Step-by-Step Guide to Configuring PHPMailer SMTP for Your Email Address

1. Create an Email Address
First, create an email address under your domain (e.g., admin@yourdomain.com) in the cPanel Email Accounts section. If you already have an email account that you intend to use, you can obtain the necessary SMTP configuration details by navigating to Connect Devices next to the relevant email address.
(You can check out our previous blog, "Set Up Email Accounts for Your Domain Using cPanel" for a detailed guide on creating professional email accounts in cPanel.)

2. Set Up the Directory Structure
Next, create a folder named phpmail within your cPanel File Manager's public_html directory. Inside the phpmail folder, create two additional folders named config and mailscript. Download the PHPMailer library from the PHPMailer GitHub repository and place the extracted files into the phpmail folder. The directory structure should look like this:

/home/USERNAME/public_html/phpmail/config

/home/USERNAME/public_html/phpmail/PHPMailer

/home/USERNAME/public_html/phpmail/mailscript

(If you place the files in a different location, ensure you update the $directoryPath variable in the relevant scripts to reflect the correct file paths.)

3. Add SMTP Credentials
Create a file named .smtpconfig inside the config folder and add the following code:

  smtp_debug = 0
  smtp_host = smtpoutgoingserver.com
  smtp_port = 465
  smtp_secure = ssl
  smtp_username = admin@yourdomain.com
  smtp_password = your-email-password
  email_from = admin@yourdomain.com
  email_from_name = Admin

Modify the fields with the appropriate SMTP credentials for your email address. If hidden files are not enabled in cPanel, select Show Hidden Files (dotfiles) in Settings to view and edit this file.

4. Extract Mail Credentials
Create a file named smtpconfig.php inside the config folder and add the following PHP code to extract mail credentials from the hidden configuration file:

<?php

$directoryPath = dirname(dirname(__DIR__));

$configFilePath = $directoryPath . '/phpmail/config/.smtpconfig';

// Read and parse the hidden config file
$config = parse_ini_file($configFilePath);

// Extract values from the config array
$smtpdebug = $config['smtp_debug'];
$smtphost = $config['smtp_host'];
$smtpport = $config['smtp_port'];
$smtpsecure = $config['smtp_secure'];
$smtpUsername = $config['smtp_username'];
$smtpPassword = $config['smtp_password'];
$emailFrom = $config['email_from'];
$emailFromName = $config['email_from_name'];

?>

5. Test SMTP Configuration and Send an Email
Create a file named testmail.php inside the mailscript folder and add the following PHP code to test the email sending functionality:

<?php

use PHPMailer\PHPMailer\PHPMailer;
use PHPMailer\PHPMailer\Exception;

$directoryPath = dirname(dirname(__DIR__));

require $directoryPath . '/phpmail/PHPMailer/src/Exception.php';
require $directoryPath . '/phpmail/PHPMailer/src/PHPMailer.php';
require $directoryPath . '/phpmail/PHPMailer/src/SMTP.php';

include $directoryPath . '/phpmail/config/smtpconfig.php';

// Set up PHPMailer
$mail = new PHPMailer;
$mail->isSMTP();
$mail->SMTPDebug = $smtpdebug;
$mail->Host = $smtphost;
$mail->Port = $smtpport;
$mail->SMTPSecure = $smtpsecure;
$mail->SMTPAuth = true;
$mail->Username = $smtpUsername;
$mail->Password = $smtpPassword;
$mail->setFrom($emailFrom, $emailFromName);

// Test Mail
$mail->addAddress("test@domain.com", "Test Mail");
$mail->Subject = 'PHPMailer SMTP Test';
$mail->msgHTML("This is a test mail");

if(!$mail->send()){
    echo "Mailer Error: " . $mail->ErrorInfo;
} else {
    echo "Message sent!";
}

?>

Replace test@domain.com with the recipient's email address and open https://yourdomain.com/phpmail/mailscript/testmail.php in your browser to check the email sending functionality by sending a test mail. If the mail is sent successfully, it will show Message sent! on the webpage.

Use Cases for PHPMailer SMTP Configuration
Configuring PHPMailer SMTP on your cPanel server allows you to send authenticated emails directly from your website. This setup can be used in various scenarios, such as:

Contact Forms: Automatically send confirmation emails to users who submit inquiries through your website's contact form.

Registration Confirmation: Send automated emails to users upon successful registration on your website, providing verification or welcome messages.

Password Resets: Implement password reset functionality by sending secure, automated emails to users who request to reset their passwords.

Order Confirmations: For e-commerce websites, send order confirmation emails to customers upon successful purchase.

Conclusion
By following these steps, you can effectively configure PHPMailer SMTP on your cPanel server to send automated emails from your website. This setup ensures reliable and authenticated email delivery, enhancing the professionalism and security of your email communications.