Artisan POS 4 and onward lets you send emails to customers directly from Artisan. On top of that, Purchase Orders can also be emailed directly after creating them.
All that needs to be setup is a local file in a specific location so Artisan POS knows this information at the time of sending emails.
Location of File:
- Windows:
- Put this file in c:\users\<user name>\
- Mac OS X:
- Put this file in \users\<user name>\
File:
1. Create a file in either Notepad (Windows) or TextEdit (Mac OS X)
2. Name the file the following: .mail.properties (notice the dot at the beginning.)
3. Fill the file with the following information, which is usually given by the email client:
mail.from=example@email.com (type your user email account)
mail.smtp.host=smtp.servername.com (type your email SMTP server account) For example, gmail’s SMTP server is at smtp.gmail.com
mail.smtp.port=465 (Always try port 465 first, even if they specify another port such as 587.)
mail.smtp.user=example@email.com
IMPORTANT! Most of the time, you MUST use the full email address as the username as shown in the above example.
mail.smtp.password= (Type your email password here.)
RESOLVING PROBLEMS:
If you are having trouble and getting authentication errors, try the following.
- Anytime you make changes to this file, you should save it and close your editor. Then, you MUST restart Artisan.
- Confirm your settings in the file.
- Make sure the file is not saved as .txt or upgrade to version 4.1.138 or later. You can see the .txt if you change the view properties in Windows to show the file extension. If on a Mac, read below.
- Make sure your file is in the correct directory. Confirm the user that you are logged in as on Windows. The .mail.properties must be in this folder.
- Make sure you are including your full email address as the mail.smtp.user.
- Swap out the @ sign with an underscore in your mail.smtp.user setting. (If this does not work, put it back with the @.)
- Check the port number and try 587 or check with your provider. (If this does not resolve your issue, put it back to 465.)
- Contact your provider for assistance or call Artisan Tech Support for assistance.
Working on a Mac (Ignore this if Using Windows)
When creating this file on a Mac, things are a bit different. There are a couple of things that need to get done before creating the file on Mac OS X.
1. By default, Mac does not create .TXT or raw files. Because we need a file named with the extension properties, we are not going to be able to save it unless we change the following.
Open “TextEdit.”
Go to “Preferences.”
Then, under the “New Document” tab, check “Plain Text.”
Under “Open and Save” tab, uncheck the box “Add “.txt” extension to plain text files.”
Now, restart “TextEdit” for the new settings to take effect.
Important!
On saving the file as “.mail.properties”, the file will be hidden by default, as files using this convention are usually system files. If the need to edit it arises, use the Terminal.
Show Hidden Files:
Open Terminal, which is found in Finder > Applications > Utilities
In Terminal, paste the following: defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles YES
Relaunch Finder.
Hide Files again
Use this other command:
defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles NO
GMAIL USERS:
You might need to allow access to “less secure apps.”
To do this, use this link and set “Allow less secure apps” to “ON.”
