Use Gmail for TopView email notification
The following information provides details on using Gmail with TopView for both outgoing email (Notification) and incoming email (Alarm Acknowledge and information requests).
TopView supports SSL/TLS for both outgoing and incoming email (for TopView versions 6.9 and greater). This is a current secure channel for internet communications.
Google offers free Gmail accounts. They include the use of Gmail's outgoing (SMTP) and incoming (POP) mail servers. TopView can use these 2 mail servers to send and receive email. Note: a free Gmail account has a limit of 500 outgoing emails per day (24 hour period).
Google Apps Premier allows significantly more per day.
Using Gmail for email
There are two methods supported for emailing via Gmail with TopView:
- Linking TopView to your Google account using OAUTH (v6.35 and later)
- Configuring email using Gmail's SMTP, and POP or IMAP email protocols
Use Gmail via account linking (OAUTH)
TopView 6.35 added support for linking email to your Google account for outgoing email and incoming email. The underlying authentication flow between TopView and Google is called OAUTH.
To configure this link, open the TopView Configurator application, then go to "Email-SMS Notification" in the left sidebar. Enable Email-SMS Notification and click the "[Configure]" button. Go to the "Outgoing Email Settings" tab and click the "[Sign in with Google]" button. Follow the prompts to link TopView to your Google account for email.
You may need to add port ":587" to the SMTP address, especially if initial tests fail (port 25 is used by default).
After completing the process of signing in with Google, you can optionally enable incoming email as well.
We recommend using a dedicated email account for emailing with TopView, especially if you set up incoming email. TopView will delete emails from the inbox when processing them.
Use Gmail via SMTP (outgoing) and POP/IMAP (incoming, optional)
Create a Gmail account
In order to use Gmail's mail servers from TopView, the TopView computer must have access to the Internet (gmail.com) and the SMTP and POP ports mentioned below must not be blocked.
If you want to support TopView reading email for acknowledgments: log into your Gmail account and enable POP or IMAP if you want to use incoming email in TopView - this is not required for email notification)
Settings
- Forwarding and POP/IMAP
- Enable either POP Download, or IMAP access.
- Save your changes
You will need to adjust Gmail's setting to allow access for "less secure apps".
To avoid using "less secure apps", continue to the "With Two Factor" section below
TopView Configurator Email Notification Settings screen
Outgoing email
SMTP Server: smtp.gmail.com:587
This specifies a non-default port 587, although the default 25 usually works
- [X] Secure connection SSL
- [X] Use SMTP Authentication
- User: xxx @gmail.com
- Password: yyy
- From: xxx @gmail.com (will be used regardless of what you put in this field)
- [Send test email] to another email account to verify outgoing email settings
Incoming email settings (optional)
- [X] Enable "Reply-to-email" Acknowledge
AND/OR - [X] Enable "TopView Information Request"
- POP3 Server: pop.gmail.com:995
This specifies a non-default port 995 -
IMAP Server: imap.gmail.com:993
Specifies Gmail's recommended port, 993
- Username: xxx @gmail.com
- Password: yyy
- Authentication: Auto
- [X] Secure Connection, Implicit
- Check the mailbox and wait: 20 seconds (or desired check interval for processing incoming email)
- [Test] to verify POP settings
With Two Factor Authentication ("more secure")
To use Gmail without enabling access for "less secure apps" in your Google account, you will need to enable Two Factor Authentication.
- Enable Two Factor Authentication for your Google Account
- Create an App Password for TopView to use
- Enter the App Password into TopView's outgoing SMTP password field, and in the POP password field if incoming email is enabled for the TopView configuration.
Changing your Google Account password will automatically revoke any App Passwords.
TopView uses the accepted standard of SSL/TLS for secure communication with email servers. "Less secure" does not indicate that TopView is using bad security practices, it's how Google indicates that there are ways to keep your Google account's password unknown to the TopView application (which is a preferred security practice) as well as allowing your Google account to revoke access to TopView. Learn more about what "Less secure apps" means from Google.
Related Articles
Why does my notification include a time that's not included in notification message template?
When using a notification message template to send consistent notifications for alarms, you may notice a timestamp at the start of the notification that isn't in the template. This is due to an outgoing email setting, and can be suppressed. To remove ...Send different notification messages to voice and email, to email & SMS, or other different notification methods
How to send different notification messages to different recipients for the same alarm Method 1: Use multiple tag groups with tag group notifications The simplest way to send different notification messages through different media is to use tag group ...OAUTH access for TopView with Microsoft 365
This article provides information on setting up access to email for TopView through a Microsoft 365 system. TopView can leverage "Modern Authentication", or OAUTH, access to Microsoft 365 email systems. To facilitate access, TopView requires an ...Ports used during TopView operation
TopView can utilize a number of ports to perform its job, configure your firewall to allow communication over the following ports: Data source related ports OPC requires the use of DCOM, which is negotiated over port 135 TCP. The client and server ...Move TopView to new computer
Moving TopView to a new machine will require a new license file. Please contact support@exele.com with your current license file to begin the process. See our article How to locate your TopView license to find the license. If you also intend to ...