Sending out emails from Aware. Which Email company?

BenHayat

For outgoing email from Aware, I'm considering either Mandrill or SendGrid.

Do you have a preference on either one or do you suggest another company?
Thanks!

customaware

Any particular reason you want to use an external service Ben?

I set up hMailServer on my server and it works fine and is free.

BenHayat

eagles9999 wrote
Any particular reason you want to use an external service Ben?

I set up hMailServer on my server and it works fine and is free.

I was told by going with some these reputable mail service companies, it minimizes getting on black list. Honestly, email isn't my forte at all.
I always value your research and direction. So, I'll look into hMailServer.
So you basically run it right on your Amazon VPS service along with Tomcat and Aware?
Thank you kindly!

customaware

Yes Ben.... Exactly.

I am not very experienced with mail either and needed a bit of a hand but once you see it set up it is not that complicated.

Powerm

You can use Mandrill, last set-up and I have even made build a webhook process which marks the invalid emails as invalid in the app so you don't email them again 🙂 The first 15'000 emails are free. Perfect dashboard.
As a second choice zoo can use turbosmtp.com : very fast, straight to inbox. Paid plans only or 200 emails per daze for free. Fast approval. You must have a very low once and spam rates ( < 1% )
Third choice but the one I am using now : smtpprovider.com . Fast approval, straight to inbox. I use the Plan 7, 50'000 emails/month for 50 USD

customaware

Thanx Powerm,

That is interesting.

Am I correct in thinking these services are only used by
Aware to send emails?

What about if you need the app to receive emails which is
what I need?

BenHayat

Thanks PowerM;

Powerm

Unfortunately I won't recommend to use AwareIM's built in system for incoming emails. I had a lot of situations where I had lost emails or deleted emails due to unstable syncs. It is not what we are looking for it you are using it for business apps. My emails are sent with the email address of the logged in user ( From: <<LoggedInSystemUser.EmaillAddress>> ) and they reply to those emails using their email client.

An other option is to use an email client like Atmail, based on Mysql and to connect it to your app...but it will be much better if we had a stable incoming mail handler within Awareim.

hpl123

I am only using native Aware IM for all email (currently only outgoing) and I would prefer to continue doing that. Having this functionality built in is IMO by far the best solution (if It just works reliably).

Hopefully we can find the causes of potential problems and also get improved email handling in Aware IM i.e. better options for in/out, account per tenant etc.. Other ideas for better email functionality is integrating callback features to be able to see bounce, reads etc.. Support, hope you can add this to the FR list.

tford

Powerm wrote
- You can use Mandrill, last set-up and I have even made build a webhook process which marks the invalid emails as invalid in the app so you don't email them again 🙂 The first 15'000 emails are free. Perfect dashboard.

Powerm - what is involved in setting up a Webhook for Mandrill or similar email service?

Powerm

If you are interested I have a sample app build on the CRM app, ready made for Mandrill and its Webhooks. PM me if you want to purchase, price is $ 50.

hpl123

Powerm wrote
If you are interested I have a sample app build on the CRM app, ready made for Mandrill and its Webhooks. PM me if you want to purchase, price is $ 50.

I might be interested in this powerm, what exactly can the plugin do? Thanks

Powerm

With this plugin you can:

open an account with Mandrill ( 6000 email free/month )
send emails from the app using Mandrill's smtp
--> Select Customers and send them a Template email
--> Select Template and send to selected Customers
create a webhook on Mandrill and have the app mark invalid emails automatically

BenHayat

Powerm wrote
With this plugin you can:

open an account with Mandrill ( 6000 email free/month )

send emails from the app using Mandrill's smtp
--> Select Customers and send them a Template email
--> Select Template and send to selected Customers

create a webhook on Mandrill and have the app mark invalid emails automatically

This plugin is written in Java according to Aware's specifications?

tford

Ben,

I can't vouch for whether this meets AwareIM specs, but I know it works.

I acquired it from Powerm & got it up and running today in my Mandrill account.

You simply have to load six JAR files to your AwareIM/Tomcat/lib directory -- and don't forget to close your Control Panel & re-start AwareIM. I didn't have any prior experience with plug-ins so I banged my head against the wall for a couple of hours until I figured that out. You just need to add a few BOs, processes, and a service to your BSV and it works well.

On the Mandrill side, you have to register API keys and set up webhooks.

BenHayat

tford wrote
Ben,

I can't vouch for whether this meets AwareIM specs, but I know it works.

I acquired it from Powerm & got it up and running today in my Mandrill account.

You simply have to load six JAR files to your AwareIM/Tomcat/lib directory -- and don't forget to close your Control Panel & re-start AwareIM. I didn't have any prior experience with plug-ins so I banged my head against the wall for a couple of hours until I figured that out. You just need to add a few BOs, processes, and a service to your BSV and it works well.

On the Mandrill side, you have to register API keys and set up webhooks.

Awesome man. Your vouch is as good as gold... 😃
Thanks Tom;

tford

Powerm wrote:
With this plugin you can:

open an account with Mandrill ( 6000 email free/month )

Actually you now get 12,000 free emails per month with a new Mandrill account. Mail Chimp (email company that made the Mandrill transactional email product) also offers extra emails if you have a paid Mail Chimp account. Out Mail Chimp account qualified us for an additional 10,000 emails per month bringing the total to 22,000 free transactional emails.

http://kb.mailchimp.com/integrations/other-integrations/mandrill-for-mailchimp-users

hpl123

Thanks for the info guys. Powerm, will think and possibly get in touch.

I am a bit reluctant though because I really think Aware IM NATIVELY should handle incoming and outgoing emails because it´s such a crucial part of most apps today. If anyone is experiencing issues with email (in or out) please log proper bug reports and have support look at and fix them.

tford

Henrik,

I am a bit reluctant though because I really think Aware IM NATIVELY should handle incoming and outgoing emails because it´s such a crucial part of most apps today. If anyone is experiencing issues with email

I'm implementing Mandrill not to be able to get the webhook info back about email opens & non-delivery. I did not have any issues at all with AwareIM's processing of emails. Our only challenge was periodic issues with our Exchange server that AwareIM was using to send & receive emails through.

With that being said, if Mandrill sending & webhook functionality was built into AwareIM, it would definitely be a huge plus over most other solutions on the market today. AwareIM configurators could then build systems that make good use of all the webhook info. Extending it to also include Mail Chimp's API would be a double bonus!

Mandrill is much, much more than just an email sending tool. It allows you to do extensive analytics on the emails you have sent:
http://www.mandrill.com/features/

hpl123

Tom,
Thanks for the input and information and I fully agree about integrating more advanced email functionality in Aware IM would be very valuable. Hopefully support considers this.

Powerm,
Just curious, have you tried using Mandrill (or any other hosted email provider) for incoming mail i.e. integrating it into Aware IM?