E-Mail notifications in SharePoint

In one of my previous posts I have written about the added value that the Windows SharePoint Services (WSS) can provide to your EPM solution. As you may know WSS - among many other things - is capable of sending user's action-triggered e-mails, e.g. send an e-mail when a new item has been added to a specific list. This is a very powerful function that helps users to stay up-to-date without having to check each SharePoint site daily or even on a hourly basis. The purpose of this post is to guide you through the process of configuring the e-mail notification on your SharePoint server.

Step 1: Configuring default e-mail settings

1. Connect to the server running WSS using the farm admin account.
2. Open the Central Administration website
3. From the section 'Server Configuration', select 'Configure default e-mail server settings'
4. Fill in the information of your SMTP/Exchange server (host name, fully qualified domain name or IP address)
5. Fill in the information for 'From address' as well as 'Reply-to address'. Note that this can be an un-monitored account
6. Select the applicable character set (default: 65001 Unicode) should work in most cases

Step 2: Configuring virtual server

1. Go back to the Central Administration start page
2. Click 'Extend or Upgrade Virtual Server'
3. Click the link 'Complete list' and then select the website hosting WSS (e.g. Default Website)
4. From the 'Virtual Server Management' section, select 'Virtual server e-mail settings'
5. Fill in the information as mentioned above in Step 1, points 4 - 6

Post-configuration

On your server, go to Administrative Tools - Services and look for the 'SharePoint Timer Service'. If the e-mail notifications are not working yet, change the account running the service from 'NT Authority' to 'Local System'. You can do this under the service's properties in the 'Log on' tab.

For additional information regarding e-mail notifications with WSSv2, see http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/wss/2/all/adminguide/en-us/stsf13.mspx?mfr=true

E-mail notification in Project Server

Please note that the above steps only address Windows SharePoint Services. This means that through these settings you will allow your users to receive notification on changes in project workspaces, e.g. when somebody has uploaded a new document or modified an issue.

E-mail notifications for Project Server are completely separate from the settings in WSS. To enable e-mail notification in Project Server, go to the PWA Admin section and select 'Customize Project Web Access' followed by 'Notifications and reminders'. Filling in the correct information here will e.g. enable team members to receive notifications about new assignments or alert project managers about task updates that must be approved.