How to send email from Gmail with Qlik Application Automation.. Do you want to send email from your Gmail account with Qlik Application Automation, a service that lets you automate tasks and workflows based on data insights from your Qlik Sense applications? If so, you might need to configure Gmail as a SMTP email server in Qlik Cloud management console first. In this blog post, I will show you how to do that in a few simple steps.

What is Qlik Application Automation

Qlik Application Automation is a no-code visual design tool that enables users to automate manual work.
Instead of writing code, users can combine configurable blocks that they drag and drop onto a canvas, forming a sequence of action steps from a variety of SaaS applications, including Qlik Cloud

With Qlik Application Automation, you can create dynamic processes that automatically respond to business events and trigger information-based actions for your most popular SaaS applications. For instance, when analytics show that high-value customers are responding positively to a new offer, your loyalty program can automatically activate, seizing the business moment.

In the following previous articles:

We already took a look on some uses cases using Qlik Application Automation, let’s now see how to Send Email from Gmail with Qlik Application Automation.

What is SMTP?

SMTP stands for Simple Mail Transfer Protocol, a standard protocol for sending and receiving email messages over the internet. SMTP servers are responsible for delivering email messages from one address to another. You can use different SMTP servers to send email from different email providers, such as Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, etc.

Why do you need to configure Gmail as a SMTP email server?

By default, Qlik Application Automation uses the Qlik Cloud Services (QCS) SMTP server to send email from the QCS domain. However, if you want to send email from your own Gmail account, you need to configure Gmail as a SMTP email server in Qlik Cloud management console. This way, you can use your own email address and credentials to send email with Qlik Application Automation.

How to configure Gmail as a SMTP email server?

To configure Gmail as a SMTP email server in Qlik Cloud management console, you need to follow these steps:

  1. Log in to your Gmail account and go to Settings > See all settings > Accounts and Import > Other Google Account settings.
  2. Click on Security and scroll down to Less secure app access. Turn on the option to allow less secure apps to access your account. This is necessary because Qlik Application Automation uses a less secure authentication method to connect to Gmail.
  3. Log in to your Qlik Cloud management console and go to Settings > SMTP settings.
  4. Enter the following information:
    • Host: The SMTP server name for Gmail, which is smtp.gmail.com.
    • Port: The SMTP port number for Gmail, which is 587.
    • Username: Your Gmail address, such as yourname@gmail.com.
    • Password: Your Gmail password, or an app password if you have enabled two-factor authentication for your account.
    • Use SSL/TLS: Check this option to enable secure connection between Qlik Application Automation and Gmail.
  5. Click on Save to save your settings.

How to send email from Gmail with Qlik Application Automation?

After configuring Gmail as a SMTP email server in Qlik Cloud management console, you can send email from your Gmail account with Qlik Application Automation. To do that, you need to create an automation that uses the Send email action and configure it with your Gmail address and credentials.

Here are the steps to create an automation that sends email from Gmail with Qlik Application Automation:

  1. From the Qlik Sense hub, click on the Automations tab and then click on the Create automation button.
  2. Give your automation a name and a description. For example, I will name my automation “Email Report” and describe it as “Send a sales report via email with Gmail”.
  3. Select the Qlik Sense application that you want to use as the source of data. For example, I will select an application called “Sales Analysis”.
  4. Drag and drop the Send email action from the palette to the canvas.
  5. Configure the Send email action with the following parameters:
    • From: Your Gmail address, such as yourname@gmail.com.To: The recipient’s email address, such as customer@gmail.com.Subject: The subject line of the email. For example, I will use “Sales Report”.Body: The content of the email. You can use HTML tags and variables from your Qlik Sense application to customize your message. For example, I will use this template:

    <p>Hi,</p> <p>Please find attached the sales report for <b>{Month}</b>.</p> <p>The total sales amount is <b>${Sales}</b>.</p> <p>Thank you for your business.</p>
    • Attachments: The files that you want to attach to the email. You can use variables from your Qlik Sense application to attach dynamic files. For example, I will attach a PDF file of the sales report using this variable: {SalesReport}.
  6. Connect the Send email action to the Start node with a logic connector.
  7. Save your automation by clicking on the Save button.

Source

This post has been written based on “Configuring Gmail as an SMTP email server to send report via email with Qlik Application Automation” Qlik official video.

Conclusion

Configuring Gmail as a SMTP email server in Qlik Cloud management console is a simple and useful way to send email from your Gmail account with Qlik Application Automation. It can help you communicate with your customers, partners, or colleagues in a timely and professional manner.

If you want to learn more about how to configure Gmail as a SMTP email server in Qlik Cloud management console, you can watch this video that shows a brief overview and a demo of how to do it. You can also visit this website that offers a video help on Qlik Application Automation.

I hope you enjoyed this blog post and found it useful. If you have any questions or feedback, please let me know in the comments section below. Thank you for reading! 😊