Background

Total Access Emailer is the world's most popular Microsoft Access email add-in product and VBA code library. Simplify the way you communicate with your contacts, and easily share the data and reports from your Microsoft Access databases with personalized emails for each recipient.

Question

How do you setup SMTP relay for IP Addresses in Office 365?

Answer

Total Access Emailer lets you automate email blasts from Microsoft Access using data from your database and attachments using your reports and files. Total Access Emailer sends its emails using Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) which bypasses the limitation of Outlook MAPI (Messaging Application Programming Interface).

SMTP requires a sever to process the emails. If you are using Office 365 for your emails, it includes Microsoft Exchange with an SMTP server you can use.

There are two methods that you can use to connect Total Access Emailer (as well as other 3^rd party SMTP based products) to your Microsoft Office 365 SMTP Exchange Server:

SMTP Relay

SMTP Relay authenticates the connection via your IP Address without the need to login with an email address. For this to work, you must grant permission in Office 365 for email to be sent from your IP address(es).

Client SMTP Submission (by Email Address Login)

This method authenticates the connection using the login for your email address. You can use an email login to also send emails from other email addresses on your domain. To allow this, you must grant permission for the user accounts that are authenticated by the SMTP connection.

Make sure you have a recent version of Total Access Emailer

Make sure you have a version of Total Access Emailer released after late 2021. Microsoft increased SMTP requirements with updates to Windows and Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocols. That means even if you implement the steps below to have Office 365 support relay, you may not be able to use it with Total Access Emailer (or any email program) unless it supports the new protocols.

The latest versions of Total Access Emailer support the new security along with the increased requirements of Google Workspaces and Gmail. For more information, visit New Features in Total Access Emailer

Setup Office 365 SMTP to Allow Relay for IP Addresses

SMTP Relay authenticates the connection via your IP Address. 

Get Your IP Addresses

This can be your public and/or outbound IP addresses. If you are not sure, use Google or Bing to ask "what is my IP address" to see it, or ask your network administrator. You need to authorize Office 365 to allow SMTP relay for emails coming from IP addresses that will use it.

Setting up or Updating the Office 365 SMTP Server with IP Authentication

Create an inbound connector with IP authentication.

1. Go to your Exchange Admin Center: https://admin.exchange.microsoft.com/
2. On the left border, expand Mail Flow and click on Connectors:
   
3. The list of Connectors appear:
   
4. If the Office 365 Relay row exists, click on it to edit its settings and make sure it's turned on. Manage the list of IP Addresses by clicking on the Edit sent email identity hyperlink.

Errors If IP Address is Not Added

If you don't add your IP address, these error messages may appear when sending an email:

1. 1. SMTP protocol error. 550 5.7.64 TenantAttribution; Relay Access Denied [No TLS] ... (Error 20162)

   2. SMTP protocol error. 550 5.7.51 TenantInboundAttribution; There is a partner connector configured that matched the message's recipient domain. The connector had either the RestrictDomainsToIPAddresses or RestrictDomainsToCertificate set ... (Error 20162)

Step 1: Create a New Connector

If the Office 365 Relay connector doesn't exist, click the + Add a connector button and follow the Wizard. Click [Next] after each screen:

1. New Connector: Choose the second option: Your organization's email server:
   
2. Connector Name: Give it a name and optional description. By default, keep the two options checked:
   
3. Authenticating Sent Email: Choose second option and enter the IP addresses that are allowed to use SMTP. Press [+] after entering each IP address:
   
4. Review connector and press [Create Connector] to confirm:
   
5. When created, a confirmation appears. Click the Done button to leave the Wizard:
   

Step 2: Set up your email server to relay mail to the internet via Microsoft 365 or Office 365

If your organization didn't already have one, Office 365 used to automatically create an IP authenticated SMTP server (like domain.mail.protection.outlook.com). Now, you need to run a PowerShell command to do so. You will need to use this server name rather than smtp.office365.com to send emails with IP Authentication.

Since their syntax can change over time, we suggest you visit this Microsoft page for details: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/exchange/mail-flow-best-practices/use-connectors-to-configure-mail-flow/set-up-connectors-to-route-mail

From that page, go to the section: Set up your email server to relay mail to the internet via Microsoft 365 or Office 365. There you will see the PowerShell syntax and example of configuring this. Once you have the new "SmartHost" name, you can use that as the server name in Total Access Emailer. 

Additional SMTP Resources

For more information on SMTP Servers and Relay, visit:

• Setting Microsoft Office 365 as the SMTP Server for Total Access Emailer
• Setting Google Gmail as the SMTP Server for Total Access Emailer

Additional Support Resources

• Support Options
• Product Information
• FAQs
• Updates
• User Manual
• PDF Fact Sheet