted. When I enquired they said they were investigating and then never got backuntil I enquired again last week....All seems connected we are just not being informed of the whole picture.
Hey Mark... If it helps... we use Amazon SES to send out going mail for just about all of our businesses now. There is a free tier you can leverage once authenticated, you can send up to 10,000 emails a day through their SMTP servers....
We've yet to hit a volume level where we've been charged for the service and you can then send fully qualified emails and set-up DKIM authentication...Please let me know if you're interested ~ Bryan
Hi Bryan - thank you for that.
Yes I am interested - and I think a good number of people here would be too.
Cheers, Mark
Sounds great... if you think there would be a demand I'll try and pull together some training over the weekend on how to set it up... There are some complications to it, but if I can handle it... how hard could it be :-)
Brian and Mark: I had no idea about Amazon since I'm new to having mail clients and a good website here at WA. Thanks for the info and any other places that I might learn more? Thanks ... Allyn
Hi Mark and team!
I am using Gmail with my domain with Google Apps for Business.
It only costs 50$/Year/user, and gives you many more features,
including 30Gb of Google Drive space, and It is easy to setup.
Have a look here: http://goo.gl/pqlQ2G
(It is my affiliate link :o) )
They also gave me a few coupons for a 10$/user
Let me know if you need one.
Hi Andre.
Thanks for the heads up.
Do you know how many emails you can link to your account (I think the default on the free account is 5). Or is it only alias's eg. email1@yourdomain.com email2@yourdomain.com etc
All the best, Mark
I think I read there was 50 (been having a look since you commented) - which I'm sure is more than enough for most people's purposes.
Cheers, Mark
See more comments
Hey Mark thanks!