SMTP stands for Simple Mail Transfer Protocol. It helps with the authentication when sending email because it identifies the origin of the email sender which therefore stops emails being sent anonymously, therefore helping to combat spam. It is always recommended to enable SMTP authentication (where available).

All of our help articles in the ‘Email Setup‘ section include enabling SMTP authentication, however, you can check that you have this option enabled on your system by following the following guide for your respective email client.

Microsoft Outlook

Open Microsoft Outlook. From the menu, select ‘Tools‘ followed by ‘Accounts‘.

On the ‘Mail‘ tab, select the account that you have just set up followed by ‘Properties‘.

Select ‘Servers‘ tab. Tick the option under ‘Outgoing Mail Server‘ shown as ‘My server requires authentication‘.

Next choose ‘Settings‘.

Choose ‘Use same settings as my incoming mail server‘.

Click ‘OK‘ to complete.

SMTP is now enabled in Microsoft Outlook.

Microsoft Outlook 2003

Open Microsoft Outlook. From the menu, select ‘Tools‘ followed by ‘Email Accounts‘.

Choose your email account and then click the ‘Change‘ button as shown.

Choose ‘More Settings‘ button in the bottom-right section.

Choose the ‘Outgoing‘ Server tab.

Select the checkbox option ‘My outgoing server (SMTP) requires authentication‘ and make sure that it is using the same settings as your incoming mail server.

Click “OK” to complete.

SMTP is now enabled in Microsoft Outlook 2003.

Microsoft Outlook 2007

Open Microsoft Outlook 2007. From the menu, choose ‘File‘ then ‘Account Settings‘ menu.

Choose your email account from the list and select the ‘Change‘ menu button.

Select ‘More Settings‘ in the bottom-right corner.

Choose the ‘Outgoing Server‘ tab option and tick the option ‘My outgoing server (SMTP) requires authentication‘. Also check ‘Use the same settings as my incoming mail server‘.

Click “OK” to complete.

SMTP is now enabled in Microsoft Outlook 2007.

Microsoft Windows 10

From the desktop, select the ‘Windows‘ icon button in the bottom left corner.

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Open the ‘Mail‘ application.

Right mouse click on the email address in the left column. Click ‘Account Settings‘.

Click ‘Change mailbox sync settings‘.

Click ‘Advanced mailbox settings‘.

Scroll down to the outgoing email server section.

Tick ‘Outgoing server requires authentication‘ and leave the other box un-ticked, this will display the username and password field which you will need to complete with your outgoing server information (if this is not already completed).

Click ‘Done‘.

Click ‘Save‘ to complete.

SMTP is now enabled in Windows 10 Mail.

Windows Live Mail

Open Windows Live Mail. From the left menu, right mouse click on your email account and select ‘Properties‘.

Select the ‘Servers‘ tab.

At the bottom under ‘Outgoing Mail Server‘, tick the option ‘My server requires authentication‘.

Next choose ‘Settings‘.

Choose ‘Use same settings as my incoming mail server‘.

Click ‘OK‘ to complete.

SMTP is now enabled in Windows Live Mail.

Mac Mail

Open Mac Mail on your system. Choose ‘Mail‘ -> ‘Preferences‘ from the top menu.

Go to the ‘Accounts‘ section and select the account in question from the left panel. Select ‘Account Information‘ tab and go to ‘Outgoing Mail Server (SMTP)‘ section to click on the ‘Edit SMTP Server List‘ option.

Make sure that ‘Authentication‘ is set to ‘Password‘.

If the ‘User Name‘ and ‘Password‘ fields are not set, enter your full email address as the username, and your password.
Click ‘OK‘.

Close the accounts window. Mac Mail will ask you if you wish to save your changes, make sure to click the ‘Save‘ button.

SMTP is now enabled in Mac Mail.