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[Branda Pro] Add support for Microsoft 365 Mail

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Branda supports SMTP connections but it doesn’t support Microsoft 365 because Microsoft has changed their requirements. Now you have to user their APIs in order to create app IDs, client IDs etc in order to connect Outlook to a site.

FluentSMTP has a step-by-step guide on how to do this (https://fluentsmtp.com/docs/setup-outlook-with-fluentsmtp/#add-new-microsoft-connection).

Unfortunately I had to disable Branda and install FluentSMTP to make Outlook work on a client’s site. I’ve also wasted ~20 minutes of a support agent’s time because there is no documentation for this case and he didn’t know why Branda doesn’t work, even though SMTP and the credentials were correct.

Wed, 4 Oct 2023 9:28:44
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  • TrueHammer
    • Site Builder, Child of Zeus

    Ok, so I have been using Fluent SMTP and it kinda works…. as in after playing around with the user levels to get an account that has Entra credentials and can set up the app ID and other credentials and setting teh authorisation longevity for 2 years – the plugin works ……… for bit! Have had this exchange with their support:

    =======
    But after a month I get:

    FluentSMTP Plugin may not work properly. Looks like your Authentication unique keys and salts are changed. Reconfigure SMTP Settings

    Which I can do, but after this has happened for a few months, I am getting fed up of emails not sending, having to reconfigure and then resend all the failed emails. It is happening on more than one site and it is becoming problematic – to the point of not being useable with MS 365

    Any idea why this is happening and is it the MS credentials changing of those of WordPress? I have WPMU Dev Defender Pro installed.

    Their reply:

    Thanks for reaching out to WPManageNinja support.
    Based on the information you’ve provided, it seems like the issue might be related to a security plugin modifying the unique SALTS in your WordPress wp-config.php file. Some security plugins, including WPMU Dev Defender Pro, can automatically update these keys and salts for added security, which could cause the authentication credentials to reset every time this happens.
    To resolve this, I recommend checking the settings of your security plugin to see if it has an option to automatically regenerate the WordPress keys and salts. If that’s the case, you can either adjust the settings to exclude wp-config.php from these updates or disable the automatic regeneration of keys and salts altogether.
    Additionally, you may want to confirm that the Microsoft 365 credentials remain unchanged during this process and that no other security features are interfering with the authentication process.
    This should help ensure that the FluentSMTP connection remains stable and prevent the need to reconfigure it repeatedly.

    SO my questions are:

    1. Is their answer realistic?
    2. How do I find the setting for this in Defender Pro (can’t see it in the documentation)? and,
    3. What is the downside of turning such a setting off?

  • Zafer Oz
    • Ex Staff

    Hi TrueHammer ,

    I hope you are doing well today!

    The answer provided by WPManageNinja support seems realistic and plausible. Security plugins like Defender Pro can modify the unique SALTS in the wp-config.php file, which could potentially cause authentication issues with plugins like FluentSMTP.

    To find the setting in Defender Pro that controls the automatic regeneration of WordPress keys and salts, you can navigate through Defender Pro->Recommendations->Update Old Security Keys
    [attachments are only viewable by logged-in members]
    https://vvqmubev.com/docs/wpmu-dev-plugins/defender/#recommendation-update-old-security-keys

    The downside of turning off the automatic regeneration of keys and salts in Defender Pro would be a potential decrease in security for your WordPress site. These keys and salts play a crucial role in encrypting sensitive information and securing user data. Therefore, disabling this feature could leave your site vulnerable to security threats. It is important to weigh the convenience of not having to reconfigure plugins like FluentSMTP against the potential security risks of disabling this feature.

    Kind regards,
    Zafer

  • Zafer Oz
    • Ex Staff

    Hi again TrueHammer

    11 months on, any news on BRANDA working with MS 365? Surely there should at least be a 1/4 target for the solution?

    I understand your frustration, and apologize for not being able to provide you with a specific timeframe for a fix. However, please rest assured that our Branda team strives to fix each bug and feature request/improvement as quickly as possible.

    In general, providing an ETA for can be challenging since our developers need to consider the issue’s complexity, prioritize tasks depending on their severity, and manage their workload. Those fixes should also be checked by our QA team. This is why we could not provide a clear timeline for the specific issue you’re experiencing.

    Thanks for your understanding.

    Kind regards,
    Zafer

  • Willem
    • The Incredible Code Injector

    Another year has passed and not available yet. 3 years this has been on the backlog. This is not OK. More and more clietns are moving away from simple cpanel based emails and Exchange is the first choice. This will make Forminator an outdated product. I am being pushed to implement Fluent every week by marketing agencies and this is just another reason I can’t resist much longer. Now the IT team is also pushing to move to Fluent which supports this feature.

    • PegWeb
      • Site Builder, Child of Zeus

      Willem, we stopped using it and started using Fluent SMTP. I really like the Discord notification feature it has, too. Any company that expects its customer base to hang around for years waiting on a feature that is commonly available in other solutions is a company that slowly loses its customer base.

  • Williams Valerio
    • Staff

    Hi Willem ,

    I hope you’re doing well.

    I’ve checked this again, and there is a plan to add this feature in Branda 3.5. We’re currently in 3.4.31

    Please note that while there are plans for that, I can’t give you an ETA and there is always a possiblity that those plans change, for example if something goes wrong with the feature, it could get delayed to another version.

    You can always follow our roadmap, where we add the next big features for our plugins and services: https://vvqmubev.com/roadmap/

    Best Regards,
    Williams Valerio

  • Jasper Alamares
    • Staff

    Hi Julian ,

    At this point and as my colleague previously shared, the team is already planning to add this in a future version of the plugin however, we don’t have any other information such as timeline that is available at this moment.

    Rest assured, whenever important updates specific to Branda plugins becomes available, we ensure to share and update them on our Roadmap’s page so it would be good to subscribe and follow it to get notified.

    Thank you for your understanding with this matter.

    Best Regards,
    Jasper