You can use the WPO365 Microsoft Graph Mailer instead of SMTP to send WordPress emails from personal Microsoft accounts like Hotmail.com or Outlook.com. This is particularly useful for administrators seeking alternatives, as Microsoft plans to retire support for basic authentication for client submission (SMTP AUTH).
To continue sending emails from a personal Microsoft account such as Hotmail.com or Outlook.com, you need to register your (WordPress) application in Entra ID, as explained in this step. However, with one crucial difference: When creating the App Registration, make sure to have selected one of the following two options for Supported account types (see screenshot below):
- Accounts in any organizational […] and personal Microsoft accounts […]
- Personal Microsoft accounts only
Please note that you need a Microsoft Entra ID tenant to send WordPress emails using a personal Microsoft account, such as Hotmail.com or Outlook.com. To create one, you can sign up for free. For as long as you do not subscribe to any of the services provided, you won’t incur any charges.
Once you have created the App Registration in Entra ID with support for personal Microsoft accounts, you can follow along with the remaining steps, with the following differences:
- You may skip the step Configure ID token claims and instead continue immediately to Configure API Permissions.
- Once you start with the step Configure default “From” account you must ensure that you check following options (as shown below).
- Is a personal Microsoft account (e.g. Outlook.com, Hotmail.com)
- Skip all checks
- Continue with the step Authorize / Connect to Microsoft Graph. You will be asked to sign in with your personal Microsoft account and to grant consent by clicking Accept, as shown below.
- After you authorized successfully, you can continue by sending a test email.