Send through Microsoft 365

Grade school

If your work email is from Microsoft, your store can send its emails from that account. You need a paid version of the email plugin for this.

High school

A fit if your business already uses Microsoft 365 and has, or will buy, WP Mail SMTP Pro. Storefront emails go out from a real mailbox and appear in its Sent Items.

Microsoft sets sending limits, and messages can be delayed by a couple of minutes. For higher volume, a dedicated service such as SendGrid or Brevo is a better fit.

College

The Outlook mailer sends through Microsoft’s API with OAuth. WP Mail SMTP offers a One-Click Setup and a manual route using your own app registration. The plugin guide notes minor delivery delays of up to a couple of minutes, and the From address must be the authorized mailbox unless you’ve set up an alias, shared mailbox or delegation.

Postgraduate

As with any user-mailbox transport, delivery depends on one account’s lifecycle, licensing and conditional-access policy. A manual app registration also brings a client secret with a fixed expiry, which becomes an operational renewal task.

Developer

Manual route: Microsoft Entra app registration, redirect URI from WP Mail SMTP, client secret (the plugin guide suggests a 24-month expiry). Exchange Online sending limits apply. Mailer ID: outlook. Source: WP Mail SMTP Outlook mailer.

Grade school

You make a permission slip in Microsoft that lets your website send email from your account. Or, with the paid plugin, press one button to do it for you.

High school

Easiest: use WP Mail SMTP’s One-Click Setup and sign in with the sending mailbox.

Manual: in the Microsoft Entra admin center, create an app registration, add the Web redirect URI that WP Mail SMTP shows you, and create a client secret. Copy the secret’s Value immediately — Microsoft won’t show it again — straight into WP Mail SMTP.

College

The app registration is your site’s identity in your Microsoft tenant; the client secret authenticates it; the mailbox user’s consent authorizes sending. Choose the supported account types the plugin guide specifies, and note the secret’s expiry date so it’s renewed before storefront email stops.

Postgraduate

Keep the registration owned by an administrative group rather than one person, record the secret expiry, and prefer a service mailbox as the consenting account. Revoking the app’s consent or deleting its secret cleanly cuts off the site without touching user passwords.

Developer

Entra → App registrations → New registration; Redirect URI platform Web, value copied from WP Mail SMTP; Certificates & secrets → New client secret. Enter the Application (client) ID and secret in the plugin. Delegated consent grants the plugin permission to send as the signed-in mailbox.

Grade school

Paste the codes into your website, sign in to let it send, and send yourself a test.

High school

1. In WP Mail SMTP → Settings, choose the 365 / Outlook mailer.
2. Use One-Click Setup, or paste the Application ID and secret from your app registration.
3. Authorize while signed in as the sending mailbox.
4. Set From Email to that same mailbox and set your From Name, then send Tools → Email Test.

College

The plugin guide is explicit: use the same address you authorized. To send as a different address, set up an alias, shared mailbox or Send As permission in Microsoft 365 first. Set Reply-To in WooCommerce.

Postgraduate

Send As and shared-mailbox permissions are tenant-level grants: review them like any access right, and remove them if the storefront stops using that identity.

Developer

Expect minor queue delays per the plugin guide. Monitor for token expiry or consent revocation and for the client secret’s expiry date.

Grade school

Your domain needs Microsoft’s notes, which were probably added when you set up Microsoft email. Make sure the signature (DKIM) is turned on.

High school

Your SPF record should include Microsoft (include:spf.protection.outlook.com). Turn on DKIM for your domain in Microsoft’s security portal and add the two records it gives you. Keep your DMARC record.

College

Mail sent through this mailer leaves Microsoft’s servers as your domain, so SPF passes through Microsoft’s include and DKIM passes once your domain’s DKIM signing is enabled — both aligned with your From domain for DMARC. No extra sending-service records are needed.

Postgraduate

Microsoft advises against flattening its SPF include because its sending IPs change frequently; keep the include in your single SPF record and watch the 10-lookup limit if you add other services.

Developer

SPF: include:spf.protection.outlook.com in your single record (Microsoft SPF). DKIM: enable for the custom domain and publish the selector1._domainkey and selector2._domainkey CNAMEs shown (Microsoft DKIM).