Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) is an application that is used to send, receive, and relay outgoing emails between senders and receivers. When an email is sent, it's transferred over the internet from one server to another using SMTP.
Configuring a third party SMTP provider in Absorb is referred to as Custom SMTP. This is because by default, all emails distributed by your Portal will be distributed by our SMTP, via our no reply email address.
The main benefit of Custom SMTP is to use your own email address for all of the LMS emails in order to provide a more immersive experience for your Learners. Using your own email domain will also ensure that emails from the LMS don't get blocked by spam filters and/or firewalls.
Microsoft has disabled Basic Authentication for all tenants using Exchange Online. We recommend using Oauth2 to authenticate with Exchange Online as your Custom SMTP solution. Review the Microsoft advisory here:
Enable Custom SMTP
To implement Custom SMTP Settings within your Portal, follow these instructions:
- Access the Admin Experience as a System Administrator.
- Open the Account Menu in the top right corner and select Portal Settings.
- On the right-hand side, select Edit Custom SMTP Configuration.
- Click the toggle to Enable Custom SMTP.
- With Custom SMTP enabled, enter information specific to your Custom SMTP provider.
- Fill in all required fields, and click Save.
- The SMTP Contact will receive a verification email, the link in the verification email must be clicked by the contact specified here to finalize the configuration.
Custom SMTP Sections
Once Custom SMTP is enabled, you will be required to input the following information:
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Verify SMTP Contact: The contact specified will receive an email with a link to verify that these settings are correct.
- If configuring Custom SMTP for the first time, this will reflect the System Admin performing the configuration.
- The verification email is sent using the custom SMTP information, but until the link is clicked, the custom SMTP settings will not be used to send any other LMS email.
- Server: SMTP Server Address, e.g. smtp.yourdomain.com.
- Port: The associated port on the server.
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From Email Address: eg. noreply@yourdomain.com.
- In the From Email Address field, you can enter an email address that will be used as the "From" for all LMS emails delivered through custom SMTP.
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Use TLS: You can choose between Off or ON. If turned ON, the Authentication Type field will appear.
- You may enable TLS for additional security, but this is dependent on the Custom SMTP provider, and the services available to you such as OAuth2 with Exchange Online.
- Authentication Type: You may choose between None, Basic Authentication or OAuth2.
Verification Email
Once the Custom SMTP configuration is completed, an email will be sent to the allocated System Admin contact specified in the Verify SMTP Contact field.
In order to complete the Custom SMTP process, the allocated System Admin contact will need to click the link included in the email to activate the Custom SMTP configuration.
If the link is not clicked for some reason (the email is deleted, or for some reason the person specified is unavailable), a Resend Verification button is available. Using this button invalidates the previous link, but generates a new email with a new link that will function the same way.
Please advise:
- The link redirects to the LMS so an Admin will be required to log in to complete the verification if they are not already.
- When logged in to the LMS, upon success the Admin will see a "Your Custom SMTP setting has been saved." At that point, all LMS communications will be sent using the Custom SMTP setting.
Troubleshooting
When configuring Custom SMTP, there are a series of foundational questions to ask yourself:
- Is my SMTP service active, and working outside of the Portal?
- Does my service account, or tier of service allow for the amount of messages it is handling, or my Portal is trying to generate?
- Was the User who performed the configuration at the correct level of Permissions in both the Portal and the Custom SMTP provider?
- Is email working normally in the Portal if Custom SMTP is disabled?
Absorb is not responsible for the configuration and troubleshooting of third-party SMTP services.
Absorb does not support sending messages directly as a client's email domain through the LMS.
SMTP Test Tool
The SMTP Test Tool will aid you in troubleshooting email-related issues by helping identify if the unexpected behavior stems from Absorb's infrastructure or if the client-side configurations need to be investigated.
The tool is available to System Admins and can be accessed under the Help & Support Menu.
- Access the Admin Experience and open the Help & Support Menu.
- Click the Test Email Setting button. The SMTP Health Check modal will open.
- Configure the SMTP Health Check form (see table below).
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When you are finished configuring the form, click the Send Test Email button.
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This will trigger the system to create and send the test email message to the address provided. The tool will show a success or error message, based on the test results.
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Note: Click the Cancel button to abort the process.
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| Field | Details |
| Email Address |
Enter the email address you want to send the test email to. This value must match the appropriate email format. Example: something@domain.com This is a required field. |
| Subject Line |
The Subject Line cannot be modified. The default value is: Absorb LMS Email Test. This is a required field that is auto-populated. |
| Body |
The email Body is pre-populated with default messaging, which can be updated if needed. Note: This field is plain text. No additional formatting options are available. The maximum character limit is 2000. This is a required field. |
SMTP Test Tool Tips
If the tool reports Success, but no email is received...
- Check spam folders.
- Check settings of the email client.
- Once successfully run (and the tool displays the success message), the LMS loses sight of the message. Absorb is unable to troubleshoot from that point onwards.
Large Groups of Emails
When sending large groups of emails from the custom SMTP service, it is important to know that some email services such as Gmail limit the number of emails that can be sent both per minute and per day. Once that limit is reached, the email service will reject further connections from Absorb's SMTP connection. Therefore, very large groups of enrollments, user creation, or other email groups may experience dropped/missing emails even when sent from this custom SMTP. Please confirm with your email service if there are limits on your account.
Microsoft Exchange/Exchange Online
OAuth2 is the preferred method of authorization for clients using Exchange Online as their Custom SMTP solution.
Microsoft has disabled Basic Authentication for all tenants using Exchange Online. We recommend using Oauth2 to authenticate with Exchange Online as your Custom SMTP solution. Review the Microsoft advisory here:
Multi-Factor Authenfication (MFA)
If you have Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) enabled on the account, then you may need to either set up an App Password for this or switch to using an SMTP relay if your Custom SMTP server does not support App Passwords.
Here are helpful links with further information:
Email Sender Guidelines
Starting in 2024, email senders must meet specific requirements when using Google or Yahoo email services. These guidelines are available here:
If you are utilizing Custom SMTP, you may be impacted by these requirements depending on your existing Custom SMTP configuration. If you encounter any changes that your internal IT department cannot resolve, please contact support@absorblms.com.
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