In the System settings under Communication, you set for the e-mail dispatch (1) whether automatic System e-mails (service requests, booking requests…) should be sent or not. For groups and resources, you can additionally set the e-mail dispatch under Modules.

Below this, you specify the e-mail server (2) via which the e-mails are sent. By default, our ChurchTools e-mail server is used for sending e-mails. This way everything runs automatically and you don’t have to worry about anything. Alternatively, you can use your own e-mail server through which e-mails are sent from ChurchTools. We recommend that you use the ChurchTools e-mail server, especially if you are not so familiar with it . We explain the two options in more detail below.

If you follow our recommendation, you do not need to enter the E-mail address of site (3) in the upper field on the left-hand side. As of v3.98, ‘noreply@churchtools.de’ is automatically entered in this case. If you use your own e-mail server, enter a sender address here that matches your e-mail server.

In the lower field, enter the E-mail address of admins (4). This is the e-mail address to which users write when they click on Contact Admin in the Help menu:

Of course, you can have more than one address if you have a team in the church. In this case, separate the individual addresses with commas.

Option 1 – The simple variant – Use ChurchTools e-mail server #

System e-mails from ChurchTools come from the address noreply@churchtools.de. A reply to these e-mails is not possible.

Manually sent e-mails (e.g. via Contact Persons in Persons & Groups) also have the “noreply” sender, but additionally contain the information that a reply e-mail goes to the real sender. When someone clicks on “Reply” in their e-mail programme, the address of the real person is therefore automatically entered as the recipient. This means that e-mails can also be answered directly without the sender being manipulated.

E-mail settings are automatically checked when the scheduled tasks run through.

Option 2: Use your own e-mail server and your own sender e-mail #

In this case, you can of course also use the e-mail server directly, which is usually included with a website.

It is also possible to use other e-mail addresses from gmail.com, gmx.de, web.de…. if the SMTP-servers of these sites are used. (You can find the server data at the provider or you can google for it, e.g. “settings gmx.de e-mail server”). You then enter this data here in the settings.

Depending on the size of the congregation, the servers are of course used intensively and you should check whether there are limitations with the providers.