---
title: "Email senders - Microsoft 365, Google and SMTP"
description: "Choose how transactional email leaves your store: a connected Microsoft 365 or Google mailbox, or your own SMTP server. Sender types, verification and test sends."
canonical: "https://docs.workflow-transactional-email.app/email-senders-overview"
---

# Email senders overview

A **sender** is the mailbox your email actually leaves from. Every Shopify Flow email action pairs one sender with one email layout.

Open **Email Senders** in the app navigation. There are two ways to set one up.

| | Connected accounts | SMTP servers |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Providers | Microsoft 365, Google | Any SMTP server |
| Setup | Sign in once and approve access | Host, port, username, password |
| Credentials stored | None - OAuth tokens, refreshed automatically | Yes, encrypted |
| Best for | Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace mailboxes | SendGrid, Mailgun, Amazon SES, Postmark, your own relay |

> [!TIP]
> If your business email is on Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace, use a connected account. App passwords and stored SMTP credentials expire, get rotated, and sit in a database - OAuth avoids all three problems, and you never have to touch it again.

## Connected accounts

Click **Manage connections** to reach the **Connected accounts** page, where you add and manage OAuth providers.

![The Connected accounts page with Microsoft 365 and Google connected](https://cdn-dev.eu.codecreationlabs.cloud/crm-tool/uploads/SjJ78gKLnLlocopCui3Cs62dJbGZ7F1n/b4b90a83102bb068.png)

One connected account can expose several senders. Each carries a badge telling you what it is:

| Badge | What it is |
| --- | --- |
| **Mailbox** | The account you signed in with |
| **Shared** | A Microsoft 365 shared mailbox, such as `info@` |
| **Group** | A Microsoft 365 group mailbox |
| **Alias** | A Google "Send mail as" alias |

Every sender also shows **Verified**, **Not verified** or **Verification failed**. Verification confirms the provider will actually let you send from that address - Microsoft requires **Send As** or **Send on behalf** permission on a shared mailbox, and Google requires the alias to be set up under Gmail's "Send mail as" settings.

The connection itself shows **Connected** or **Reconnect required**. If you see the latter, use **Reconnect** on the account card to re-grant access - do not disconnect and start over, as that would break Flow steps pointing at its senders.

### From names

Each sender has an optional **from name**, shown next to the address in the recipient's inbox. Set it to your store or company name via the pencil icon - `Acme Store` reads better than a bare `orders@acme.com`.

### Adding shared mailboxes, groups and aliases

- **Microsoft shared mailbox or group**: use **Add shared mailbox** in the account's menu. The app verifies it by sending a one-line message from that mailbox to your sign-in mailbox.
- **Google alias**: set it up in Gmail's "Send mail as" settings first, then use **Refresh senders** in the account's menu to pull it in.

Full walkthroughs: [Send email from Shopify Flow with Microsoft 365](https://docs.workflow-transactional-email.app/send-email-with-microsoft-365.md) and [Send email from Shopify Flow with Google](https://docs.workflow-transactional-email.app/send-email-with-google.md).

## SMTP servers

Click **Manage SMTP servers** to add a server with a host, port, username and password. Encryption is derived from the port automatically - **465** means SSL, **587** means STARTTLS.

A successful **Test Connection** is required before you can save a new server. That is deliberate: a wrong port or a bad password should surface now, not as a silently dropped customer email later.

Username and password can be left blank for a relay that authenticates by IP instead. If your relay restricts senders by IP, the app shows its outbound sending address on the SMTP page so you can allowlist it.

Full walkthrough: [Send email from Shopify Flow with a custom SMTP server](https://docs.workflow-transactional-email.app/send-email-with-smtp.md).

## Send a test email

The **Send test email** button on the Email Senders page sends a short message through any sender you pick, to any address you choose. Use it after every setup change - it isolates a mailbox problem from a workflow problem in about ten seconds, and it does not count against your plan.

## Removing a sender

Senders and accounts still referenced by a Shopify Flow step cannot be removed. The app blocks it and tells you how many steps depend on it, so a live workflow is never left pointing at a sender that no longer exists.

## Related

- [Send email from Shopify Flow with a custom SMTP server](https://docs.workflow-transactional-email.app/send-email-with-smtp.md)
- [Send email from Shopify Flow with Microsoft 365](https://docs.workflow-transactional-email.app/send-email-with-microsoft-365.md)
- [Send email from Shopify Flow with Google](https://docs.workflow-transactional-email.app/send-email-with-google.md)
- [Build an email layout](https://docs.workflow-transactional-email.app/build-an-email-layout.md) - the other half of an email action.