What Is the Gmail SMTP Server?
- Gmail Simple Mail Transfer Protocol service is provided at the "smtp.gmail.com" address. In a POP3/SMTP system, an SMTP server -- a computer running a piece of mailserver software -- receives the mail you send and dispatches it either to its intended recipient or to another mailserver. In this way a message hops from server to server across the Internet, transferred from computer to computer using the SMTP protocol, until it reaches its destination. When you send an email to a Gmail user, it's received and processed by the Gmail SMTP server at smtp.gmail.com.
- Most email clients will ask you to specify ports for the TLS or SSL online security protocols. These protocols encrypt the messages you send and make them difficult to read if intercepted. Depending on the email server, encryption may require opening a particular communication port, through which the mail software can transfer cryptographic data; in Gmail's case, the relevant ports are 587 for TLS and 465 for SSL.
- Connection to and use of Gmail's SMTP server requires a Google user name and password. Your email address, and the password you use to log in to your Gmail account, will work; this is the same user name/password combination you use when connecting to Gmail's POP3 server to receive emails.
- There are many different email clients, and while all of them require the same basic information, their setup screens aren't the same. If you have trouble entering the settings you need -- a SMTP connection to smtp.gmail.com, with encryption enabled over port 587 or 465 and login information drawn from your Gmail account -- read Google's long list of POP/SMTP tutorials for different mail programs. Navigate to mail.google.com and click "Help" at the bottom. Then click "POP" under "Other Ways to Access Gmail."