Configuring outgoing e-mail notifications

Updated in 8.5

In the Notifications > E-mail Notifications > Settings section you configure settings that Alloy Navigator Express uses to send e-mail notifications. Some of notifications options are mandatory, others optional.

INFO: For information about types of outgoing notifications, see Administration Guide: Configuring and Controlling Outgoing Notifications.

Before you begin:

1. All e-mail notifications are sent by the Automation Server, so make sure that the Automation Server is configured and started. For details, see Starting and stopping the Automation Server.

2. Additional steps for integration with Microsoft Exchange:

   1. Choose what Microsoft Exchange account Alloy Navigator Express will use for sending notifications. This must be a Windows account with sufficient permissions to access the Microsoft Exchange mailbox you want to use. You can create a special Exchange mailbox account for this task, or use an existing one.

      NOTE: Typically, it is enough to use a single Microsoft Exchange account for both outgoing and incoming e-mail. For details on incoming mail, see Configuring Mail Connector settings.

   2. Configure the Automation Server to run under the Microsoft Exchange account. To do this, start the Alloy Automation Server Manager on the Automation Server computer and change the Automation Server startup account to the Microsoft Exchange account. For details, see Configuring the Automation Server.

   3. If you plan to use MAPI:
      On the Automation Server computer, create an e-mail profile for the Microsoft Exchange account. The profile must be created using a 64-bit edition of Microsoft Outlook. For details, see MAPI e-mail profile for integration with Microsoft Exchange.

3. Additional steps for integration with Microsoft Exchange Online:

   • Exchange Online is a part of the Office 365 suite of products. By Microsoft account here we understand the account you use to work with your Microsoft 365. This Windows account will be used by the Mail Connector for sending notifications so it must have sufficient permissions to work with your Microsoft mailbox. You can create a special mailbox account for this task, or use an existing one.

To configure e-mail notification settings:

1. Mandatory: Choose the mail service for sending e-mail notifications.

   To enable sending e-mail notifications, go to Notifications > E-mail Notifications > Settings and provide the details about the mail server to use.

• To connect to the enterprise's SMTP mail server, select Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP).

• To connect to the enterprise's Microsoft Exchange mail server, choose the protocol to use:

• Messaging Application Programming Interface (MAPI) - MAPI is a standard method of e-mail integration for all versions of Microsoft Exchange. Using this method requires an e-mail profile for the Microsoft Exchange account on the Automation Server computer. For details, see MAPI e-mail profile for integration with Microsoft Exchange.

• Exchange Web Services (EWS) - EWS are an enhanced method of e-mail integration for newer versions of Microsoft Exchange, introduced with Exchange 2007 SP1. EWS are installed and configured by default if Outlook Web Access is enabled in your environment.

• To connect to the Microsoft Exchange Online, choose Exchange Online with OAuth authentication from the drop-down list.

3. Optional: Specify additional message options in the Notifications > E-mail Notifications > Settings section.

• Type the default sender's e-mail address in the 'From' e-mail address field. This address will appear in the From header of outgoing e-mail notifications.

TIP: You can overwrite this default address later when you configure individual E-mail Notifications for your workflow. For details, see Configuring E-mail Notifications.

• For SMTP Server: If you need to change the default Unicode (UTF-8) character set, select the desired one in the Character set list.

• To send messages in plain text format, select the Send all e-mail messages in plain text format check box.

• To limit the allowed size of file attachments, select the Limit the total size of attachments to check box and specify the limit in megabytes.

  NOTE: Notifications with attachments exceeding the specified size limit will not be added to the Notification Queue and, correspondingly, will not be sent. During the execution of a workflow Action resulting in such a notification, Alloy Navigator Express displays an error to the user who initiated the Action.

4. Mandatory: Specify the outgoing mail server settings in the Notifications > E-mail Notifications > Settings section.

• For SMTP Server:

  1. Under SMTP server, provide your SMTP settings:

  1. Under SMTP server, enter the name and port number of your corporate SMTP mail server. The default port number is 25; for secure connection via SSL, the default port number is 465.

  2. If your SMTP server requires users to authenticate, select the My outgoing (SMTP) server requires authentication check box and enter the user name and password.

  3. If your SMTP server requires Security Password Authentication, select the Require Secure Password Authentication (SPA) check box.

  4. In the Secure Connection section, select one of the following options:

     • None - This establishes an insecure (plain text) connection.

     • STARTTLS, if available - This establishes a secure connection using the STARTTLS extension if it is supported by the mail server. If the server does not support STARTTLS, an insecure connection is established.

     • STARTTLS - The Mail Connector will attempt to establish a secure connection using the STARTTLS extension. If the mail server does not support STARTTLS, a connection is not established.

     • SSL/TLS - The Mail Connector will attempt to establish a secure connection. If the mail server does not support SSL/TLS, a connection is not established.

       IMPORTANT: The current version of Alloy Navigator Express can establish a secure connection to a mail server using SSL 3.0 up to TLS 1.2.

  If you want to prevent communication with the mail server via a secure connection when a certificate validation error occurs, select the Reject invalid certificates check box.

   

• For Microsoft Exchange Server:

  1. Specify the connection details:

  • For MAPI:

    • Specify the Outlook profile that you have created for the Automation Server startup account:

    • If the Automation Server computer has a single mail profile or when Microsoft Outlook on the Automation Server computer is configured to always use the profile you want to use, select the Use default profile check box.

    • If you want to specify a non-default profile, clear the Use default profile check box and select the profile from the Mail Profile list.

    IMPORTANT: The profile must be created using a 64-bit edition of Microsoft Outlook. For details, see E-mail profile for integration with Microsoft Exchange.

  • For EWS:

    1. Under EWS connection details, choose one of the following:

       • If Autodiscovery is not enabled, click Specify the Exchange Web Services URL or server name and type in the URL path (the default URL is https://hostname.domain.com/EWS/Exchange.asmx). Alternatively, you can type in just the server name, and the system will suggest you the full URL path.

       • If your EWS server has Autodiscovery configured, click Autodiscover the Exchange Web Services URL using this address and type in the e-mail address of the Microsoft Exchange account.

    2. Provide the user name and password for the Microsoft Exchange account.

    3. By default, Alloy Navigator Express automatically detects the version of your Microsoft Exchange Server. In some situations you may need to manually specify your MS Exchange Server version. To do this, choose the necessary option in the Version field.

    4. If you want to prevent communication with the Microsoft Exchange Server when a certificate validation error occurs, select the Reject invalid certificates check box.

  2. By default, all notifications will be sent from the Microsoft Exchange account, i.e. will have its address in the From field. If you want to enable Alloy Navigator Express to send notifications on behalf of other users, select the ’From’ address delegation check box.

  IMPORTANT: Sending notifications on behalf of other users requires that every person whose e-mail address you specify in the From field when configuring e-mail notifications must grant your Microsoft Exchange account a permission to send e-mail messages on her/his behalf. For instructions, see How to allow sending notification on behalf of another person.

  3. To verify your settings, click Test Settings. Alloy Navigator Express will send a test message using the specified parameters to confirm the ability to communicate with the mail server. When the Send Test Message window opens, enter a valid e-mail address to send the test message to and click OK.

• For Microsoft Exchange Online:

  1. Choose one of the API options:

  • MS Graph (recommended) - MS Graph is the gateway to data and intelligence in Microsoft 365. Microsoft Graph API usage ensures the latest Microsoft standards in Office 365 Email protocols for very latest in security and connectivity.

  • Exchange Web Services (EWS) - EWS was launched as a part of Microsoft Exchange 2007 as a SOAP based API that allows access to Exchange Online data.

  2. Click the Sign in hyperlink to sign in to your Microsoft account. If you're already signed in with one account, you can change it by clicking the Change hyperlink and choosing another account.

  3. By default, all notifications will be sent from the Microsoft account, i.e. will have its address in the From field. If you want to enable Alloy Navigator Express to send notifications on behalf of other users, select the ’From’ address delegation check box.

  IMPORTANT: Sending notifications on behalf of other users requires that every person whose e-mail address you specify in the From field when configuring e-mail notifications must grant your Microsoft Exchange Online account a permission to send e-mail messages on her/his behalf.

  4. To verify your settings, click Test Settings. Alloy Navigator Express will send a test message using the specified parameters to confirm the ability to communicate with the mail server. When the Send Test Message window opens, enter a valid e-mail address to send the test message to and click OK.

5. Click Test Settings to test the connection and send a test message. For details, see Testing outgoing e-mail settings.

6. Click Save on the toolbar.

NOTE: The appearance of HTML E-mail Notifications depends on the CSS styles configured for outgoing e-mail notifications. For details, see Customizing E-Mail Notification styles.

Related Information:

Customizing settings for push notifications

Testing outgoing e-mail settings

Outgoing Notifications Log

Configuring E-mail Notifications

Configuring Self-Registration

Customizing E-Mail Notification styles