I’ve read a handful of questions here and the n8n docs but can’t figure this out. Thanks for your help!
Describe the problem/error/question
When I try to use the password reset function for a new n8n installation via Docker Compose on Digital Ocean, I get an error that the email has not been set up yet. I’m using AWS SES for email sending.
I have tried adding environment variables in the .env file and the docker-compose.yml file. Each time I make an update, I reboot the Docker containers and re-test, but have not been able to get rid of the message.
SMTP lines currently on my .env file:
N8N_EMAIL_MODE=smtp
N8N_SMTP_HOST=email-smtp.us-east-1.amazonaws.com
N8N_SMTP_PORT=587
N8N_SMTP_USER=[redacted]
N8N_SMTP_PASS=[redacted]
N8N_SMTP_SENDER=[redacted]
N8N_SMTP_SSL=false
N8N_SMTP_TLS=true
What is the error message (if any)?
Please contact your admin. n8n isn’t set up to send email right now.
Now I don’t get that error message. Instead, I’m told there’s a problem with my email configuration. I’ve tried both AWS and Sendgrid APIs, and still get this error:
Problem sending email
Please contact your administrator (problem with your SMTP setup
It is nice to see you have made some progress, Docker doesn’t always read env option changes when you do a restart and sometimes a full stop and start is needed instead.
With the new issue it is likely to be related to the configuration as well, For AWS can you try the below and see if that works assuming the region is correct.
N8N_EMAIL_MODE=smtp
N8N_SMTP_HOST=email-smtp.us-east-1.amazonaws.com
N8N_SMTP_PORT=587
N8N_SMTP_USER=SMTP Username generated in AWS
N8N_SMTP_PASS=SMTP Password Generated in AWS
N8N_SMTP_SENDER=Any verified identity
N8N_SMTP_SSL=false
If you want to try sendgrid the below should work.
N8N_EMAIL_MODE=smtp
N8N_SMTP_HOST=smtp.sendgrid.net
N8N_SMTP_PORT=465
N8N_SMTP_USER=apikey (the word apikey, not the key itself)
N8N_SMTP_PASS=Sendgrid API key with permission to send mails
N8N_SMTP_SENDER=Any email authenticated in Sendgrid
N8N_SMTP_SSL=true
An update. I still can’t get the setup to work correctly for password resets, but using the same email SMTP details, I can send an email from the send email node.
I think it would be a valuable update to allow users to add SMTP settings for their account with similar inputs to the send email node.
That sounds like a good idea, I have thought for a long time that some of our options should be in the UI and not environment variables.
I have tested both of the options I sent to you though and can confirm they should work. When you have set the options are you restarting the container or doing a stop then a start as Docker often needs the full stop and start for new options to be picked up.
