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I used to be able to go to Accounts and Import → Add another email address you own and add an email account that's only a forwarding address. That is, it's not a mailbox and I don't have SMTP access to it.

Gmail would send me a confirmation email to that address, I'd confirm it's mine, and done. Now it only gives me the option to add SMTP credentials.

Did they stop supporting the previous method? Is there any other way I can get that option back?

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  • The interesting part is that they still don't support separate single-purpose-only passwords for smtp at gmail.com themselves (unless you go into a separate and non-related two-factor auth), so, if this policy of theirs were to be implemented by example.su, requiring the smtp password of gmail.com, and giving access to the whole Google Account of the user, just for smtp, how would they feel? Really bad move, Google. Or at least they could start letting people have single-purpose-only passwords, like for outgoing mail only.
    – cnst
    Dec 16, 2014 at 21:15
  • If you own the domain name of the address you are trying to add, you can use another SMTP like Amazon SES (just did it).
    – antoine129
    Feb 7, 2017 at 12:53

5 Answers 5

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Gmail recently changed its policy. Now it does not permit anymore to use the Gmail SMTP server to send email on behalf of another domain. This is to avoid spammers and enforce some security policy.

So, if you have an address aaa@bbb.com you also must have an SMTP server for bbb.com (e.g. smtp.bbb.com) and an account on that SMTP server. If you have those, you can enter that information in Gmail and set up that account as an alias.

Essentially, Gmail becomes just a client for that address, using the address’ SMTP server instead of Gmail SMTP server, to send mail for that address.

You can continue to use the Gmail SMTP server to send mail only for other Gmail addresses, or for Google Apps addresses.

References:

EDIT

The method described below in http://webapps.stackexchange.com/a/72975/60630 works for sending mail, but has a drawback: your mail is not verified and risks going to the SPAM. This is because Gmail uses SPF and DKIM. You could add google in your domain's SPF, but not authenticate with DKIM.

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  • 16
    "it does not permit anymore to use the Gmail SMTP server to send email on behalf of another domain" This is not true, as explained in the below, highest rated answer (and works for me) webapps.stackexchange.com/a/72975/60630
    – Daniel Sparing
    Jan 29, 2016 at 18:39
  • Previous comment is true. As of 06/22/2016, i could create a new sender email using John answer.
    – Martin
    Jun 22, 2016 at 21:12
  • 1
    Be aware though that if you send e-mail on behalf of another domain those will most possibly go to spam.
    – Piedone
    Apr 3, 2018 at 21:25
  • Worked for me 10/18/2021
    – jbm
    Oct 18, 2021 at 17:24
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As in Kzar's answer, you now need to provide details for an SMTP server which will be used to send the mail.

As of writing, however, you can simply use the Gmail SMTP server, as long as you use Google two-step authentication.

So just for completeness, the full steps:

  1. Gmail settings, Accounts and Import tab.
  2. Add another email address you own
  3. Type name and email address to be added.
  4. For SMTP Server, put smtp.gmail.com
  5. For Username, your full Gmail address including @gmail.com
  6. For password, provide an App Password generated in Google Accounts at https://security.google.com/settings/security/apppasswords
  7. Leave Secured connection using TLS selected as is.
  8. Add Account

Update: I have been advised that while this process is now a bit hit-or-miss, trying these steps several (4-5) times in a row can eventually lead to success. Further feedback in comments would be appreciated.

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  • 7
    This works as John has mentioned, with the caveat that you need to enable 2 factor and generate an app password in order to do so. Spend a while trying to get this to work without it but couldn't, enabled it, generated the key and dropped it in, and it went straight through
    – Robert Hundley
    Jan 23, 2015 at 0:58
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    Awesome. Had to do this just to change my surname... BTW, I got a "Not Found 404" page when I typed the credentials and hit "Save changes". Tried again and finally worked.
    – Álvaro González
    Nov 1, 2015 at 14:52
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    Still working as of 2017-03-16
    – Neal Tibrewala
    Mar 16, 2017 at 17:55
  • 2
    @John Confirmed, process is working with "Treat as an alias" left ticked. Thanks for the very useful write-up!
    – Erik Koopmans
    May 4, 2017 at 1:52
  • 5
    Still works as of 3//27/2019!
    – Josh Maag
    Mar 27, 2019 at 12:33
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If you are a Google Domains user, you can still add a new alias for your non-gmail domain, but you must have 2-step verification turned on.

  1. Turn on 2-step verification if you haven't done so already.
  2. Goto your Account -> Signing In -> App Passwords
  3. In the App passwords box, select Mail for the app, select Other for the device.
  4. Enter the name of your domain for the “other” device, and click Generate.
  5. Goto Gmail settings, Accounts and Import tab.
  6. Click on Add another email address you own
  7. Type name and email address to be added from a domain hosted on Google Domains. (It didn't seem to matter if treat as an alias was checked or not).
  8. For SMTP Server, put smtp.gmail.com
  9. For Username, your full Gmail address including @gmail.com
  10. For password, your App password generated from step 4.
  11. Leave the rest default (TLS, port 587)
  12. Click Add Account

For more details see Google Support - Sending mail from your forwarded email address. The link says to use port 465, but leaving it as TLS and port 587 worked just fine for me.

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  • 2
    You don't need to be a Google domains user. See my answer from 7 hours ago...
    – John
    Jan 21, 2015 at 15:13
  • @John I tried your solution first and it didn't work for me. Google prevented me from signing in.
    – Harry Glinos
    Jan 22, 2015 at 18:05
  • Interesting. Could it be that it's just 2-step authentication that needs to be on? I have tested this with two accounts and neither domain is on Google Domains, but both accounts do use 2-step. Will check and update.
    – John
    Jan 22, 2015 at 23:39
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    This is confirmed to work as of June 2015. I wish to use email/alias M1 from account A1 with account A2. 1. Generate app key on A1. 2. Add email in Gmail on account A2. 3. Use smtp.gmail.com as server, M1 email as username and the generated app key as password.
    – Mattis
    Jun 4, 2015 at 17:12
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OK, there is a silver lining here. I just set this up and it is working fine: You do not have to use an SMTP server that matches the domain of the email address. You only have to use an SMTP server. So as long as you have access to any SMTP server, you can set up forwarders or an unlimited number of email addresses.

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  • 2
    Does this mean you can use one of GMail's own SMTP servers, and provide any valid GMail username/password?
    – bzlm
    Jan 12, 2015 at 19:30
  • Yep! Just about to post an answer about this
    – John
    Jan 21, 2015 at 3:08
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Gmail no longer support using the Gmail outgoing mail server for Send Mail As if the account is not another Gmail or account or a Google Apps account.

You'll need to contact whoever hosts the forwarder you use and see what they can do for you.

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