How to configure MIDAS to send email via Outlook SMTP servers
MIDAS can be configured to send email via an external SMTP server/relay. This article outlines how to configure MIDAS to send email via Microsoft's Outlook/Live/Hotmail SMTP servers (a valid Microsoft account is required).
The email settings within MIDAS may be accessed via MIDAS Admin Options → Manage MIDAS → Email.
In order to send mail from your MIDAS system via your Microsoft Outlook/Live/Hotmail account, enter the following settings:
Replace "[email protected]" with your actual Outlook/Live/Hotmail email address, and specify the corresponding password. Also, ensure that the "STARTTLS?" option is selected.
Click "SMTP Test" to test the settings you've entered. If all goes well, you'll see a confirmation that a test email was successfully sent.
If, however, you see an error message along the lines of "Error: 535 5.0.0 Authentication Failed" ...then assuming the credentials you entered were correct, then this error is most likely a result of Microsoft blocking external access to your Outlook/Live/Hotmail account from an unknown location/app (i.e. the server where your MIDAS system resides).
(You may also receive an email/text from Microsoft informing you of "unusual sign-in activity")
This page will display recent login attempts to your Microsoft account. Those which it doesn't recognize (i.e. from devices/locations you've not logged into from before) will be flagged for your review. Locate the entry with the IP address matching the IP address of the server where your MIDAS system resides and with the "Browser/application" listed as "SMTP" and click "This was me":
This will grant future access to your MIDAS server to be able to send email via your Microsoft account.
TIP: If you don't see "This wasn't me" / "This was me" buttons and you're using a non-Microsoft browser, try again using Internet Explorer or Edge.
Back in MIDAS, click the "SMTP Test" button once again. If all goes well, you should then see a confirmation that a test email was successfully sent.
Pleas Note: Microsoft do not permit dynamically altering of the "sender" of emails sent through their Outlook/Live/Hotmail SMTP servers. Any email sent this way will always appear sent from the name/email address of your Outlook/Live/Hotmail account. This will therefore override the "MIDAS generated emails appear from" setting in MIDAS, and all emails sent to clients from users within your MIDAS system will also appear sent from the name/email address associated with your Outlook/Live/Hotmail account, rather than from the name/email address of the user within MIDAS
