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Setting Up A Custom Email Connection (SMTP & OAuth 2.0)

Connect your own Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, or SMTP email account so GoFormz notification emails send from your domain instead of the GoFormz email server.

Connect your own email account to GoFormz so outgoing notification emails are sent from your domain instead of the GoFormz email server. These settings apply to both Workflow events and ad-hoc emails sent from the app (more on notification emails).

Using your own email connection gives you greater control over notification emails. You can review everything GoFormz has sent on your behalf from your own mail server, and you can set a custom reply-to address and display name in the email header. Neither is possible on the default GoFormz email server.

You can connect using one of four methods:

Method

Authentication

Best for

Google Workspace

OAuth 2.0

Gmail and Google Workspace accounts

Microsoft 365

OAuth 2.0

Outlook, Exchange Online, Microsoft 365 accounts

Custom Provider

OAuth 2.0

Any other provider that supports OAuth 2.0

Legacy SMTP

Username and password

Internal mail servers and providers without OAuth

Only one connection can be active at a time. Whichever method you connect is the one GoFormz uses to send mail.

⚠️ Important: if you use Gmail, Google Workspace, or Microsoft 365, use OAuth

Google and Microsoft are both removing support for signing in to SMTP with just a username and password (known as basic authentication). If you send through either provider, connect using Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 rather than Legacy SMTP. We recommend moving to OAuth well before the cutoff date rather than waiting for the final removal announcement.

Legacy SMTP remains fully supported in GoFormz for internal mail servers and other providers that do not offer OAuth.

Finding your email settings

  1. Click your username or avatar in the top-right corner to open the account menu.

  2. Select Settings.

  3. Scroll to the Custom Email section.

Step 1 — Set your sender details

These two fields apply to every connection method:

  • From Display — The friendly name recipients see in the "From" field, such as your company or department name.

  • Reply To Email — The address replies should be directed to.

Then switch Use SMTP on to reveal the connection methods.

Note: The Use SMTP toggle applies to all four methods, including the OAuth options. Turning it off returns GoFormz to its own email server.

Step 2 — Connect your email provider

Expand the panel for the method you want and follow the matching steps below.

Connecting with OAuth (Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, or Custom Provider)

All three OAuth options follow the same five steps. Only the terminology and the values your provider hands back differ — see the reference table below.

  1. Copy the Redirect URI from the GoFormz panel using the copy icon.

    Always copy the Redirect URI from your own account rather than typing it from this article. A mismatch here is the most common cause of a failed connection.

  2. Register an OAuth application with your email provider, in whichever developer or admin console it uses. Create it as a web application (some providers call this a web app or server-side app) and paste the GoFormz Redirect URI into its list of authorized redirect URIs.

  3. Give the app permission to send mail using the scope or permission named in the table below.

  4. Copy the Client ID and Client Secret your provider generates. Most providers display the secret only once, so copy it before leaving the page.

  5. Paste them into GoFormz and click Connect. You will be sent to your provider to sign in with the mailbox GoFormz should send from and grant consent, then returned to GoFormz with an Email provider connected confirmation and an Active badge on the panel.

Legacy SMTP (username and password)

Use this for internal mail servers or providers that do not support OAuth. Review the deprecation notice above first if you are on Google or Microsoft.

  1. Expand Legacy SMTP and fill in:

    • From Email — The address recipients see in the "From" field. This should be on the same domain as the account you are authenticating with.

    • SMTP Server — Your provider's SMTP hostname.

    • SMTP Port — Commonly 587, 465, or 25. Check your provider's documentation.

    • User Name — Usually your full email address.

    • Password — The password or app password for that account.

    • Enable TLS/SSL — SMTP is unencrypted by default. Leave this checked unless your server does not support it. Some providers require it.

Step 3 — Confirm the connection

Once connected, the panel shows:

  • An Active badge, which stays visible when the panel is collapsed so you can see at a glance which method is live.

  • The connected mailbox address.

  • Test connection — Sends a test through the live connection. Run this after connecting and any time notification emails stop arriving.

  • Disconnect — Removes the connection.

Switching to a different provider

Because only one connection can be active, you must disconnect the current one first. If you expand a different provider while one is active, GoFormz will tell you to disconnect the active provider before continuing.

To switch:

  1. Expand the panel showing the Active badge.

  2. Click Disconnect.

  3. Expand the provider you want and follow its setup steps above.

While no connection is active, GoFormz sends notification emails using its own email server. Plan the switch for a quiet period if the sending address matters to your recipients.

Troubleshooting

"Redirect URI mismatch" or a provider error immediately after clicking Connect The Redirect URI registered with your provider does not exactly match the one GoFormz expects. Copy it again from the GoFormz panel and paste it into your provider's app configuration — it must match character for character, including https:// and any trailing path.

Sign-in fails on the Microsoft consent screen Usually a tenant mismatch. If your Entra app registration is single-tenant, enter your Directory (tenant) ID in the Microsoft Tenant ID field. If it is multi-tenant, leave that field blank.

Connection succeeds, then stops working days or weeks later Most often a missing offline-access scope on a Custom Provider connection, which means no refresh token was issued. Disconnect, add an offline-access scope (commonly offline_access) alongside the send scope, and reconnect. It can also mean consent was revoked on the provider side.

Connected, but no notification emails arrive Run Test connection first. If it fails on Microsoft 365, confirm SMTP AUTH is enabled for the mailbox in the Exchange admin center. Also confirm the account you consented with is permitted to send as your From Email address.

A Gmail or Google Workspace password no longer works on Legacy SMTP Expected. Google turned off password-only SMTP access on March 14, 2025. Connect using the Google Workspace option instead.

Need help?

If you need additional assistance, submit a support ticket to GoFormz and one of our technical support representatives will help you get set up.

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