A new bug with FileMaker 18’s Send Mail script step has come up recently. This bug only occurs when sending email via SMTP server. It also only happens when using Gmail’s SMTP service. The bug is apparent when users attempting to Send Mail via SMTP encounter this pop-up:
If the user selects “Connect,” the email will send normally. This may seem like a non-issue; the user has to push one extra button. Problem solved, right? Not exactly. The problem with this pop-up is that it doesn’t appear if the script runs with Error Capture set to On. Instead, the script receives error 1634. If you didn’t build the script with error checking, the user is none the wiser that their email didn’t send.
So what’s the fix?
Fix 1 – Just Say OK
The easiest thing to do is attempt to send an email with Error Capture set to Off. When you get the pop-up, select the checkbox for “Always permit connection to this host”. After that you will no longer receive the pop-up, even if Error Capture is on.
Fix 2 – PSOS
Fix 1 is fine for a knowledgable user in a small system, but isn’t practical if your solution is being used by a large number of FileMaker illiterate users. The easiest workaround is to change the Send Mail script step to be a separate script that is run with Perform Script on Server. For unknown reason, this issue doesn’t occur when FileMaker Server tries it. No idea.
Fix 3 – Insert From URL
Another option is to use the new feature built into the Insert From URL script step. This step now supports STMP calls and allows you to send emails with HTML and plain text. To get this to work, make sure the verify SSL Certificates option is unchecked. This option takes a little more setup to work properly, but allows for more options in email formatting.
A Small Reminder
One last thing to remember when having trouble sending emails through Gmail is to check your security settings. When you log into your account, there is a section called Security. If you scroll down in the Security area you will find an area titled “Less Secure Apps” with the option to turn on or off.
This needs to be on to allow FileMaker to use Gmail’s SMTP server. This was true before FileMaker 18, so this may be old news, but a reminder doesn’t hurt.
FileMaker has been notified of this bug and they don’t yet seem to know the cause. It wouldn’t surprise me if the issue is fixed in the next update. In the meantime, these tricks might help you avoid a headache.
If you wish to have further assistance on this bug, feel free to contact us!
*This article was originally written for AppWorks, which has since joined Direct Impact Solutions. This article is intended for informative purposes only. To the best of our knowledge, this information is accurate as of the date of publication.