Use this guide to connect WP Postman to your SMTP provider so that every email your WordPress site sends — password resets, order notifications, contact-form submissions — is delivered through an authenticated connection rather than the server’s local mail agent. The sections below explain each configuration field and provide step-by-step settings for Gmail, SendGrid, Mailgun, and Amazon SES.
Configuration Fields
Provider Setup Guides
Gmail
SendGrid
Mailgun
Amazon SES
Use these settings to send through a Google account or Google Workspace account.You cannot use your regular Gmail password here. Google requires an App Password for third-party SMTP access. To generate one, you must first enable two-factor authentication (2FA) on your Google account. Then go to Google Account → Security → App Passwords, create a new app password for “Mail”, and paste that 16-character code into the Password field in WP Postman.
SendGrid is a dedicated transactional email service well suited to high-volume sending.Create your API key in the SendGrid dashboard under Settings → API Keys. Grant it at least Mail Send permissions. Paste the full key string into the Password field — the Username must be the exact word apikey regardless of your account details. Mailgun offers reliable deliverability and detailed analytics for transactional email.Mailgun operates separate infrastructure for US and EU customers. If your Mailgun account is on the EU region, use smtp.eu.mailgun.org as the host. Check your Mailgun dashboard under Sending → Domains to confirm which region your domain is on.
Amazon Simple Email Service (SES) is a cost-effective choice for high-volume or AWS-integrated workloads.SES SMTP credentials are not the same as your AWS IAM access keys. You must generate dedicated SMTP credentials inside the SES console: go to Amazon SES → SMTP Settings → Create SMTP Credentials. Replace us-east-1 in the host with the AWS region where you have verified your sending domain or address.
Testing Your Configuration
After entering your SMTP details, verify everything works before your site sends a real message to a real user.
Save your SMTP settings
Click Save Changes at the bottom of the SMTP settings screen to store your configuration.
Click Send Test Email
On the same settings page, locate the Send Test Email section below the configuration fields.
Enter a recipient address
Type an email address you have immediate access to — your own inbox is ideal — into the recipient field.
Send and check your inbox
Click the Send button. Switch to your email client and confirm the test message has arrived. Delivery is usually near-instant for a correctly configured provider.
Review the logs if the test fails
If the message does not arrive, open Email Logs to find the failed entry. The error message recorded there will tell you exactly what the SMTP server rejected and why. Always use port 587 with TLS when your provider supports it. This combination (STARTTLS on port 587) is the modern standard: it’s widely supported, passes through most firewalls, and encrypts the connection before credentials are transmitted. Port 465 (SSL) is an older standard that still works but is less universally accepted.
