How do I stop my emails from ending up in the spam folder?
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By default, NodeBB instances should be able to send email out of the box. However, having the server send emails is not ideal, as the server itself does not have any reputation (and in some cases, may have a negative reputation if a spammer sent messages from the IP in the past).
In nearly all cases, you will want to open up an account with a third-party emailer service, who can handle these outgoing messages for you.
Here at NodeBB, we recommend "nodebb-plugin-emailer-sendgrid", which is installable via the admin control panel. SendGrid has a free tier that is fairly generous, so you should not have to pay any upfront or recurring costs.
Once the plugin is installed and activated, you will need to register a new account at SendGrid and create an API key for NodeBB to use.
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Email is email, so this has nothing to do with NodeBB specifically. So this answer is a pure "general IT" response...
At the end of the day, it is impossible to control email going into someone's spam folder, what does and doesn't go into that folder is at their discretion. It's like asking "how can I guarantee that someone will read my letter that I mail to them?" You can't. Once you deliver the letter, you have to just hope that they will open it and read it, you can't force them.
But there are many things that you can do to encourage email not being seen as spam. First, make sure you are using an enterprise email service. No amount of "good behaviour" from small time email services will get the delivery reliability of the big boys, and even those get marked as spam often.
You can ask your users to whitelist you. But that's just asking them not to let you go to spam, it's up to them.
Make sure you have proper SPF and DKIM records, and that your IP is not on any blacklists, and that you aren't sending any spam or anything that looks like spam from your system. Make sure your domain URL isn't blacklisted. Some incompetent shops check PTR records, too, which is total BS, but as some incompetent people do that, it can help to have a "proper as they incorrectly see it" PTR set for your email server, too.
That's about all that you can do, all anyone can do. For any email, for any purpose.
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By default, NodeBB instances should be able to send email out of the box. However, having the server send emails is not ideal, as the server itself does not have any reputation (and in some cases, may have a negative reputation if a spammer sent messages from the IP in the past).
In nearly all cases, you will want to open up an account with a third-party emailer service, who can handle these outgoing messages for you.
Here at NodeBB, we recommend "nodebb-plugin-emailer-sendgrid", which is installable via the admin control panel. SendGrid has a free tier that is fairly generous, so you should not have to pay any upfront or recurring costs.
Once the plugin is installed and activated, you will need to register a new account at SendGrid and create an API key for NodeBB to use.
