Here is how I got scanning to email via gmail to work. The existing instructions ( https://atyourservice.blogs.xerox.com/2019/09/10/gmail-and-your-xerox-multifunction-printer/ ) are sort of out of date, so this is what worked as of July 2020 ... I'm sure it will become obsolete as well eventually.
The two key differences from the instructions above are:
- Create "App password" for using gmail with two-factor authentication enabled
- Change "Primary network" to "WiFi" because I have the wifi module installed
Firstly, it doesn't really matter what your operating system is here. Indeed, I have multiple computers and devices with various operating systems and this works for all of them.
Secondly, I'm sure there are more sophisticated ways to do this, but I've got this Workcentre 6515DP MFC for a home office setup and I don't have an IT department and a server closet with a corporate mail server and LDAP and security badges and single-signon and all that jazz. This is simple and easy to use and my kids can scan things without any problems.
This is going through the free gmail mail server that you can use with any gmail account and works if you have two factor authentication set up (which you probably should).
Step 1:
Create an "App password" for the printer to access gmail server (this one key thing difference from the officially published instructions, which tell you to use "Less Secure Apps")
- go to myaccount.google.com
- click on the "Security" icon
- click on "App passwords"
- you will have to authenticate with your google password
- "Select the app and device you want to generate the app password for."
- Select App: "mail"
- Select Device: I picked "Windows Computer" and then "Other" from the drop-down list ... because selecting "Other" directly didn't work (weird bug in the webpage; I'm using Chrome?)
- and named it "HomePrinter"
- "Generate"
- This creates a 16-character password. Ignore the spaces, this is just to make the password more readable. You should note this down (and after you are finished with the setup, you should destroy that information "Mission Impossible" style ... o.k. maybe not, but the password is supposed to be used only for this app.)
Step 2:
Set up gmail itself for using the free SMTP service
- Log into gmail and click on the gear icon in the upper right of the page
- Click on "see all settings"
- Go to "Forwarding and POP/IMAP"
- Enable IMAP
- Enable POP Download
Step 3:
Set up the time and date / time server for the printer. This is needed because SMTP mail will reject things that are not the correct time (you are only allowed to be off by +/- 3 minutes I think).
- Go the web server (in my setup, the printer is on my wireless network and has an IP address of 192.168.1.32. To get to it, I put 192.168.1.32 in the address bar of my web browser)
- Log in as admin
- On my printer, the default password was the serial number of my printer -- ALL CAPS! Some places say the default password is 1.1.1.1, but that is not the case for my printer.
- Of course I've changed it to something I like better
- Click on "System" ... in my web browser I had to scroll to the bottom of the list on the left of the webpage
- Click on "Date and Time"
- Set up the date and time
- Optional: Edit SNTP time server and set to time.nist.gov
Step 4:
Set up the "Primary Network" and "DNS" It took some effort to figure out that I need to set primary network! This was the last thing that I finally got fixed before it started to work. This is probably different from the normal configuraiton because I have added the "WiFi" option. Also, I'm forcing the printer to use the simplest protocol -- IPV4, and also telling it exactly which DNS service to use. I haven't tested all other possible combinations, but this works and there is really no reason to use more complicated setups for me.
- Log in as admin (if you are not already logged in)
- Click on "Connectivity"
- Click on "WiFi"
- Click on "Common"
- Click on "Primary Network"
- Then, click on "IP Mode" and select "IPV4"
- Then click on "OK"
- Clicko on "DNS"
- Turn OFF Use DHCP to assign address
- After turning this off, a few new options will show up ...
- Set "Primary Server" to your router location (mine is "192.168.1.1" -- this is very common)
- Set "Alternate Server" to 8.8.8.8
- 8.8.8.8 is the Google DNS service by the way; it should always exist.
- Click "OK"
- Click "OK"
Step 5:
Set up the SMTP server to use the free gmail server.
- Log in as admin (if you haven't already)
- Click on "Connectivity"
- Click on SMTP
- Set "Device Email" to your email address (I set to "DONOTREPLY@gmail.com because I don't want anyone to reply to the printer!)
- Set "Server Address" to smtp.gmail.com
- Set "Outgoing SMTP Port Number" to 587
- Pick "STARTTLS (If Available)"
- Set SMTP Authentication to "SMTP AUTH"
- Set SMTP Auth Username to your gmail address (me@gmail.com)
- Set SMTP Auth Password to the "App password" from step 1
- Click o.k.
Step 6:
How to use:
- Nice to have: add emails to address book; add address book people to favorites
- Go to the printer and click on "Scan To" (you can be "Guest"; log in not required ... there is a way to change this but I have a pretty open setup because I don't need the security)
- Pick "Favorites", "Contacts", or "Emails"
- Favorites & Contacts
- Pick from the list; no need to type in the email address
- Emails
- You can type in any email address
