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Invalid SMTP courier URL format (OTA-112022-01)

If you get an error that points you to this document, it means that your email configuration (SMTP URL) is incorrect. The most common reason for incorrect SMTP URLs is using usernames or passwords that contain special characters which are not URL-encoded.

These are examples of incorrect URLs:

smtp://username:pass/word@email-smtp.eu-west-3.amazonaws.com:587
smtp://user%name:pass$word@some-email-service.com:587

Usernames and passwords can contain special characters such as %, / or $ but they must be URL-encoded.

To fix the issue, URL encode the username and password.

  • Use JavaScript:

    console.log(encodeURIComponent("pass/word"))
  • Use an online tool, such as urlencoder.org.

    danger

    Be extremely cautious when providing your credential in any websites or web tools for encoding. If you don't fully trust the provider, consider encoding the credentials locally.

Properly URL-encoded SMTP URLs:

-smtp://username:pass/word@email-smtp.eu-west-3.amazonaws.com:587
+smtp://username:pass%2Fword@email-smtp.eu-west-3.amazonaws.com:587

-smtp://user%name:pass$word@some-email-service.com:587
+smtp://user%25name:pass%24word@some-email-service.com:587