Nodemailer with Gmail and NodeJS

Question

I try to use nodemailer to implement a contact form using NodeJS but it works only on local it doesn't work on a remote server...

My error message:

[website.fr-11 (out) 2013-11-09T15:40:26] { [AuthError: Invalid login - 534-5.7.14 <https://accounts.google.com/ContinueSignIn?sarp=1&scc=1&plt=AKgnsbvlX
[website.fr-11 (out) 2013-11-09T15:40:26] 534-5.7.14 V-dFQLgb7aRCYApxlOBuha5ESrQEbRXK0iVtOgBoYeARpm3cLZuUS_86kK7yPis7in3dGC
[website.fr-11 (out) 2013-11-09T15:40:26] 534-5.7.14 N1sqhr3D2IYxHAN3m7QLJGukwPSZVGyhz4nHUXv_ldo9QfqRydPhSvFp9lnev3YQryM5TX
[website.fr-11 (out) 2013-11-09T15:40:26] 534-5.7.14 XL1LZuJL7zCT5dywMVQyWqqg9_TCwbLonJnpezfBLvZwUyersknTP7L-VAAL6rhddMmp_r
[website.fr-11 (out) 2013-11-09T15:40:26] 534-5.7.14 A_5pRpA> Please log in via your web browser and then try again.
[website.fr-11 (out) 2013-11-09T15:40:26] 534-5.7.14 Learn more at https://support.google.com/mail/bin/answer.py?answer=787
[website.fr-11 (out) 2013-11-09T15:40:26] 534 5.7.14 54 fr4sm15630311wib.0 - gsmtp]
[website.fr-11 (out) 2013-11-09T15:40:26]   name: 'AuthError',
[website.fr-11 (out) 2013-11-09T15:40:26]   data: '534-5.7.14 <https://accounts.google.com/ContinueSignIn?sarp=1&scc=1&plt=AKgnsbvlX\r\n534-5.7.14 V-dFQLgb7aRCYApxlOBuha5ESrQEbRXK0iVtOgBoYeARpm3cLZuUS_86kK7yPis7in3dGC\r\n534-5.7.14 N1sqhr3D2IYxHAN3m7QLJGukwPSZVGyhz4nHUXv_ldo9QfqRydPhSvFp9lnev3YQryM5TX\r\n534-5.7.14 XL1LZuJL7zCT5dywMVQyWqqg9_TCwbLonJnpezfBLvZwUyersknTP7L-VAAL6rhddMmp_r\r\n534-5.7.14 A_5pRpA> Please log in via your web browser and then try again.\r\n534-5.7.14 Learn more at https://support.google.com/mail/bin/answer.py?answer=787\r\n534 5.7.14 54 fr4sm15630311wib.0 - gsmtp',
[website.fr-11 (out) 2013-11-09T15:40:26]   stage: 'auth' }

My controller:

exports.contact = function(req, res){
    var name = req.body.name;
    var from = req.body.from;
    var message = req.body.message;
    var to = '*******@gmail.com';
    var smtpTransport = nodemailer.createTransport("SMTP",{
        service: "Gmail",
        auth: {
            user: "******@gmail.com",
            pass: "*****"
        }
    });
    var mailOptions = {
        from: from,
        to: to, 
        subject: name+' | new message !',
        text: message
    }
    smtpTransport.sendMail(mailOptions, function(error, response){
        if(error){
            console.log(error);
        }else{
            res.redirect('/');
        }
    });
}

Answer 1

I solved this by going to the following url (while connected to google with the account I want to send mail from):

https://www.google.com/settings/security/lesssecureapps

There I enabled less secure apps.

Done

Answer 2

See nodemailer's official guide to connecting Gmail:

https://community.nodemailer.com/using-gmail/

-

It works for me after doing this:

1. Enable less secure apps - https://www.google.com/settings/security/lesssecureapps
2. Disable Captcha temporarily so you can connect the new device/server - https://accounts.google.com/b/0/displayunlockcaptcha

Answer 3

Easy Solution:

var nodemailer = require('nodemailer');
var smtpTransport = require('nodemailer-smtp-transport');

var transporter = nodemailer.createTransport(smtpTransport({
  service: 'gmail',
  host: 'smtp.gmail.com',
  auth: {
    user: 'somerealemail@gmail.com',
    pass: 'realpasswordforaboveaccount'
  }
}));

var mailOptions = {
  from: 'somerealemail@gmail.com',
  to: 'friendsgmailacc@gmail.com',
  subject: 'Sending Email using Node.js[nodemailer]',
  text: 'That was easy!'
};

transporter.sendMail(mailOptions, function(error, info){
  if (error) {
    console.log(error);
  } else {
    console.log('Email sent: ' + info.response);
  }
});  

Step 1:

go here https://myaccount.google.com/lesssecureapps and enable for less secure apps. If this does not work then

Step 2

go here https://accounts.google.com/DisplayUnlockCaptcha and enable/continue and then try.

for me step 1 alone didn't work so i had to go to step 2.

i also tried removing the nodemailer-smtp-transport package and to my surprise it works. but then when i restarted my system it gave me same error, so i had to go and turn on the less secure app (i disabled it after my work).

then for fun i just tried it with off(less secure app) and vola it worked again!

Answer 4

You should use an XOAuth2 token to connect to Gmail. No worries, Nodemailer already knows about that:

var smtpTransport = nodemailer.createTransport('SMTP', {
    service: 'Gmail',
    auth: {
      XOAuth2: {
        user: smtpConfig.user,
        clientId: smtpConfig.client_id,
        clientSecret: smtpConfig.client_secret,
        refreshToken: smtpConfig.refresh_token,
        accessToken: smtpConfig.access_token,
        timeout: smtpConfig.access_timeout - Date.now()
      }
    }
  };

You'll need to go to the Google Cloud Console to register your app. Then you need to retrieve access tokens for the accounts you wish to use. You can use passportjs for that.

Here's how it looks in my code:

var passport = require('passport'),
    GoogleStrategy = require('./google_oauth2'),
    config = require('../config');

passport.use('google-imap', new GoogleStrategy({
  clientID: config('google.api.client_id'),
  clientSecret: config('google.api.client_secret')
}, function (accessToken, refreshToken, profile, done) {
  console.log(accessToken, refreshToken, profile);
  done(null, {
    access_token: accessToken,
    refresh_token: refreshToken,
    profile: profile
  });
}));

exports.mount = function (app) {
  app.get('/add-imap/:address?', function (req, res, next) {
    passport.authorize('google-imap', {
        scope: [
          'https://mail.google.com/',
          'https://www.googleapis.com/auth/userinfo.email'
        ],
        callbackURL: config('web.vhost') + '/add-imap',
        accessType: 'offline',
        approvalPrompt: 'force',
        loginHint: req.params.address
      })(req, res, function () {
        res.send(req.user);
      });
  });
};

Answer 5

Worked fine:

1- install nodemailer , package if not installed (type in cmd) : npm install nodemailer

2- go to https://myaccount.google.com/lesssecureapps and turn on Allow less secure apps .

3- write code:

var nodemailer = require('nodemailer');

var transporter = nodemailer.createTransport({
    service: 'gmail',
    auth: {
        user: 'trueUsername@gmail.com',
        pass: 'truePassword'
    }
});

const mailOptions = {
    from: 'any@any.com', // sender address
    to: 'true@true.com', // list of receivers
    subject: 'test mail', // Subject line
    html: '<h1>this is a test mail.</h1>'// plain text body
};

transporter.sendMail(mailOptions, function (err, info) {
    if(err)
        console.log(err)
    else
        console.log(info);
})

4- enjoy!

Answer 6

I had the same problem. Allowing "less secure apps" in my Google security settings made it work!

Answer 7

Same problem happened to me too. I tested my system on localhost then deployed to the server (which is located at different country) then when I try the system on production server I saw this error. I tried these to fix it:

1. https://www.google.com/settings/security/lesssecureapps Enabled it but it was not my solution
2. https://g.co/allowaccess I allowed access from outside for a limited time and this solved my problem.

Answer 8

Non of the above solutions worked for me. I used the code that exists in the documentation of NodeMailer . It looks like this:

let transporter = nodemailer.createTransport({
    host: 'smtp.gmail.com',
    port: 465,
    secure: true,
    auth: {
        type: 'OAuth2',
        user: 'user@example.com',
        serviceClient: '113600000000000000000',
        privateKey: '-----BEGIN PRIVATE KEY-----\nMIIEvgIBADANBg...',
        accessToken: 'ya29.Xx_XX0xxxxx-xX0X0XxXXxXxXXXxX0x',
        expires: 1484314697598
    }
}); 

Answer 9

I found the simplest method, described in this article mentioned in Greg T's answer , was to create an App Password which is available after turning on 2FA for the account.

myaccount.google.com > Sign-in & security > Signing in to Google > App Passwords

This gives you an alternative password for the account, then you just configure nodemailer as a normal SMTP service.

var smtpTransport = nodemailer.createTransport({
    host: "smtp.gmail.com",
    port: 587,
    auth: {
        user: "username@gmail.com",
        pass: "app password"
    }
});

While Google recommend Oauth2 as the best option, this method is easy and hasn't been mentioned in this question yet.

Extra tip: I also found you can add your app name to the "from" address and GMail does not replace it with just the account email like it does if you try to use another address. ie.

from: 'My Pro App Name <username@gmail.com>'

Answer 10

Try disabling captchas in your gmail account; probably being triggered based on IP address of requestor. See: How to use GMail as a free SMTP server and overcome captcha

Answer 11

For me is working this way, using port and security (I had issues to send emails from gmail using PHP without security settings)

I hope will help someone.

var sendEmail = function(somedata){
  var smtpConfig = {
    host: 'smtp.gmail.com',
    port: 465,
    secure: true, // use SSL, 
                  // you can try with TLS, but port is then 587
    auth: {
      user: '***@gmail.com', // Your email id
      pass: '****' // Your password
    }
  };

  var transporter = nodemailer.createTransport(smtpConfig);
  // replace hardcoded options with data passed (somedata)
  var mailOptions = {
    from: 'xxxx@gmail.com', // sender address
    to: 'yyyy@gmail.com', // list of receivers
    subject: 'Test email', // Subject line
    text: 'this is some text', //, // plaintext body
    html: '<b>Hello world ✔</b>' // You can choose to send an HTML body instead
  }

  transporter.sendMail(mailOptions, function(error, info){
    if(error){
      return false;
    }else{
      console.log('Message sent: ' + info.response);
      return true;
    };
  });
}

exports.contact = function(req, res){
   // call sendEmail function and do something with it
   sendEmail(somedata);
}

all the config are listed here (including examples)

Answer 12

It is resolved using nodemailer-smtp-transport module inside createTransport.

var smtpTransport = require('nodemailer-smtp-transport');

var transport = nodemailer.createTransport(smtpTransport({
    service: 'gmail',
    auth: {
        user: '*******@gmail.com',
        pass: '*****password'
    }
}));

Answer 13

Many answers advice to allow less secure apps which is honestly not a clean solution.

Instead you should generate an app password dedicated to this use:

1. Log in to your Google account
2. Go to security
3. Under Signing in to Google enable 2-Step Verification
4. Under Signing in to Google click on App passwords .
5. You'll now generate a new password. Select the app as Mail and the device as Other (Custom name) and name it.
6. Save the app password

You can now use this app password instead of your log in password.

Answer 14

If you use Express, express-mailer wraps nodemailer very nicely and is very easy to use:

//# config/mailer.js    
module.exports = function(app) {
  if (!app.mailer) {
    var mailer = require('express-mailer');
    console.log('[MAIL] Mailer using user ' + app.config.mail.auth.user);
    return mailer.extend(app, {
      from: app.config.mail.auth.user,
      host: 'smtp.gmail.com',
      secureConnection: true,
      port: 465,
      transportMethod: 'SMTP',
      auth: {
        user: app.config.mail.auth.user,
        pass: app.config.mail.auth.pass
      }
    });
  }
};

//# some.js
require('./config/mailer.js)(app);
app.mailer.send("path/to/express/views/some_view", {
  to: ctx.email,
  subject: ctx.subject,
  context: ctx
}, function(err) {
  if (err) {
    console.error("[MAIL] Email failed", err);
    return;
  }
  console.log("[MAIL] Email sent");
});

//#some_view.ejs
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
  <head>
    <title><%= subject %></title>
  </head>
  <body>
  ... 
  </body>
</html>

Answer 15

For some reason, just allowing less secure app config did not work for me even the captcha thing. I had to do another step which is enabling IMAP config:

From google's help page: https://support.google.com/mail/answer/7126229?p=WebLoginRequired&visit_id=1-636691283281086184-1917832285&rd=3#cantsignin

• In the top right, click Settings Settings.
• Click Settings.
• Click the Forwarding and POP/IMAP tab.
• In the "IMAP Access" section, select Enable IMAP.
• Click Save Changes.

Answer 16

all your code is okay only the things left is just go to the link https://myaccount.google.com/security

and keep scroll down and you will found Allow less secure apps: ON and keep ON, you will find no error.

Answer 17

Just add "host" it will work .

host: 'smtp.gmail.com'

Then enable "lesssecureapps" by clicking bellow link

https://myaccount.google.com/lesssecureapps

Answer 18

exports.mailSend = (res, fileName, object1, object2, to, subject,   callback)=> {
var smtpTransport = nodemailer.createTransport('SMTP',{ //smtpTransport
host: 'hostname,
port: 1234,
secureConnection: false,
//   tls: {
//     ciphers:'SSLv3'
// },
auth: {
  user: 'username',
  pass: 'password'
}

});
res.render(fileName, {
info1: object1,
info2: object2
}, function (err, HTML) {

smtpTransport.sendMail({
  from: "mail@from.com",
  to: to,
  subject: subject,
  html: HTML
}
  , function (err, responseStatus) {
      if(responseStatus)
    console.log("checking dta", responseStatus.message);
    callback(err, responseStatus)
  });
});
}

You must add secureConnection type in you code.

Answer 19

I was using an old version of nodemailer 0.4.1 and had this issue. I updated to 0.5.15 and everything is working fine now.

Edited package.json to reflect changes then

npm install

Answer 20

Just attend those: 1- Gmail authentication for allow low level emails does not accept before you restart your client browser 2- If you want to send email with nodemailer and you wouldnt like to use xouath2 protocol there you should write as secureconnection:false like below

const routes = require('express').Router();
var nodemailer = require('nodemailer');
var smtpTransport = require('nodemailer-smtp-transport');



routes.get('/test', (req, res) => {
  res.status(200).json({ message: 'test!' });
});

routes.post('/Email', (req, res) =>{

    var smtpTransport = nodemailer.createTransport({
        host: "smtp.gmail.com",
        secureConnection: false,
        port: 587,
        requiresAuth: true,
        domains: ["gmail.com", "googlemail.com"],
        auth: {
            user: "your gmail account", 
            pass: "your password*"
        }
});  

  var mailOptions = {
      from: 'from@gmail.com',
      to:'to@gmail.com',
      subject: req.body.subject,
      //text: req.body.content,
      html: '<p>'+req.body.content+' </p>'
  };

  smtpTransport.sendMail(mailOptions, (error, info) => {
    if (error) {
        return console.log('Error while sending mail: ' + error);
    } else {
        console.log('Message sent: %s', info.messageId);
    }
    smtpTransport.close();
});  

})

module.exports = routes;

Answer 21

first install nodemailer

npm install nodemailer  --save

import in to js file

const nodemailer = require("nodemailer");

const smtpTransport = nodemailer.createTransport({
    service: "Gmail",
    auth: {
        user: "example@gmail.com",
        pass: "password"
    },
    tls: {
        rejectUnauthorized: false
    }
});






 const mailOptions = {
        from: "example@gmail.com",
        to: sending@gmail.com,
        subject: "Welcome to ",
        text: 'hai send from me'.
    };


    smtpTransport.sendMail(mailOptions, function (error, response) {
        if (error) {
            console.log(error);
        }
        else {
            console.log("mail sent");
        }
    });

working in my application

Answer 22

You may need to " Allow Less Secure Apps " in your Gmail account (it's all the way at the bottom). You also may need to " Allow access to your Google account ". You also may need to " Allow access to your Google account ".

Answer 23

This is my Nodemailer configuration which worked after some research.

Step 1: Enable lesssecureapp

https://www.google.com/settings/security/lesssecureapps 

Step 2: The Nodemailer configuration for Gmail

Setting up the transporter : A transporter is going to be an object that can send mail. It is the transport configuration object, connection URL, or a transport plugin instance

let transporter = nodemailer.createTransport({
    service: 'gmail',                              // the service used
    auth: {
        user: process.env.EMAIL_FROM,              // authentication details of sender, here the details are coming from .env file
        pass: process.env.EMAIL_FROM_PASSWORD,
    },
});

Writing the message

const message = {
    from: 'myemail@gmail.com',                         // sender email address
    to: "receiver@example.com, receiver2@gmail.com",   // reciever email address
    subject: `The subject goes here`,
    html: `The body of the email goes here in HTML`,
    attachments: [
    {
      filename: `${name}.pdf`,
      path: path.join(__dirname, `../../src/assets/books/${name}.pdf`),
      contentType: 'application/pdf',
    },
  ],

Sending the mail

transporter.sendMail(message, function (err, info) {
    if (err) {                                            // if error
        console.log(err);
    } else {
        console.log(info);                                // if success
    }
});

Answer 24

I also had issues with nodemailer email sending when running on Vercel lambda in production.

What fixed it in my case was to await for sendMail Promise to resolve.

I also added nodemailer-smtp-transport like suggested in this thread but I don't think it made a difference.

Here is my whole function:

const nodemailer = require('nodemailer');
const smtpTransport = require('nodemailer-smtp-transport');


const transporter = nodemailer.createTransport(smtpTransport({
    service: 'gmail',
    auth: {
        user: '***@gmail.com',
        pass: process.env.SMTP_PASSWORD,
    },
}));


async function contact(req: any, res: any) {
    try {
        const response = await transporter.sendMail({
            from: '"*** <***gmail.com>', // sender address
            to: "***@gmail.com", // list of receivers
            subject: `***`, // Subject line
            html: `${req.body.message}<br/><br/>${req.body.firstname} ${req.body.lastname} - <b>${req.body.email}</b>`, // html body
        });
    } catch (error: any) {
        console.log(error);
        return res.status(error.statusCode || 500).json({ error: error.message });
    }

    return res.status(200).json({ error: "" });
}

export default contact;

Answer 25

Google has disabled the Less Secure App Access, Below is New Process to use Gmail in Nodejs

1. Now you have to enable 2 Step Verification in Google ( How to Enable 2 Step Auth )
2. You need to generate App Specific Password. Goto Google My Account > Security
3. Click on App Password > Select Other and you will get App Password
4. You can use normal smtp with email and App password.

Answer 26

Less secure option is not supported anymore by gmail.

For sending email from third party, gmail is also not allowing with its user password .

You should now use App Password to resolve this issue. Hope this link will help to set your app password. https://support.google.com/mail/answer/185833?hl=en

Answer 27

This approach is no longer supported by gmail

Answer 28

As pointed out by Yaach, as of May 30th, 2022, Google no longer supports Less Secure Apps, and instead switched over to their own Gmail API .

Answer 29

Here is the sample code for Gmail SMTP with nodemailer.

"use strict";
const nodemailer = require("nodemailer");

async function main() {
    let transporter = nodemailer.createTransport({
        host: "smtp.gmail.com",
        transportMethod: "SMTP",
        secureConnection: true,
        port: 465,
        secure: true, // upgrade later with STARTTLS
        auth: {
            user: "yourEmail@gmail.com",
            pass: "Your App  Specific password",
        },
    });

    let info = await transporter.sendMail(
        {
            from: "yourEmail@gmail.com",
            to: "to@gmail.com",
            subject: "Testing Message Message",
            text: "I hope this message gets delivered!",
            html: "<b>Hello world?</b>", // html body
        },
        (err, info) => {
            if (err) {
                console.log(err);
            } else {
                console.log(info.envelope);
                console.log(info.messageId);
            }
        }
    );
}

main();

Answer 30

Enabling "less secure" apps is not longer available from google. A better way is to use application passwords. See scipilot's answer down below.

I post this as an answer because I still have not enough rep to post comments.

Answer 31

There is another option to use SendGrid for email delivery with no failure. A lot of the time, Nodemailer gives failure for mail which could happen frequently.

Nodemailer can be found in the link.