Configuring SMTP Mailer Wordpress plugin

Question

I'm trying to configure a Wordpress plugin called SMTP Mailer. I've tried with both my Gmail credentials and Yahoo credentials (and associated SMTP Host name, of course). For Gmail, I turned on "Access for less secure apps" last night, and waited in case the change needed time to take effect. Still no luck.

Am I configuring something wrong? Is Google not cooperating with it? Do I need to use a different plugin?

If I need a different plugin, the only thing that's really important is that it's free AND doesn't rely on anything else that's paid-for (i.e., Postman is "free" but relies on Mandrill, which is not)

my SMTP Host is smtp.gmail.com (or Smtp.mail.yahoo.com)

using SMTP Authentication

using TLS with port 587

I have tried both matching and different email addresses in From Email Addresses

When I try to send a test email via the plugin, I get this. (Gmail credentials)

Connection: opening to smtp.gmail.com:587, timeout=300, options=array ()
Connection: opened
SMTP -> get_lines(): $data is ""
SMTP -> get_lines(): $str is "220 smtp.gmail.com ESMTP q77sm1720219itb.22 - gsmtp"
SERVER -> CLIENT: 220 smtp.gmail.com ESMTP q77sm1720219itb.22 - gsmtp
CLIENT -> SERVER: EHLO neptunechiropractic.com
SMTP -> get_lines(): $data is ""
SMTP -> get_lines(): $str is "250-smtp.gmail.com at your service, [69.65.3.206]"
SMTP -> get_lines(): $data is "250-smtp.gmail.com at your service, [69.65.3.206]"
SMTP -> get_lines(): $str is "250-SIZE 35882577"
SMTP -> get_lines(): $data is "250-smtp.gmail.com at your service, [69.65.3.206]250-SIZE 35882577"
SMTP -> get_lines(): $str is "250-8BITMIME"
SMTP -> get_lines(): $data is "250-smtp.gmail.com at your service, [69.65.3.206]250-SIZE 35882577250-8BITMIME"
SMTP -> get_lines(): $str is "250-STARTTLS"
SMTP -> get_lines(): $data is "250-smtp.gmail.com at your service, [69.65.3.206]250-SIZE 35882577250-8BITMIME250-STARTTLS"
SMTP -> get_lines(): $str is "250-ENHANCEDSTATUSCODES"
SMTP -> get_lines(): $data is "250-smtp.gmail.com at your service, [69.65.3.206]250-SIZE 35882577250-8BITMIME250-STARTTLS250-ENHANCEDSTATUSCODES"
SMTP -> get_lines(): $str is "250-PIPELINING"
SMTP -> get_lines(): $data is "250-smtp.gmail.com at your service, [69.65.3.206]250-SIZE 35882577250-8BITMIME250-STARTTLS250-ENHANCEDSTATUSCODES250-PIPELINING"
SMTP -> get_lines(): $str is "250-CHUNKING"
SMTP -> get_lines(): $data is "250-smtp.gmail.com at your service, [69.65.3.206]250-SIZE 35882577250-8BITMIME250-STARTTLS250-ENHANCEDSTATUSCODES250-PIPELINING250-CHUNKING"
SMTP -> get_lines(): $str is "250 SMTPUTF8"
SERVER -> CLIENT: 250-smtp.gmail.com at your service, [69.65.3.206]250-SIZE 35882577250-8BITMIME250-STARTTLS250-ENHANCEDSTATUSCODES250-PIPELINING250-CHUNKING250 SMTPUTF8
CLIENT -> SERVER: STARTTLS
SMTP -> get_lines(): $data is ""
SMTP -> get_lines(): $str is "220 2.0.0 Ready to start TLS"
SERVER -> CLIENT: 220 2.0.0 Ready to start TLS
CLIENT -> SERVER: EHLO neptunechiropractic.com
SMTP -> get_lines(): $data is ""
SMTP -> get_lines(): $str is "250-smtp.gmail.com at your service, [69.65.3.206]"
SMTP -> get_lines(): $data is "250-smtp.gmail.com at your service, [69.65.3.206]"
SMTP -> get_lines(): $str is "250-SIZE 35882577"
SMTP -> get_lines(): $data is "250-smtp.gmail.com at your service, [69.65.3.206]250-SIZE 35882577"
SMTP -> get_lines(): $str is "250-8BITMIME"
SMTP -> get_lines(): $data is "250-smtp.gmail.com at your service, [69.65.3.206]250-SIZE 35882577250-8BITMIME"
SMTP -> get_lines(): $str is "250-AUTH LOGIN PLAIN XOAUTH2 PLAIN-CLIENTTOKEN OAUTHBEARER XOAUTH"
SMTP -> get_lines(): $data is "250-smtp.gmail.com at your service, [69.65.3.206]250-SIZE 35882577250-8BITMIME250-AUTH LOGIN PLAIN XOAUTH2 PLAIN-CLIENTTOKEN OAUTHBEARER XOAUTH"
SMTP -> get_lines(): $str is "250-ENHANCEDSTATUSCODES"
SMTP -> get_lines(): $data is "250-smtp.gmail.com at your service, [69.65.3.206]250-SIZE 35882577250-8BITMIME250-AUTH LOGIN PLAIN XOAUTH2 PLAIN-CLIENTTOKEN OAUTHBEARER XOAUTH250-ENHANCEDSTATUSCODES"
SMTP -> get_lines(): $str is "250-PIPELINING"
SMTP -> get_lines(): $data is "250-smtp.gmail.com at your service, [69.65.3.206]250-SIZE 35882577250-8BITMIME250-AUTH LOGIN PLAIN XOAUTH2 PLAIN-CLIENTTOKEN OAUTHBEARER XOAUTH250-ENHANCEDSTATUSCODES250-PIPELINING"
SMTP -> get_lines(): $str is "250-CHUNKING"
SMTP -> get_lines(): $data is "250-smtp.gmail.com at your service, [69.65.3.206]250-SIZE 35882577250-8BITMIME250-AUTH LOGIN PLAIN XOAUTH2 PLAIN-CLIENTTOKEN OAUTHBEARER XOAUTH250-ENHANCEDSTATUSCODES250-PIPELINING250-CHUNKING"
SMTP -> get_lines(): $str is "250 SMTPUTF8"
SERVER -> CLIENT: 250-smtp.gmail.com at your service, [69.65.3.206]250-SIZE 35882577250-8BITMIME250-AUTH LOGIN PLAIN XOAUTH2 PLAIN-CLIENTTOKEN OAUTHBEARER XOAUTH250-ENHANCEDSTATUSCODES250-PIPELINING250-CHUNKING250 SMTPUTF8
Auth method requested: UNKNOWN
Auth methods available on the server: LOGIN,PLAIN,XOAUTH2,PLAIN-CLIENTTOKEN,OAUTHBEARER,XOAUTH
Auth method selected: LOGIN
CLIENT -> SERVER: AUTH LOGIN
SMTP -> get_lines(): $data is ""
SMTP -> get_lines(): $str is "334 VXNlcm5hbWU6"
SERVER -> CLIENT: 334 VXNlcm5hbWU6
CLIENT -> SERVER: ZG9udXRndXlAZ21haWwuY29t
SMTP -> get_lines(): $data is ""
SMTP -> get_lines(): $str is "334 UGFzc3dvcmQ6"
SERVER -> CLIENT: 334 UGFzc3dvcmQ6
CLIENT -> SERVER: V2lsbGlzOTc=
SMTP -> get_lines(): $data is ""
SMTP -> get_lines(): $str is "534-5.7.14  get_lines(): $data is "534-5.7.14  get_lines(): $str is "534-5.7.14 LzEE2lLLfImAv_yM_TVulSQukCMK2TP2e2zHMoLfHinmHQd_xySluckyAX79IsvIkFa3Lq"
SMTP -> get_lines(): $data is "534-5.7.14  get_lines(): $str is "534-5.7.14 s6uWFgvPxxU-PiR37bZZltNOtAHRdVATLM-qA3o11Y0BE-C8n1zsYATIen43jCTQhMmHce"
SMTP -> get_lines(): $data is "534-5.7.14  get_lines(): $str is "534-5.7.14 C3Jd_XLqoxkjKGaIzK8RN0nz30-EM-JItSaPRsn6dS8PQoW7-AGIHQlE8Yw4EnMcHxus_6"
SMTP -> get_lines(): $data is "534-5.7.14  get_lines(): $str is "534-5.7.14 lVtcod88LXd49PvBGTZj-32bgg57U> Please log in via your web browser and"
SMTP -> get_lines(): $data is "534-5.7.14  Please log in via your web browser and"
SMTP -> get_lines(): $str is "534-5.7.14 then try again."
SMTP -> get_lines(): $data is "534-5.7.14  Please log in via your web browser and534-5.7.14 then try again."
SMTP -> get_lines(): $str is "534-5.7.14 Learn more at"
SMTP -> get_lines(): $data is "534-5.7.14  Please log in via your web browser and534-5.7.14 then try again.534-5.7.14 Learn more at"
SMTP -> get_lines(): $str is "534 5.7.14 https://support.google.com/mail/answer/78754 q77sm1720219itb.22 - gsmtp"
SERVER -> CLIENT: 534-5.7.14  Please log in via your web browser and534-5.7.14 then try again.534-5.7.14 Learn more at534 5.7.14 https://support.google.com/mail/answer/78754 q77sm1720219itb.22 - gsmtp
SMTP ERROR: Password command failed: 534-5.7.14  Please log in via your web browser and534-5.7.14 then try again.534-5.7.14 Learn more at534 5.7.14 https://support.google.com/mail/answer/78754 q77sm1720219itb.22 - gsmtp
SMTP Error: Could not authenticate.
CLIENT -> SERVER: QUIT
SMTP -> get_lines(): $data is ""
SMTP -> get_lines(): $str is "221 2.0.0 closing connection q77sm1720219itb.22 - gsmtp"
SERVER -> CLIENT: 221 2.0.0 closing connection q77sm1720219itb.22 - gsmtp
Connection: closed
SMTP Error: Could not authenticate.

EDIT:

I've now received 4 successful test emails from the WP Mail SMTP plugin, and 1 from the Easy WP SMTP plugin. This is still a problem though, since I can't seem to get it to happen again to save my life. There are only so many settings in either plugin, and most of them are either known to me (email address and password) or are a choice between 2 or 3 options, like TLS/SSL and their associated port.

I typically get an indication that either the test email failed to send, or "could not authenticate" despite not having changed my credentials. Today, I've been getting mostly internal server errors, with the only exception being using Easy WP, with TLS (and port 587), which still gives the failure message mentioned above. WP Mail with TLS, or SSL on either, and everything else I've tried today, results in an internal server error.

Easy WP error message - SMTP connect() failed. https://github.com/PHPMailer/PHPMailer/wiki/Troubleshooting

Shiv · Accepted Answer

UPDATE After a day at this we figured it out! GoDaddy were blocking SMTP requests. I recommend he used the free version of SendGrid and used the SendGrid plugin which uses the SendGrid web API and now it all works!

Yay :)

Plugin seems broken to me.

Consider using this one which can use gmail so OAuth https://en-gb.wordpress.org/plugins/gmail-smtp/

Or if you prefer SMTP I recommend WP Mail SMTP https://en-gb.wordpress.org/plugins/wp-mail-smtp/faq/

Gmail SMTP settings are:

smtp.gmail.com Port 465 with SSL OR Port 587 with TLS

Username and password should be your normal gmail details.

Configuring SMTP Mailer Wordpress plugin

Answers (1)

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