More on Emailing Options

Wed Dec 30 21:15:21 EST 2020

here is mailgun getting started: https://documentation.mailgun.com/en/latest/quickstart-sending.html#how-to-start-sending-email

the examples use CURL (and SMTP) … which is pretty close to SMTP send as far as parameters go.

you need to ‘verify your domain.  basically add SPF and DKIM records to your domain so that mail gun knows that you are who you say you are.

saw this in USA today. (today) … which is saying that its gonna start costing you money to use (or upgrade) features in Gmail.  others like yahoo and microsoft will follow in their own way.  Apple has already done it with iCloud pricing.         mostly it seems they will nail you on storage.

You'll be paying for email in 2021
Google offers 15 GBs of free storage for photos, but that also includes Gmail and Google Drive backup. The ask is that you pay for storage, which starts at $1.99 a month – but for just 100 GB of storage.10 hours ago

Could you be paying for email in 2021? Here are our tech ... <https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwiT7riNz_btAhXjUd8KHffvBcsQFjABegQIBxAC&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.usatoday.com%2Fstory%2Ftech%2F2020%2F12%2F30%2Fcould-you-paying-email-2021-here-our-tech-predictions%2F4064371001%2F&usg=AOvVaw3m4ziL4igc7bQ2n4AKBsJq>

https://techcrunch.com/2020/11/11/google-cuts-back-on-its-free-storage-get-ready-to-pay-up/
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/10/06/google-g-suite-becomes-workspace-gets-new-pricing-tiers.html
https://support.google.com/googleone/answer/9312312?hl=en

not a fan of the the google closed environment…

Doug Easterbrook
Arts Management Systems Ltd.
mailto:doug at artsman.com
http://www.artsman.com
Phone (403) 650-1978

> On December 30, 2020, at 11:45 AM, Das Goravani <goravanis at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> 
> We have been told that Google wants to do away with “Allow less secure apps” in the 2021 future. Because of that some of us have to do something other than what we’ve been doing, in order to send emails that arrive.
> 
> I have been researching this and listening to all input here on the list. I have an interim update about the methods possible to move forward and establish a new way that doesn’t require “Allow less secure apps”
> 
> Three methods have presented themselves to me and I have not done any of the three yet.. I am only investigating to find the cheapest one.. the easiest one.
> 
> The three methods are
> 
> Use OAuth2
> Use a mailing service
> Get an application specific password from Google
> 
> A number of you have spoken about the OAuth2 method.. and that is the most difficult in terms of coding.
> 
> Doug mentioned getting a mail service like “mailgun.com” to be your SMTP host
> 
> Louis brought up that he did it by securing his Google account, adding two step authentication, and THEN you can get an application specific password from the control panel of your account that works with sending emails through google without “Allow less secure apps”
> 
> With the OAuth2 approach you have to program a worker object if I’m not mistaken.. you have to do some setup with Google and get a token from them which you use to send emails in the future.. This approach has been said to be not all that easy.. I laid out these three approaches to US Omnis Support and they asked engineering about it all and the word that came back to me was to use OAuth2 now and in the future as the way forward and they provided some doc links to do that.
> 
> Using a mail service: I signed up with MailGun.com and found it to be somewhat overwhelming and not clear as to how I would setup with them to achieve my goal.. I originally got into this mess in this way: I have the App Server serving a Javascript Remote Form on the web which creates an astrological report from my app, and in the end of the create process I email it to the user of the website.. I email them a PDF.. that’s my choice for delivery.. as I dont want them perusing their PDF on my connection time.. I want them to have it on their drive available to them fully. So emailing is my choice of delivery. I use SMTPSend, the Omnis command, it is easy enough, easy to implement and understand,. But the emails at first were not arriving at their destination.. with just SMPTSend.. and my own mail server.. me and the Mail Server Tech Support Guy found that it ONLY WORKED if we turned on Allow Less Secure Apps within my Google account.. as we found we have to use some Smart Host to mail our mail or it doesn’t arrive.. my dot.com is blacklisted or something,., because when I sent with just my dot.com as the sender, with Gmail being my host.. my mail would not arrive.. so we set up Gmail as our smart host, and checked Allow Less Secure Apps and THEN my mail would arrive and this is how I’ve been working for months.
> 
> So since allow less secure apps is going away I have to get onto something else.
> 
> So back to mailgun, I dont know if I should setup my dot.com with them fully.. that requires putting MX records on my IP gateway which is NO-IP.com.. I haven’t done that yet.. I think if I do that then I will get a password from mailgun that will work.. I asked mailgun to clarify but their response is as confusing as their tech support docs.. they are really powerful, and meant for people who send TONS of emails out,. That’s what they’re meant for.. not small timers like me.. so on mailgun.com I am currently in a state of “Maybe” and confused as to how to move forward with them. Their pricing makes them cost only a dollar a month after setup.. so it’s certainly affordable. Doug said that after setup with them I could use SMTPSend.. and that is good news.. I haven’t verified if it’s true because I have not setup with them completely yet.. Mailgun may be the easiest path to take.. I can’t tell yet as I haven’t braved it but Doug is very confident about it working out for his clients.
> 
> With the Application Specific Password approach from Google, which I have not completed, I am currently unclear about what TYPE OF ACCOUNT You have to have with Google in order to get the password. There are regular Gmail accounts and then there are Google Workspace Accounts.. which have a price tag of at least $6 a month..
> 
> With them, the paid account, you can sign in to Admin.Google.com to control your account. I do not know if that is where only you can generate this application specific password.. or if you can do it from a regular Google account and regular Gmail.. I looked for the Application Specific Password approach on my regular account setup screen and could not find it. I am waiting on help from Louis who has done it to see what’s up with this.
> 
> So with OAuth2 there is nothing to pay and nothing blocking one from doing it.. so long as they can handle setting up OAuth2 which I am currently afraid of.
> 
> With mailgun there is setup that is confusing.. nobody has made it crystal clear for me so far as to what I need to do with them in order to use SMTP send.. but I think the tech support email I got from them makes it clear that I can use SMTP Send, and just set up my dot.com with them.. and all will be well.. it seems to make that clear.. it’s complicated so that’s why I’m not crystal clear on mailgun.com
> 
> With Google and the Application Specific Password I am currently not clear on whether I need the paid account type or if I can do it from regular Gmail.. I am waiting on help from Louis .. if I need the paid account well that’s minimum $72 a year.. which I am trying to avoid.. accumulating lots of little paid accounts that drain my bank account silently each month.. they seem to accrue.. you seem to acquire them at every turn these days.
> 
> So that’s my summary of where I am at in investigating these options. If anyone has any clarity about the places I am not clear do share !
> 
> Thank you,
> 
> Das Goravani
> 
> 
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