Joomla User Manual
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Local Host Email
Local Hosting¶
Most ISPs block port 25 so you cannot send email from your own computer's SMTP server. This is to block spammers. If you don't intend to spam, you can use your ISP's mail server.
To use the email function from your ISP SMTP server even if you are hosting your own Joomla site on your own computer, sign in to your Joomla site as a Super User and navigate to the Server tab of the Global Configuration page. In the Mail section your data should look like the following:
From Email: someone@example.com (usually you)
From Name: SomeName
Mailer: SMTP
SMTP Host: smtp.charter.net (Whatever your ISP tells you to use for their SMTP servers)
Sendmail Path: /usr/sbin/sendmail
SMTP Port: 25
SMTP Security: STARTTLS
SMTP Auth: Yes (or No)
SMTP Username: johndoe (username at one of your email accounts at your ISP)
SMTP Password: trr33459 (password at one of your email accounts at your ISP)
Send a test message to check it is working.
The SMTP Username, Password, and Host are the same fields you enter when adding an Outlook Express Account, or Eudora, or any client email you may use on your computer.
You may run into problems with extensions that change the From address in the emails being sent out. For example, the ProjectFork extension sometimes sends emails as if they are coming from person in control of the project. This can cause a problem because some ISP SMTP servers will not allow a "from" address that does not match the user name (e.g. Rogers in Canada). You will get a message like this: "PHPMAILER_FROM_FAILEDname@whatever.com." A work around is to make sure that you always use a valid email address from you ISP for your users.