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Your own SMTP server

An SMTP server is your email provider's outgoing mail server, the one a mail app sends through. Jelly can send your team's replies through it, so they leave from your provider like any other mail you send. This works with Fastmail, Amazon SES, your web host or your company's own server.

An SMTP server only sends. Each address also needs a way for its mail to come in: an IMAP account, forwarding or Postmark. The email setup sets up both halves together, and tests the server before saving it.

Before you start

You'll need your provider's SMTP settings. They're the details a mail app asks for, and you'll usually find them in the provider's help pages under "SMTP settings":

  • the server's host name, such as smtp.fastmail.com;
  • the port and the kind of encryption, usually 465 with TLS or 587 with STARTTLS;
  • the username, usually the full email address, and its password.

Many providers want an app password here: a separate password you create in the provider's security settings. Use one if your provider offers it. The table of common providers lists their servers.

Jelly signs in with a username and password. It can't go through a "Sign in with Microsoft" or "Sign in with Google" page. If your provider has turned password sign-in off, as Microsoft often has, ask your administrator to allow SMTP sign-in for the mailbox. See Microsoft 365 and Outlook.com.

Adding a server

  1. Go to Settings → Connections → SMTP and press Add an SMTP server.

  2. Fill in the form:
    Name What the team calls the server. Leave it blank to use the host name.
    Host The host name only, such as smtp.example.com. Leave out https://, the port and any path.
    Connection security TLS (usually port 465) or STARTTLS (usually port 587). Choose None only for a server on your own network: nothing is encrypted, not even the password.
    Port Leave it blank to use the usual port for the security you chose.
    Username and Password Usually the full email address and its password or app password. Leave both blank for a server that lets your Jelly in by its network address.

  3. Press Add the server. Jelly saves it without testing it, and opens the server's page.

  4. Press Test the connection. Jelly signs in and out again without sending anything. If that fails, the page says why: see Fixing connection problems.

  5. Under Addresses sending through this server, tick the addresses that should send through it. Each tick saves straight away.

  6. Press Send me a test message. Jelly sends a message from one of the ticked addresses to you.

Don't skip the test message. A server will often refuse to send from an address that isn't its own account's, and it only says so when something is actually sent.

The password is never shown again. If you edit the server later, leave Password blank to keep the saved one.

Choosing which addresses send through it

Addresses sending through this server lists every team address that a Google account doesn't already send for. When you tick one, its replies go out through this server. If the address wasn't verified, it becomes Verified, and the From menu offers it straight away.

If you untick an address, it falls back to Postmark if your team uses it, and otherwise can't send. If ticking it here is what verified it, it becomes Unverified again.

A team can have several SMTP servers, with different addresses on each.

What you see after sending

A reply sent through an SMTP server shows Sent, never Delivered, because the server doesn't report back. If the reply bounces later, the bounce arrives as an email in the account's own mailbox. Did it arrive? explains the labels.

If the server refuses a reply outright, the reply stays as a draft and shows the server's reason. For example, "The mail server answered 550 5.1.1 User unknown at RCPT TO jane@example.com" means the server wouldn't accept that recipient. The server's status on Settings → SMTP changes to Error.

An SMTP server doesn't put a copy of the reply in a Sent folder. If you'd like one there, also read the account over IMAP and switch on its sent-mail copy, which is part of Royal Jelly.

Keeping it working

Each server on Settings → Connections → SMTP shows how it's doing:
Untested Added or changed, and not tested since.
Tested The last connection test passed.
Test failed The last connection test failed. The page says why under The last connection test failed.
Error The last reply sent through it was refused. The page shows what the server said under The last message did not go.

Fixing connection problems

When a test or a send fails, the page shows the step that went wrong and what the server said.

The message starts with What it usually means
connecting to …: nothing answered within 10 seconds A typo in the host, the wrong port, or a firewall in the way. Port 465 is often blocked, so try STARTTLS on 587.
the TLS handshake with … The security doesn't match the port. Port 465 wants TLS, and port 587 wants STARTTLS.
STARTTLS: the server does not offer STARTTLS on this port Try TLS on 465, or STARTTLS on 587.
AUTH: 535 … The username or password is wrong, the provider wants an app password, or the provider has turned password sign-in off.
AUTH: the server does not offer authentication on this connection The server doesn't take a password here. Leave the username blank if it lets your Jelly in by its network address. Otherwise, check the port.
the saved password cannot be read Type the password again and save.

Changing or removing a server

To change the details, edit them under The server on the server's page and press Save the server. Test the connection again afterwards.

To remove a server, choose Remove <name>… under Remove the server and confirm. Jelly forgets the server and its password. Its addresses stay on the team's list, but they can't send until you put them on another server, unless your team uses Postmark, which takes over. Nothing already sent or received changes.