title: configuring rails to send email via the microsoft live smtp server
body: <p>There is a lot of information in rails about setting up rails to <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/5026098/sending-email-from-gmail-rails-3">work with gmail</a> and I have done this for a personal (e.g. myemail@gmail.com ) website.<br>
  Now unfortunately google apps for businesses no longer offers free mail hosting but as it says <a href="http://www.wpbeginner.com/beginners-guide/how-to-setup-a-professional-branded-email-address-with-outlook-com/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">here</a> apparently outlook do.<br>
  so I followed the instructions, changed my DNS MX records and everything and set up smtp (similar to the google version like <a href="http://email.about.com/od/Outlook.com/f/What-Are-The-Outlook-com-Smtp-Server-Settings.htm" rel="nofollow noreferrer">so</a> )<br>
  this gives me (eg from <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/13810580/rails-3-smtp-settings-for-hotmail-live-hosted-email">here</a>):</p>
  
  <pre><code>config.action_mailer.deconfig.action_mailer.delivery_method = :smtp
  config.action_mailer.smtp_settings = {
    :address              =&gt; "smtp.live.com",
    :port                 =&gt; 587,
    :domain               =&gt; 'mydomain.com'
    :user_name            =&gt; 'username',
    :password             =&gt; 'mypass',
    :authentication       =&gt; 'plain',
    :enable_starttls_auto =&gt; true  }
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>ahh. I have finally solved this, I figure I'll post it to save somebody else the hassle. I had massive headaches trying to get this microsoft server to send from any address, my solution is now to use <a href="http://help.mandrill.com/entries/21738467-Using-Mandrill-s-SMTP-integration-with-Web-Frameworks" rel="nofollow noreferrer">mandrill</a> it's easy to configure and free for less than 12k emails per month.<br>
  (DISCLAIMER: I have no connection to Mandrill, please let me know any tips to allow the microsoft server to work, I couldn't and half a day was enough for me)</p>