Emailing using Gmail SMTP Server

Just got a problem solved in another thread but thought it would be best to continue in a new thread as the subject is a little different.

I am working on an app that needs to generate outgoing mail messages - not exactly bulk, but might get close. I only need to send OUTGOING messages, no need to retrieve mail.

I currently have fields for outgoing server, account and password in the preferences but I am considering obtaining a generic gmail account just to use the server which I could hardcode into the app. What concerns me about leaving it as it is now is that anyone using Gmail will have to go to their Gmail Account and turn ON the option to Allow Connection to Less Secure Apps. I don’t especially look forward to telling clients they have to reduce their security in order to use my software.

Is anyone doing something similar and, if so, what kind of SMTP server are you using?

How do you avoid being tagged as a “spammer” if you send quite a few messages at once - maybe up to a couple of hundred messages?

thank folks.

Check the archives here. Many services allow sending of transactional mail. There are classes available for a few of them. For instance MailChimp.

I use MailGun for transactional email. I mainly use it from PHP but have connected using an SMTP gateway in an Xojo app. Amazon SES is an option too.

You can offer the options on SMTP config, show various services available and then let the customer make the final call.

I’ve used MailChimp before just as an end user thought it to be a good service. I’ll have to look into it. I’ve not heard of MailGun but will also check that out.

thanks guys,

We can send emails via gmail server from MBS CURL Plugin as far as I know.

But my own newsletters, I use the smtp server from my provider.
Just send them in batches and not too quickly.

I like SMTP2GO.com.

[quote=342139:@Christian Schmitz]But my own newsletters, I use the smtp server from my provider.
Just send them in batches and not too quickly.[/quote]

Yes, that’s what I’ve been doing - however, last week my account was temporarily blocked because I exceeded their quotas. I knew there was a GB limit for storage, but not a maximum number of emails I can send per day. It turns out there’s a limit of 200 per day, but no more than 1/2 of those in any 4 hour period, and no more than 1/4 of those in a 15 minute period. Fortunately, they raised my quote to 300 per day - at least for a while.

So check with your email host and see what their limits are. I do NOT recommend you tell them you’re sending via an automated or semi-automated app, that raises all kinds of red flags.