Skip to main content

Email Setup (Administrator)

This guide covers configuring email for ChurchCRM so the system can send notifications, password resets, and bulk emails to your congregation.

Overview​

ChurchCRM uses email for:

  • System notifications — password resets, new user setup
  • Parent alerts — kiosk check-in notifications to parents
  • Messages from the composer — users with the Email permission send messages to a person, a family, a group, or the cart from inside ChurchCRM (see User Guide: Email). Without a mail server the composer falls back to copying addresses or opening the user's own mail program.
  • Mailchimp — bulk newsletters (configured separately in Integration settings)

For outbound email (notifications, alerts, composer messages), open Communication → Email and click Email Settings.

Step-by-step: Configuring SMTP​

  1. Log in to ChurchCRM as an administrator.
  2. Open Communication → Email. The Email Dashboard opens.
  3. Click Email Settings at the top of the page. The settings panel opens; Gmail (SMTP) and Outlook / Microsoft 365 fill in the server settings for those providers.
  4. Enter the following:
    • Enable Email — must be on. Required for password resets, notifications, and the composer's Send Email button.
    • SMTP Host — Your mail server and its port (e.g., smtp.gmail.com:587, mail.yourchurch.org:465). Port 587 is usually used with TLS and 465 with SSL.
    • Encryption — None, TLS, or SSL: the encryption your server expects, usually TLS.
    • SMTP Authentication — On when your server needs a username and password, which most do.
    • SMTP Username — Your email account username
    • SMTP Password — Your email account password
    • Copy Church Email — The church's own address (e.g., office@yourchurch.org). When a user emails a list, the composer offers it as a removable extra recipient (Also send to church address) for Copy Addresses and Open in Email Client. Send Email never includes it.
  5. Click Save Settings.

There is no separate SMTP port, sender name, or reply-to field.

Do Not Email Property picks the person property that keeps someone off email lists; the composer skips anyone who has it. The other settings in the panel (SMTP Timeout, Auto TLS, Default Inbox Preview Text) can usually stay as they are. All System Settings opens the full settings page.

What turns on sending from the composer

The composer's Compose Message button (which leads to Send Email) and the paper-plane buttons next to email addresses appear only when the SMTP host is set (with a username and password if authentication is on) and Enable Email is on. Users additionally need the Email permission: administrators always have it; for other users, edit the user under Admin → System Users and set Permission to True on the bEmailMailto row of the User Config table. Until both are in place, the composer offers Copy Addresses and Open in Email Client only.

Composer messages and ChurchCRM's notification and account emails are sent from the church email address and end with the church's contact block (name, address, phone, email, website) as shown in the Display Preview on Admin → Church Information. Keep that page current so recipients know who wrote to them.

Common SMTP Providers​

Gmail​

  1. Enable 2-Step Verification on your Google account.
  2. Create an App Password.
  3. In ChurchCRM:
    • SMTP Host: smtp.gmail.com:587
    • Encryption: TLS (use smtp.gmail.com:465 with SSL if your host requires it)
    • SMTP Username: Your Gmail address
    • SMTP Password: The App Password (not your regular password)

Microsoft 365 / Outlook​

  • SMTP Host: smtp.office365.com:587
  • Encryption: TLS
  • SMTP Username: Your full email address
  • SMTP Password: Your account password

ChurchCRM signs in with the username and password (SMTP AUTH basic authentication); it does not support OAuth. SMTP AUTH has an organization-wide setting and a per-mailbox setting, and the mailbox setting overrides the organization one, so it has to be allowed for the mailbox you send from. Security defaults or an authentication policy in your tenant can also block it. Microsoft turns basic SMTP authentication off by default at the end of December 2026 (an administrator can still re-enable it for existing tenants), so if your tenant blocks it, send through another SMTP provider or relay instead.

Church Hosting (cPanel, Plesk, etc.)​

Use your hosting provider's SMTP server — often the same as your incoming mail server:

  • SMTP Host: mail.yourchurch.org:587 or the hostname and port your host gives you
  • Encryption: TLS or SSL, matching that port
  • SMTP Username: Your email address
  • SMTP Password: Your email password

Testing Email​

  1. After saving settings, click Debug on the Email Dashboard (Communication → Email). ChurchCRM sends a test message, ChurchCRM Test Email, to the church email address set on Admin → Church Information, and says whether the mail server accepted it.
  2. Check that mailbox, including its spam folder, to confirm the message arrived.
  3. Or trigger a password reset for a test user to verify delivery.

Troubleshooting​

"Could not send email"​

  • Check SMTP credentials — Username and password must be correct.
  • Check the port on SMTP Host — :587 with TLS or :465 with SSL is typical; some hosts block port 25.
  • Check firewall — Ensure outbound connections to your SMTP port are allowed.

Gmail "Less secure app" or "App password required"​

  • Use an App Password, not your regular Gmail password.
  • 2-Step Verification must be enabled to create App Passwords.

Emails go to spam​

  • Configure SPF, DKIM, and DMARC for your domain.
  • Use a reputable SMTP provider or your church's official mail server.

Can't find what you need? Ask in Discord, or open an issue on the ChurchCRM repository.