SMTP stands for Simple Mail Transfer Protocol, which is a standard for sending and receiving emails over the internet. Conceived in 1980, it has become the primary Email transport protocol worldwide. All manufactures of network attached devices use the SMTP protocol to send information and data from the machine electronically to your Email box. Examples include –

• Home White Goods
• Video and Entertainment equipment
• Multifunction Office Machines
• Scanners
• Security Cameras & security Systems
• Hardware Alerts Systems
• Monitoring Devices such as Weather Stations
• Websites, Online Forms and WordPress
• Electronic Reporting Systems

Why use Windows 365 SMTP Email Gateway ?

Microsoft 365 provides a reliable and secure way to send emails from your business or organization, that your company may already be using for its traditional Email systems. Microsoft 365 SMTP gateway is a cloud-based service that allows you to send emails through a trusted and authenticated connection, without the need to configure or maintain your own on-premises Email server. Here are some of the advantages of using Microsoft Exchange Online as your outgoing email server:

• You can send emails from any device or business applications that supports SMTP.
• You can send emails to any recipient, whether they are inside or outside your organization, and whether they use Microsoft 365 or not.
• You can leverage the security and compliance features of Microsoft 365, such as encryption, anti-spam, anti-virus, anti-phishing, and data loss prevention, to protect your emails from unauthorized access or malicious attacks.
• You can monitor and troubleshoot your email delivery using the Microsoft 365 admin center, which provides detailed reports and logs of your email activity and status.
• No need for a static IP address, you can send from any public IP address
• No need to maintain any on-premise email server

As you can see, using Microsoft 365 SMTP gateway as your outgoing email server can offer you many benefits in terms of convenience, performance, security, and efficiency.

Initial Setup – Office 365

In most situations it will be preferential to create a sperate at lease one additional Microsoft 365 user for your SMTP Emails and Messages. Preferably for security and tracking it would be ideal to have a sperate account for each instance of an external SMTP device or requirement. However as each account will incur a license fee some grouping may be required. Typically you may setup three counts such as – scanner@yourdomain.com.au, webrequests@yourdomain.com.au and alerts@yourdomain.com.au. After planning your generic STMP addresses go ahead and set them up in Microsoft 365.

This article assumes you already have already complete the first step – create a Windows 365 account, if not contact PIP direct for a personalized office 365 account and tour of what the Windows 365 platform can offer you.

Go to the Office 365 portal and sign in with your admin credentials.

1. It is assumed you already have setup Exchange Admin Center with your domain
2. You have added appropriate SPF record and your MX record in your DNS
3. You have setup DKIM against your domain or at least know how to
4. Sign in to the Microsoft 365 admin center with your admin credentials.
5. Click on the Admin icon and then on Users > Active users.
6. Click on Add a user and fill in the required information
   1. Name (This will be displayed as who the Email comes from)
   2. Username (Email address of the account, i.e. username@yourdomain.com.au)
   3. Password (Your only go to set this once, so make it long (21 characters at least) and complex).
   4. License (You will need to allocate a license for the mailbox).
7. Set the password to be an extremely long string at least 21 characters.
8. Click on Next and review the settings.
9. Finalize any extra settings, such as send as permissions if required.
10. Click on Finish adding and the new email account will be created.

The next step is to enable SMTP authentication to this new  device’s mailbox. This is required to send emails using Office 365 as the SMTP server. Enable SMTP authentication with he following steps:

1. Sign in to the Microsoft 365 admin center with your admin credentials.
2. Go to Users > Active users and select the above user mailbox that we just created.
3. Click Mail > Manage email apps.
4. Check the box next to Authenticated SMTP and click Save changes.

Now your all set to setup your external device.

Setup WordPress External SMTP Email

WordPress external SMTP settings are used to relay emails for external recipients via a smart host. By using a SMTP relay service, you can improve the reliability and security of your email communications, as well as avoid spam filters and blacklists.

Some of the benefits of using an external SMTP service are:

• You can use your own domain name as the sender address, which enhances your brand identity and credibility.
• Avoid using the WordPress hosts own Email servers to which you have no control
• You can use best practice protocols- SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records, which verify that you are the legitimate owner of your domain and prevent spoofing and phishing attacks.
• You can monitor and track the performance of your email campaigns, such as open rates, click rates, bounce rates, and delivery rates.
• You can access advanced features such as email templates, segmentation, personalization, automation, and analytics.
• No sending limits

To use an external SMTP service, you need to install a WordPress plugin that allows you to connect your WordPress site with the SMTP provider of your choice. Some of the popular SMTP plugins are WP Mail SMTP, Easy WP SMTP, Post SMTP Mailer/Email Log, and WPForms.

After installing and activating the plugin, you need to configure the SMTP settings in your WordPress dashboard. The settings may vary depending on the plugin and the SMTP provider you use, but generally you need to enter the following information:

• SMTP Host: smtp.office365.com
• Encryption: TLS
• SMTP Port: 587
• Authentication: On
• SMTP Username: Your Windows 365 email address (as above)
• SMTP Password: Your Windows 365 email password (as above)

Once you have entered the SMTP settings and confirmed you have the correct settings. Save your setup and can test them by sending a test email from your WordPress site. If everything works fine, you can start sending emails from your WordPress site using your external SMTP service.

Office 365 SMTP Setup for Scanners, Faxes & Multifunction Machines

For Multifunction, fax and Scanners you will either need to manually edit the settings via the machine LCD console or if the device is network enabled, by browsing to the devices IP address or host name.

From here you will need to elevate you access rights to administrator to find and access the SMTP setup screen.

On a Fax machine you may even find the SMTP or Email settings in the actual Fax Settings Menu

Direct send SMTP Email from multifunction machines and scanners with the following settings  –

• SMTP Host: smtp.office365.com
• Encryption: TLS
• SMTP Port: 587
• Authentication: On
• SMTP Username: Your Windows 365 email address (as above)
• SMTP Password: Your Windows 365 email password (as above)

Smart Devices, Entertainment Systems, Security Systems and White Goods Using Office 365 SMTP settings.

If you have smart devices at home, such as entertainment devices, security systems and white goods, you might want to send Email notifications from them using Office 365 as the SMTP email gateway.

Grab the devices manual or documentation and find the menu or setup area called either “Email Settings” or SMTP settings. After locating that menu or configuration file you set all the settings to the details stipulated below.

• SMTP Host: smtp.office365.com
• Encryption: TLS
• SMTP Port: 587
• Authentication: On
• SMTP Username: Your Windows 365 email address (as above)
• SMTP Password: Your Windows 365 email password (as above)

Your device should now be sending Emails. Send a test Email to check mail flow.

Office 365 SMTP Gateway Errors, Problems and Incompatibilities

One of the main issues that might prevent you from using Office 365 as the SMTP email gateway is the authentication methods. Office 365 requires SMTP authentication, which means that you need to provide a valid username and password to send Emails from your devices. However, some devices might not support modern authentication or might have a different way of configuring it. For example, some devices might use a different port number or encryption method for SMTP authentication.

Another issue that might prevent you from using Office 365 as the SMTP email gateway is the TLS ( Transport Layer Security ) encryption. Office 365 requires TLS encryption, which means that you need to establish a secure connection with the Office 365 server before sending emails from your devices. However, some devices might not support TLS encryption or might have a different way of enabling it. For example, some devices might use a different protocol or certificate for TLS encryption.

To fix these issues, first check with the manufacturer and confirm you have the latest version of the firmware and software. Read the manufactures documentation and see if the devices actually support SMTP authentication and TLS encryption in their Email client. If they do, you need to find out how to configure them properly according to the Office 365 requirements. If they don’t, you might need to look for alternative solutions, PIP has many SMTP Email Servers available for you to utilize if needed.