SMTP server names

[smelliott]

OK, two part question, but first...why is everyone so mesmerized by lookOut, er, I mean Outlook? I have seen so many posts on how to send email to/fro, add attachments, fry an egg with Outlook, but how about internet emails?

Q1: What are the SMTP server names for Yahoo, Hotmail, Gmail, Excite, and any other major internet email provider?

Q2: Is it feasible to create a macro that will connect to say Yahoo mail (code will have username and pwd), compose a new email, attach a file (bonus step, but not necessary), then send it to a list of users?

The send email example with MacroScheduler and other posts on this site are 80-90% what I need (formatting, populating addresses, simple shyt like that), but I haven't figured out the SMTP server name thing for internet email providers. Also, how do you know that the specific internet email page is active? Then the compose page is active?

What I am trying to do you may ask? For those of us tech savvy people, we have...gulp...technologically challenged people in our families...the horror! You know, the people who still own a TV that takes 10 minutes to warm up the tube and doesn't have a remote??? I want to send a macro in email to a relative (far away or I'd be manually doing it), that will install itself* on their desktop, and when ran will open a new email window with the TO filled out. They then type and hit send.

*Note, macro may install several macros, each with a different TO address.

P.S. I have ISP through my cable provider, so I use internet email only, not PC based email.

[support]

Hi,

Email from Outlook is nearly always "internet email". Perhaps the only time it isn't is when Outlook is used in a corporate environment and the recipient is within the local network.

Probably the reason Outlook is mentioned here so much is that it offers an ActiveX interface which Macro Scheduler, through VBScript, can access. This makes it ideal for automation. But this is not the only way to automate the sending of email. We have the SMTPSendMail command and Microsoft's CDO COM Message class (http://www.mjtnet.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1663) as two alternative methods. Or you can just automate any other email client via user simulation.

I think when you refer to Internet Email as opposed to "PC based email" you're actually referring to the client rather than the transport mechanism.

I'd be surprised if any of the web mail providers offer any kind of SMTP server access. To find out you'd have to refer to them. You can be sure that they will not be open relays so some form of authentication would be required if they did even provide SMTP access. Ask the provider in question and find out what the SMTP server address is and how to access it.

In theory you could automate a web mail client, either by user simulation, or more reliably by interfacing with the Internet Explorer ActiveX and document object model. See following examples:
http://www.mjtnet.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1390
http://www.mjtnet.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1461

However, I wouldn't be surprised if the web mail providers in question have clever ways to prevent this kind of access - by changing form field names randomly for example.

If you just want an easy way for someone to send you an email then the simplest approach would be just to use SMTPSendMail in conjunction with a known SMTP server. What I would do is set my own SMTP server up which requires a specific username/password combination. My script would then use these details to send the email. That way I know it will work on any PC connected to the Internet. Simple.