Apache OpenOffice (AOO) Bugzilla – Issue 114497
Mail Merge E-Mail: "Find outgoing mail server Fail" with particular mail servers
Last modified: 2022-09-27 17:27:49 UTC
I wanted to use the email merge in OpenOffice Writer so I used the wizard which worked well but the mails were not going thru. In fact Writer seemed to hang with nothing happening. (The database containing the name & email addresses is stored in a .xls file.) So I went to Tools->Options->OpenOffice.org Writer->Mail Merge E-mail where I had entered the relevant settings & tried the 'Test Settings' option & found it was hanging. I have checked to see if I had made any error but can see non is there some problem with sending emails thru Writer? The version is 3.2.1 00032m.18(Build 9502) I am using win XP SP3 with all the latest updates installed.
I assume the problem comes through the connection failure with your e-mail provider. Which e-mail provider you're using?
My ISP in Mumbai India is MTNL (Mahanagar Telephone NIgam Ltd) but that was not the problem. My net connection works fine & was working fine when I faced this issue. Today I tried it on a laptop running Win 7 Home Premium & faced the same issue so its not a problem with my machine or ISP
No, what I meant was the smtp authentication Please see issue 106568 for example.
I saw issue 106568, when that person clicks on the 'Test Settings' button he seems to get some results. In my case nothing happens & after some time the title bar that same window which has the 'Test Settings' button shows 'Not Responding'. Then the only option is to kill the application.
This Issue requires more information ('needmoreinfo'), but has not been updated within the last year. Please provide feedback as requested and re-test with the the latest version of OpenOffice - the problem(s) may already be addressed. You can download Apache OpenOffice 3.4.1 from http://www.openoffice.org/download Please report back the outcome of your testing, so this Issue may be closed or progressed as necessary - otherwise the issue may be Resolved as Invalid in the future.
Tools - Options... - OpenOffice Writer - Mail Merge E-mail - Test Settings... -> Test Account Settings dialog window not responding at beginning and then fails. Rev. 1503704 Win 7
(In reply to Edwin Sharp from comment #6) > Tools - Options... - OpenOffice Writer - Mail Merge E-mail - Test > Settings... -> Test Account Settings dialog window not responding at > beginning and then fails. > > Rev. 1503704 Win 7 what settings did you use to test? If a single setting is wrong, it will fail. See bug 119481 comment 1 for Gmail settings, for example. The same applies for the original reporter, s/he didn't provide the settings, so this is a NEEDMOREINFO.
Created attachment 81112 [details] Mail Merge E-mail
Created attachment 81113 [details] Server Authentication
Created attachment 81114 [details] Test Account Settings
https://www.fastmail.fm/help/remote_email_access_setup_instructions.html
(In reply to Edwin Sharp from comment #9) > Created attachment 81113 [details] > Server Authentication In this dialog, choose the first radio button: "The outgoing mail server (SMTP) requires separate authentication" and enter your E-mail in "user name" and your password.
Establish network connection - Successful Find outgoing mail server - Failed
(In reply to Edwin Sharp from comment #13) > Establish network connection - Successful This is a progress ;) > Find outgoing mail server - Failed This needs more info. The component in <program folder>/mailmerge.py has an option to turn on debugging, it prints information in the standard error, but I guess you cannot access this in Windows. If you have access to a Linux system, please try your settings there first. If the still fail, then edit /opt/openoffice4/program/mailmerge.py, in line 68 change "dbg = False" to dbg = True and start OpenOffice from the terminal, to get the debugging output.
Same result as comment 13 on Debian. Can not modify file: su root emacs mailmerge.py goto line 68 and delete False -> Buffer is read-only.
(In reply to Edwin Sharp from comment #15) > Same result as comment 13 on Debian. > Can not modify file: > su root > emacs mailmerge.py > goto line 68 and delete False -> Buffer is read-only. change the permissions (+w), or with vim save forcing using w!
chmod 666 mailmerge.py dbg = True xhost + su ./swriter -> javaldx: Could not find a Java Runtime Environment! PyMailServiceProvider init PyMailServiceProvider create with <uno.Enum com.sun.star.mail.MailServiceType ('SMTP')> PyMailSMPTService init PyMailSMPTService addConnectionListener PyMailSMPTService getSupportedConnectionTypes PyMailSMPTService connect ServerName: mail.messagingengine.com Port: 465 Timeout is instance of int? False Timeout: <object object at 0x9d9090> Hope this is correct, I'm not an expert in Linux
Please try with port 587 https://www.fastmail.fm/help/remote_email_access_server_names_and_ports.html Alternatively, if you're client supports STARTTLS only, you can use port 587 with STARTTLS enabled.
587 gives same result as comment 13 but much quicker without the not responding phase. Rev. 1503704 Win 7
(In reply to Edwin Sharp from comment #19) > 587 gives same result as comment 13 but much quicker without the not > responding phase. > > Rev. 1503704 Win 7 First try to make it work on Linux, where the output to stderr might give a clue of what is wrong in the settings. sudo vim /opt/openoffice4/program/python-core-2.7.5/lib/smtplib.py circa line 226, set debuglevel = 1 to get even more debugging information, then run AOO from the terminal.
Created attachment 81124 [details] debugging output It works now! with 587 and debugging=1 on Rev. 1502185 Debian
*** Issue 124228 has been marked as a duplicate of this issue. ***
I have been using OOo / LibO / AOO Mail merge for more than 10 years, so this can not be a general problem as Summary suggests. Reproducible for smtp.gmail.com, details see here: <https://issues.apache.org/ooo/show_bug.cgi?id=124228#c12> We will have to check Relation / DUPs: "Bug 91875 - Mail Merge Email won't authenticate to server" "Bug 98153 - email merge problem single letter domain name" "Bug 120705 - Mail Merge Options Error on test Account Settings" Already DUPed: "Bug 104037 - Find outgoing mail server - Failed" @Edwin: Comment 21 means Debugging works or Mail Connection works?
I did a test with LibO 4.1.3: Same problem! I can confirm Edwin's result Comment 19 (LibO 4.1.3, OOo 3.3.0): With Port 587 Writer will not become unresponsive, but Also outgoing server failure.
Bug 91875 might be concerning the same problem, all other ones from Comment 23 look different to me
(In reply to Ariel Constenla-Haile from comment #14) Hints how to debug Python on WIN you can find here: <https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=34187#c5> But I doubt that that can bring more information than the Linux debugging. If Python debugging does not help I can do some Wireshark logs comparing auth. with Seamonkey and auth. with AOO
(In reply to Rainer Bielefeld from comment #23) > Comment 21 means Debugging works or Mail Connection works? It means: Establish network connection - Successful Find outgoing mail server - Successful I did not proceed further.
(In reply to Edwin Sharp from comment #27) Strange - what magic did you do? For my Gmail Account I still get "Find outgoing mail server Failed" With settings as following: My Name: Rainer Bielefeld Email-Address: rainerbielefeld@gmail.com Outgoing Server: smtp.gmail.com Port: 587 Use SSL: checked Authentication Outgoing Server needs separate authentication checked User Name: rainerbielefeld@gmail.com Password: (I use my password that works with seamonkey) Can you also try a Gmail account? Gmail currently is in focus of interest.
May be it's simply a "SSL does not work at all" Problem? I tested with a SMTP server I frequently use for mail merge and also for mails from Seamonkey Mail Client: 11. Changed Encryption to "SSL/TLS". Did even not work with Seamonkey, so I dismissed that solution 12. Changed Encryption to "STARTTLS", test worked fine after some certificate messages I had to confirm. But unfortunately that "STARTTLS" setting seems not available for AOO? It sould be interesting to know what encryption exactly that checkmark does enable. So we need information: (a) What encryption method is used (exact description) (b) Someone should do a test parallel with E-Mail-Client and AOO (b1) Without encryption: Both should be able to send (b2) SSL/TLS or what ever: If Client works also AOO should pass test with success
Created attachment 85063 [details] Patch to enable SSL connection connect method always use smtplib.SMTP which does not open SSL connection. The patch changes to use smtplib.SMTP_SSL when the SSL connection is chosen. starttls method should not called when SSL type is chosen.
Created attachment 85064 [details] mailmerge.py patch applied This file contains the patch in Comment 30. If someone want to verify the patch, replace program/mailmerge.py file with this. Here are example settings for some mail services for Writer - Tools - Options - OpenOffice Writer - Mail Merge E-mail. For gmail, - Your name: your name - E-Mail address: user_name@gmail.com - Server name: smtp.gmal.com - Port: 465 - Use secure connection (SSL): check on Push Server Authentication button - The outgoing mail server (SMTP) requires authentication: check on - Choose above radio button (The outgoing mail server (SMTP) requires separate authetication) - User name: user_name@gmail.com - Password: your password In the case of gmail, you have to allow connection from applications having lower security in your account settings. With yahoo mail (yahoo.co.jp in my case): - the same with gmail settings except for User name - User name: user_name In the case of yahoo mail, I have to use user_name without domain part, no @ part.
I have this problem too in OpenOffice 4.1.2 running on Windows 10. Comments and observations: I have duplicated as best I can the settings for a Thunderbird account that works fine. It is NOT a Gmail account. The settings can't be duplicated exactly as T/bird has SSL/TLS as connection security and "Normal Password" as the authentication method. There is no provision for nominating these settings when configuring the email merge in OO Writer. My port setting for both is 995. If the SMTP Server-name is not preceded by an email address (even a bogus one) followed by a hyphen or the string "smtp://", Test settings... simply hangs and the status display is empty. The check-box "Use secure connection (SSL)" seems to make no difference to the task status I get which is: Establish network connection - Successful (even if my Wifi hardware and software is turned off). Find outgoing mail server - Failed. I have had success with another non-Gmail address using a different ISP and protocol on port 25 - but this is not a practical work-around for me.
Reset assigne to the default "issues@openoffice.apache.org".
Are there any updates on this? I have been searching for hours for a fix to the Writer Mail Merge email authentication issue not allowing connection to the SMTP server on port 465 using SSL. I am using InMotionHosting as my IMAP email services but based on the number of forum hits I've seen on this issue, I don't believe this is related to any specific service providers. Also, the only way I can connect to my SMTP server is to configure Writer is to force it to use my specific credentials to connect to my outgoing server by checking "The outgoing mail server (SMTP) requires separate authentication". If I select "The Outgoing mail server uses the same authentication as the incoming mail server". I can't even connect to the server. I cannot find a fix or patch for the Writer client SMTP anywhere. Can someone direct me to a solution for this? Running OpenOffice Version 4.1.5 with Windows 10 Pro.
The patches are not uploaded in the repository. Thus are not part of 4.1.5. I think it should work if you download "mailmerge.py patch applied" and replace mailmerge within your installation. ( I recommend to backup the original file in case of issues so you can roll back. (Better carefull, then sorry) Would you test the patch? ( see if this fixes your issue and report back?) If so we could add it to the next release.
I downloaded the file mailmerge.py but I have no clue how to install this patch.
1) search your OpenOffice installation folder for the filemailmerge.py 2) rename the file to mailmerge.bak 3) copy the downloaded file into the same folder 4) start openoffice and try hth
Set as PATCH Could we commit it for next 4.2.0?
(In reply to oooforum (fr) from comment #38) > Set as PATCH > > Could we commit it for next 4.2.0? Unfortunately Mail Merge seems to be broken in 4.2.0 at the moment. Tested on Ubuntu 18.04: Clicking on "Test Settings..." crashes the program sooner or later. (Immediate crash on Windows 10) This has to be investigated.
(In reply to Matthias Seidel from comment #39) > (In reply to oooforum (fr) from comment #38) > > Set as PATCH > > > > Could we commit it for next 4.2.0? > > Unfortunately Mail Merge seems to be broken in 4.2.0 at the moment. > > Tested on Ubuntu 18.04: Clicking on "Test Settings..." crashes the program > sooner or later. (Immediate crash on Windows 10) > > This has to be investigated. This is fixed now (blame me!) But outgoing server is still not found. I will try the patches.
The patch works with AOO 4.1.12 I don't know if hanya come back here. Also, I create a PR on Github for that: https://github.com/apache/openoffice/pull/151
Hi, The patch doesn't work under macOS(Intel) Monterey. Fyi no issue under Libo.
(In reply to dle from comment #42) > The patch doesn't work under macOS(Intel) Monterey. > Fyi no issue under Libo. Don't work is not enough to understand. Please add information details like this... My Name: OOoforum Email-Address: oooforum@free.fr Outgoing Server: smtp.free.fr Port: 465 Use SSL: checked Authentication Outgoing Server needs separate authentication checked User Name: oooforum Password: ************ Works with macOS Catalina 10.16.7
*** Issue 91875 has been marked as a duplicate of this issue. ***
*** Issue 120705 has been marked as a duplicate of this issue. ***
Created attachment 87099 [details] Parameters of Mailmerge Hi, See the attachment for parameters used. In addition parameters for server authentication : Outgoing Server needs separate authentication checked User Name : my userid Password : mypsw
MacOS Monterey don't provide Python 2.7 anymore. A workaround is to download the .pkg: https://www.python.org/downloads/release/python-2718/
Hi, I have installed Python 2.7 on my Mac and the module "MailMerge.py" patched, all works fine. Regrds