This community thread discusses the feature or improvement: If you use GMail / Google Apps, check this out.
Feature Details
Important news - GMail & Google Apps are rolling out a new UI that will sort your emails for you. All your emails will be categorized automatically...
How APG vNext Handles Feature Requests
Feature requests and suggestions are tracked through the community forum. The development team reviews popular requests and incorporates the most-requested improvements into upcoming releases.
- Vote for features by upvoting the original post in the forum thread
- Add details about your use case to help prioritize the request
- Check the release blog for updates on upcoming features
See the full feature set on the Features page or browse all community discussions.
OAuth2 App Password for Gmail SMTP
Google deprecated less-secure app access for Gmail in May 2022, meaning that using a Google account password directly in APG vNext SMTP configuration stopped working for most accounts after that date. The current supported method is to create a Google App Password: a 16-character application-specific password generated in Google Account → Security → How you sign in to Google → 2-Step Verification → App passwords. Create an App Password with App set to Mail and Device set to Windows Computer. Use this 16-character password as the SMTP password in APG vNext in place of the Gmail account password. Note that App Passwords require 2-Step Verification to be enabled on the Google account — they are not available without 2FA active.
Gmail Sending Limits
Gmail and Google Workspace have daily sending limits that can cause APG vNext email notifications to stop sending once the limit is reached. For standard Gmail (free) accounts, the limit is 500 emails per day. For Google Workspace accounts, the limit is 2000 emails per day for older plans and varies by plan for newer plans. For APG vNext communities with more than a few hundred active members, forum notification emails can easily exceed Gmail daily limits during active periods. For production communities with significant email volume, use a dedicated transactional email service (SendGrid, Mailgun, Amazon SES, or Postmark) rather than Gmail — these services are designed for high-volume transactional email, have much higher daily limits, and provide delivery analytics, bounce handling, and DKIM signing out of the box.
Google Workspace MX Records and DKIM
If your APG vNext forum sends from an address at a domain hosted on Google Workspace (e.g., [email protected]), configure DKIM signing in the Google Workspace admin console to authenticate outgoing emails. Navigate to Google Workspace Admin → Apps → Google Workspace → Gmail → Authenticate email → Generate New Record, then add the DKIM TXT record to your domain's DNS. Allow up to 48 hours for DNS propagation before enabling DKIM authentication. With DKIM enabled, notification emails sent through Google Workspace SMTP are digitally signed by Google, significantly improving deliverability to major inbox providers that use DKIM as a spam-filtering signal.
Monitoring Gmail SMTP Sending in APG vNext
Enable APG vNext email logging (Admin Panel → Settings → Email → Enable SMTP Log) to record each email send attempt with the recipient, subject, timestamp, and success or failure status. Review the log regularly to identify patterns — recurring failures for specific members (which may indicate their address is invalid or blocking emails), spikes in sending volume (which may indicate spam activity or notification misconfiguration), and SMTP authentication failures (which may indicate the Gmail App Password has expired or been revoked). The email log is stored in the database and is accessible from the admin panel; older log entries are automatically purged based on the retention setting to prevent the log table from growing indefinitely.
Transitioning from Gmail SMTP to a Professional Email Service
For communities that have outgrown Gmail SMTP limits or need professional-grade deliverability analytics, migrating APG vNext email sending to a dedicated transactional service is a straightforward configuration change. Sign up for a SendGrid, Mailgun, or Postmark account, generate an SMTP API key, and update the SMTP settings in APG vNext web.config with the new host, port, and credentials. The migration takes less than 15 minutes and can be tested by triggering a test email from Admin Panel → Settings → Email → Send Test Email before going live. After migration, monitor the delivery analytics dashboard in the email provider's console to verify that all notification types are being delivered successfully with low bounce and complaint rates.
Testing Email Configuration After Setup
After configuring Gmail or Google Workspace SMTP credentials in APG vNext, use the built-in test email feature in Admin Panel → Settings → Email → Send Test Email to verify the configuration is correct before relying on it for notification emails. Enter a test recipient address you control and click Send — the test sends a plain email directly through the configured SMTP channel and reports any SMTP errors that occur. Common errors at this stage include authentication failures (wrong app password or insufficient Google account permissions), port-related timeouts (the outbound port 587 or 465 is blocked by the server firewall), and TLS handshake errors (the server's .NET version does not support the TLS version Google requires). Fix each error type before proceeding to verify that member notification emails are being delivered.
Looking for more help? Browse the support forum or check the Knowledge Base.