Joomla! Documentation™

A Joomla site should be able to send outgoing emails. Amongst other things, it will send automated messages to the site owner when updates are available. However, some hosting services restrict methods by which outgoing mail may be sent. Using your own private email address in the From Email field:

• Try PHP Mail first and select the Send Test Mail button. If the email arrives you are good to go. Otherwise:
• Try the Sendmail option. If that does not work:
• Try the SMTP option. This needs to be set up for a specific mail server. It could be one provided by your hosting service. It could be a GMail account.
• SMTP Host The hostname of the SMTP server (e.g. smtp.example.com).
  • SMTP Port The port to use when connecting to the SMTP server. This will usually be 25 when SMTP Security is set to None, or 465 or 587 when SMTP Security is set to SSL/TLS or STARTTLS. Ask your SMTP service provider which port to use.
  • SMTP Security The form of security required by the SMTP server: None, SSL/TLS or STARTTLS. The default is None.
  • SMTP Authentication Whether or not the external SMTP server requires authentication before accepting outgoing emails. The default is No.
  • SMTP Username The username to be used when connecting to the SMTP server in SSL or TLS mode. May be left blank if there is no SMTP authentication.
  • SMTP Password The password to be used when connecting to the SMTP server in SSL or TLS mode. May be left blank if there is no SMTP authentication.