ADMIN PRIVILEGES REQUIRED
This documentation is for Stack Overflow Enterprise. Free, Basic, and Business users can access their documentation here. Find your plan.
Overview
Stack Overflow for teams Enterprise (SOE) requires the configuration of an SMTP server in order to send inbox notification, tag subscription, newsletters, digests, and other emails to users on the site. You can find more information about these emails in the Engagement Emails and Management article.
By default, hosted SOE sites will send email notifications from the @stackenterprise.co email domain. Site admins can also configure email settings to send emails from their own SMTP server.
Configuration
To configure email settings, click Admin settings in the left-hand menu, then Email setup under the "COMMUNICATION" heading.
SOE hosted customers will see an Enable stackenterprise.co domain email for notifications toggle, which is enabled by default on new hosted sites so email notifications can be sent immediately.
If you'd prefer to use your own SMTP server, set the toggle to Off. You'll then see additional fields for configuration.
Below is a list of fields available for configuration, some of which are hidden when using the default hosted SMTP email setup (Enable stackenterprise.co domain email for notifications is On).
SMTP server address The address of the SMTP server that you will send emails through.
SMTP port Adjust the port number if the SMTP server does not communicate via port 25.
SMTP password If applicable.
SMTP account name If applicable
From name This is the name that will appear next to the from address on emails from the site.
From address This is the from address that will be used on inbox notification and tag subscription emails from the site.
Do not reply address This is the do-not-reply address that will be used in all emails from the site.
BCC address If applicable. This is the default bcc: address that will be used in all emails from the site.
Log SMTP traffic if enabled, logs SMTP Traffic to the database.
Encryption
Automatic Using this will tell the site to attempt to figure out settings automatically, such as EnableSSL or StartTLS.
None no encryption - this is not generally recommended since all SMTP traffic will be in plain text.
Encrypted connection Use implicit SSL/TLS (that is, when the server to which you are connecting expects all connections to use TLS from the start). This is often the case when your SMTP server uses port 465.
StartTLS Use explicit SSL/TLS (that is, when the server to which you are connecting expects all connections to explicitly issue a STARTTLS command). This is often the case when your SMTP server uses ports 25 or 587.
Admin’s contact email This sets the site administrator's email, the contact email address for your users that need support.
Validation and troubleshooting
Once you've saved these settings, click Test email connection. This will trigger a test email to the email address associated with your account. This page will show you the communication log between the application and the SMTP server that you configured.
You should be able to resolve any configuration issues via this log. On success, the email configuration test will send an email to your actual email account. This confirms that the application can successfully communicate and send emails through the configured SMTP server.