How do I use SENDMAIL to send email from MATLAB 7.2 (R2006a) via the GMail server or Yahoo server?

I would like to send an email from within MATLAB via the GMail/Yahoo server. If I try to do this using a script such as the following:

Using Gmail Server:

setpref('Internet','SMTP_Server','smtp.gmail.com');
setpref('Internet','E_mail','[e-mail]');
sendmail('[e-mail]','Test email', 'Test');

Using Yahoo Server:

setpref('Internet','SMTP_Server','smtp.mail.gmail.com');
setpref('Internet','E_mail','[e-mail]');
sendmail('[e-mail]','Test email', 'Test');

I receive the following error: ERROR: ??? Error using ==> sendmail 530 5.7.0 Must issue a STARTTLS command first b19sm1973874ana

Answer 1

[MathWorks Support Team]

This change has been incorporated into the documentation in Release 2011a (R2011a). For previous releases, read below for any additional information:

To send email using SENDMAIL via the GMail/Yahoo server, you can execute the following in the MATLAB Prompt:

Gmail Server:

% Define these variables appropriately:
mail = '[e-mail]'; %Your GMail email address
password = 'testing1234';  %Your GMail password
setpref('Internet','SMTP_Server','smtp.gmail.com');

Yahoo Server:

% Define these variables appropriately:
mail = '[e-mail]'; %Your Yahoo email address
password = 'testing1234';  %Your Yahoo password
setpref('Internet','SMTP_Server','smtp.mail.yahoo.com');

Gmail/Yahoo Servers:

setpref('Internet','E_mail',mail);
setpref('Internet','SMTP_Username',mail);
setpref('Internet','SMTP_Password',password);
props = java.lang.System.getProperties;
props.setProperty('mail.smtp.auth','true');
props.setProperty('mail.smtp.socketFactory.class', 'javax.net.ssl.SSLSocketFactory');
props.setProperty('mail.smtp.socketFactory.port','465');

% Send the email.  Note that the first input is the address you are sending the email to
sendmail(mail,'Test from MATLAB','Hello! This is a test from MATLAB!')

In R2013a, the following command might also resolve the issue:

props.setProperty('mail.smtp.starttls.enable','true');

Note that the above commands are undocumented and may change in future MATLAB releases. Also, note that SENDMAIL does not support servers that require username and password authentications in MATLAB 7.1 (R14SP3) and before and hence the above commands will not work with those releases.

[Image Analyst]

You have an incorrect username/password or else you have a firewall issue. Note: the Mathworks never answers questions on officially posted topics like this. You'd have to post a new question.

[Bradley Stiritz]

>Note that the above commands are undocumented and may change in future MATLAB releases..

Yair Altman recently discussed sendmail and this specific answer on his blog: link

Answer 2

[Iddo Weiner]

Hi,

I'm having trouble with running this code. I tried the suggestion above:

 % 
% parameters
mail = '[e-mail]'; % my gmail address
password = 'mypassword';  % my gmail password 
host = 'smtp.mail.com';
% preferences
setpref('Internet','SMTP_Server', host);
setpref('Internet','E_mail',mail);
setpref('Internet','SMTP_Username',mail);
setpref('Internet','SMTP_Password',password);
props = java.lang.System.getProperties;
props.setProperty('mail.smtp.auth','true');
props.setProperty('mail.smtp.socketFactory.class', 'javax.net.ssl.SSLSocketFactory');
props.setProperty('mail.smtp.socketFactory.port','465');
% Send the email
sendmail(mail,'Test from MATLAB','Hello! This is a test from MATLAB!')

But I get this error:

 %
Error using sendmail (line 171)
Authentication failed.

Any ideas what might be causing this?

Thanks

[Walter Roberson]

https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/6010255?hl=en