Microsoft is retiring Basic Authentication for Office 365 email sending at the end of December 2026. If any of your Access-hosted systems currently use this method such as your Timesheet Portal, Candidate Portal, registration pages, inbound SMS replies, automated alerts and reminders, or compliance notifications; you will need to switch to an alternative setup before then to avoid disruption.
â ď¸ Important: If you do not send emails from your Access-hosted systems via Microsoft Office 365, no action is required. You can disregard this notice.
Your options
There are two ways to keep your email sending working after the change. Review both options and choose whichever best suits your organisation:
Option 1: Move to a dedicated email-sending service (preferred)
Many organisations are switching to a specialist email-sending provider built for this purpose. Examples include SendGrid, SMTP2GO, and similar services. There are many providers available,the choice is entirely yours, and we cannot recommend one over another. Please select whichever best suits your business and budget.
Option 2: Keep using Office 365 with an adjusted setup
It may be possible to continue using Office 365 with a reconfigured setup. We cannot confirm at this stage whether Microsoft will make this available, but if your IT team can configure a working alternative and provide us with the required details, we are happy to use them.
đ Note: You can find more information about the Microsoft change and what it means for Office 365 email sending on the Microsoft website.
What we need from you
Whichever option you choose, please send us the following details. Your IT provider or the team managing your new email service will have these.
Server address: the address of the mail server we need to send through (sometimes called the SMTP host).
Port: the port number the server uses (for example, 587).
Username: the login name for the email account.
Password: the password for the account. Please do not send this by email; we will agree a secure way to share it with you.
đ¤ Tip: Please test these settings before sending them to us. Your IT team will be able to help with this. Testing in advance helps us confirm everything is correct and allows us to switch your systems over without delay.
On-premise systems
If any of the affected systems are hosted on your own servers or premises rather than by us, we may need remote access or assistance from your IT team to update the settings. Please let us know if this applies to you so we can plan accordingly.
Contact us
If you have any questions, need help deciding between the two options, or are ready to share your new details with us, please get in touch via your normal support channel.
We are happy to talk through what this means for your specific setup and to support you through the change.
đĄ Good to know
To help you transition over to modern authentication here are the details of how to set this up and how to configure it.