How to Set Up WP Mail SMTP with Gmail
Would you like to use your Gmail or Google Workspace (formerly G Suite) account to fix email delivery issues on your site? WP Mail SMTP’s Google Workspace / Gmail option uses Google’s API to securely authenticate your site’s emails, helping them to arrive successfully in your users’ inboxes.
This tutorial will show you how to set up WP Mail SMTP using the Google Workspace / Gmail mailer with your Gmail or Google Workspace email address.
Table of Contents
Installing and Configuring the WP Mail SMTP Plugin
you’re ready to configure the plugin’s settings. You can find them by going to WP Mail SMTP » Settings and looking under the General tab.
Below, we’ll cover the settings needed for this setup.
From Email
This is the email address that all of your site’s emails will be sent from. You can type your email address into the field provided, including, after you connect your site to the Gmail API in later steps.
The Force From Email option will make it so that all the emails sent from your site come from the address you’ve entered.
From Name
Below the From Email, you can set the From Name. This is the name associated with the emails your site sends out. By default, it will be set to your site’s name, but you can adjust it to anything you’d like.
You can also check the Force From Name option to apply this setting site-wide.
Mailer
This is where you can choose which mailer you’d like your site to use. Select the Google / Gmail option.
Once you’ve chosen this mailer, you should see a new section appear titled Google / Gmail with more authorization options.
| Manual Setup | One-Click Setup (Pro) | |
|---|---|---|
| Ease of Use | Step-by-step guide to assist you | Instant connection with minimal steps |
| Technical Steps | Requires creating a Google app and configuring credentials | No manual configuration needed |
| Time Required | Approximately 30-60 minutes | Less than 2 minutes |
| Support | Access to extensive documentation | Priority support from our team |
| Ideal For | Users who prefer detailed setup and learning process | Users seeking the fastest and easiest setup |
Activating One-Click Setup
For an easier and quicker email setup, we recommend using the One-Click Setup feature. It allows you to connect your site to Gmail / Google Workspace with just a few clicks.
After selecting Google / Gmail as your mailer in the WP Mail SMTP settings, you will find the option to activate the One-Click Setup. Simply switch this toggle to the ON position to begin the simplified setup process.
Creating a Web App in Your Google Account
You’ll be coming back to WP Mail SMTP’s settings page a little later, so for this step, open a new tab or window in your browser.In the new tab or window you’ve opened, log in to your Google account and open your Google Cloud Console.Note: Before continuing, be sure to sign out of all other Google accounts besides the account you’ll be using for the SMTP setup.
Also, if you’re using Google Workspace, make sure that the Google account you use has permission to send emails (in other words, access to its own inbox).
Creating or Choosing a Project
First, you’ll need to choose a project to use for your app. You can select an existing one or create a new one.
To do so, click on the projects dropdown in the toolbar at the top of your dashboard.
In the popup that appears, select an existing project from the list or click on New Project in the top right corner.
If you selected an existing project, move on to the next step. For a new project, enter a project name and select an organization and location from the dropdowns.
Then click on the CREATE button.
Enabling the Gmail API
Next, you need to enable the Gmail API for your project. In your Google Cloud Console sidebar, go to APIs & Services » Library.
Note: If you don’t see APIs & Services in the sidebar, it may be found by scrolling down and clicking on MORE PRODUCTS.
Then look under Category and click on Google Workspace, or enter “Gmail API” in the search bar.
Click on the Gmail API result.
On the Gmail API page, click on the blue ENABLE button.
Creating Your Application’s Credentials
After you enable the Gmail API, you should be redirected to the Gmail API Overview page.
Here, click on the CREATE CREDENTIALS button.
On the next page, Google will ask a few questions to determine the Credential Type you need. From the Select an API dropdown, choose Gmail API.
Next, under What data will you be accessing?, select the User data option. Then click the NEXT button to proceed.
Configuring Your OAuth Consent Screen
- App name: Enter an app name of your choice (e.g., Farhan’s App).
- User support email: Select your email address from the choices provided.
- App logo: If you’d like, you can upload a logo for your app. This is optional.
Finally, add your email address in the Email addresses field. Then click on the SAVE AND CONTINUE button to proceed to the next step.
Setting Up Your OAuth Client ID
Next, you’ll need to fill out some information about your OAuth Client ID.
From the Application type dropdown, select the Web application option. Once you do so, more fields will automatically populate.
You can leave the Name field as the default value or change it to something more relevant. For this example, we’ll keep the default name, Web client 1
Next, skip the Authorized JavaScript origins section and scroll to Authorized redirect URIs.
Click on the + ADD URI button and input the following: https://connect.wpmailsmtp.com/google/. You can also copy this value from your WP Mail SMTP settings and paste it here if you prefer.
Then click on the CREATE button to complete this step.
Once your app has been created, the Your Credentials section will expand to show you your Client ID. There’s no need to copy it now, as you’ll access it from another area in a later step.
Instead, go ahead and click the DONE button at the bottom of the page.
Updating the Publishing Status From Testing to Production
Google will put your app into Internal mode by default. It’s really important that you switch it to External mode and publish it. Otherwise, your app will be super limited and won’t function properly.
In your Google Cloud Console sidebar, go to APIs & Services » OAuth consent screen.
Then select the Audience tab.
Google Workspace Users
Under User type, click on the MAKE EXTERNAL button.
In the popup window that appears, select the In production option. Then click on CONFIRM.
Gmail Users
If you’re not using Google Workspace, you won’t see the MAKE EXTERNAL option. Instead, you’ll need to publish your Google app.
Under Publishing status, you’ll see the app status is set to Testing. Go ahead and click the PUBLISH APP button to update your app status.
In the overlay that appears, click CONFIRM to publish your app.
Once confirmation is complete, you’ll see that your app’s Publishing status is now In production.
Granting Your Site Google / Gmail Permissions
Next, navigate to APIs & Services » Credentials in the left side menu.
Once there, look under the OAuth 2.0 Client IDs section. You’ll see the details of the web application you just created. To view the Client ID and Client Secret, click the pencil icon.
This will open all of the details for your app. On the right side of this page, you’ll see the Client ID and Client secret values.
Go ahead and copy both of these values into the corresponding fields in your WP Mail SMTP settings.
Note: Be very careful not to copy any extra text or spaces with your Client ID or Client Secret, as this will result in an error in the next step.
Once you’ve added these values, click the Save Settings button at the bottom of the page.
After saving your settings, the page will refresh. You must grant permission before Google allows our plugin to use your Gmail API to send emails.
To do this, scroll to the bottom of the WP Mail SMTP settings page and click the button labeled Allow plugin to send emails using your Google account.
This will open a login screen for Google. Go ahead and log in to the account you’re setting up SMTP with.
Next, you’ll see a screen asking for permission for this site to send emails on your behalf.
When you’re ready, click the Allow button to proceed.
Bypassing Google’s Verification Warning (Free Gmail Users Only)
You might see the following screen if you are connecting with a free Gmail account. Go ahead and click on the Advanced link in the bottom left corner.
In the expanded section, click on Go to wpmailsmtp.com (unsafe). Don’t worry, Google only displays this warning because it hasn’t verified your app. There is no need to verify it since you created this app just for your own use.
Then click on the Allow button as shown above.
Frequently Asked Questions
These are some of the top questions we receive about setting up the Google Workspace / Gmail mailer.
What if the test email doesn’t send successfully?
If the SMTP test email isn’t able to send, a debug log will appear with additional details. Here are some of the possible error messages and how to resolve them.
401. That’s an error.
Error: invalid_client
This error appears when the Client ID isn’t able to be read properly. To fix it, try copying and pasting your Client ID again and check that there’s no whitespace or extra text.
400. That’s an error.
Error: invalid_request
Missing required parameter: client_id
This error will display when the Client ID field is empty or not able to be read properly. To fix it, try copying and pasting your Client ID again and check that there’s no whitespace or extra text.
cURL error 60: SSL certificate problem
This message means that the server is missing a certificate that’s required for SMTP to work. To fix this, you’ll need to contact your site’s hosting provider to ask them to install this certificate (most likely the cacert.pem certificate, though it’s best to ask your host to check).
“code”: 401,
“message”: “Login Required”
If you see this in the debug message, you still need to grant permission for WP Mail SMTP to access your Google account. For instructions on how to fix this, please see of this tutorial. Also, be sure to check that the From Email in your SMTP settings matches the email used to set up your Google app.
Request Entity Too Large
Error 413
If you’re seeing this error, it’s likely that files being sent through your forms exceed Gmail’s limit for direct file attachments in emails. This limit is applied to the sum of the message’s text as well as the encoded attachment. To prevent this error, you’ll need to make sure that all files are no larger than 22 MB.
There was a problem while retrieving Auth for gmail: Could not json decode the token
This error is a possible indicator that another plugin (such as UpdraftPlus) is loading a different version of Google’s API on the site, creating a conflict. If possible, the conflicting plugin should be deactivated. Otherwise, it’s recommended that you set up a different mailer.
If none of the above apply, or the test email still isn’t working, your Google account may have the Gmail API disabled. To check on this, follow Google’s guide to enabling an API.
What if I see a screen that says, “This app isn’t verified”?
When you click the Allow plugin to send emails using your Google account button in your WP Mail SMTP settings, Google might display a screen that says, “This app isn’t verified. This app hasn’t been verified by Google yet. Only proceed if you know and trust the developer.”
There’s no need to worry, though. This message is only referring to the app that you created in your own Google account, so you are actually the developer in this case.
To bypass this message, click Advanced and then click Go to wpmailsmtp.com (unsafe).