Email Delivery

Litara can send ebooks directly to an email address — useful for pushing books to a Kindle or other e-reader that accepts email attachments. Delivery is powered by a standard SMTP connection that you configure.

How it works

1. An SMTP configuration tells Litara which mail server to use and how to authenticate.
2. A recipient email address is the address Litara sends books to (e.g. your @kindle.com address).
3. When you click Send on a book, Litara connects to the SMTP server and delivers the file as an attachment.

SMTP configuration

Litara supports two levels of SMTP configuration:

Level	Who configures it	Where
Server (fallback)	Admin only	Admin Settings → Server SMTP
Personal (per-user)	Any user	Settings → Personal SMTP

When sending a book, Litara checks your personal SMTP config first. If you haven't saved one, it falls back to the server-level config. If neither exists, the send request returns an error.

Fields

Field	Description
SMTP Host	Hostname of your mail server, e.g. smtp.gmail.com
Port	Usually 587 (STARTTLS) or 465 (TLS).
From Address	The address that appears in the From: header.
Username	Login username for SMTP authentication.
Password	Stored encrypted at rest — never returned after saving. Leave blank when updating other fields to keep the existing password.
Enable authentication	Toggle SMTP AUTH on or off.
Enable STARTTLS	Upgrade the connection with STARTTLS. Recommended for port 587.

Test connection

Use the Test Connection button to verify your settings without saving. A live SMTP VERIFY probe is sent and the result is shown inline.

Removing a configuration

Click Remove configuration at the bottom of the form and confirm. The configuration is deleted immediately. If you remove a personal config, future sends will fall back to the server config (or fail if none exists).

Recipient email addresses

Recipient addresses are managed per-user in Settings → Recipient Emails.

• Add as many addresses as you like (e.g. one per device).
• The default address is used automatically when you send without picking a specific recipient.
• The first address you add becomes the default. You can change it at any time.

Sending a book

Open any book's detail view and click Send.

• Format — If the book has multiple file formats, a dropdown lets you pick which one to send. EPUB is pre-selected when available.
• Recipient — Defaults to your default recipient address. Change it per-send from the dropdown.
• Large file warning — If the selected file exceeds 25 MB, a warning is shown before sending. Some SMTP servers and e-reader services reject large attachments. You can still send by confirming.

Common SMTP providers

Gmail

Enable App Passwords and use:

Field	Value
Host	smtp.gmail.com
Port	587
Username	your Gmail address
Password	the App Password (not your Google account password)
Enable auth	on
Enable STARTTLS	on

Outlook / Hotmail

Microsoft personal accounts (@outlook.com, @hotmail.com) support SMTP sending. Enable "Allow apps to send mail" under your Microsoft account security settings, then use an App Password if two-step verification is on.

Field	Value
Host	smtp-mail.outlook.com
Port	587
Username	your Outlook/Hotmail address
Password	your account password (or App Password if 2FA is enabled)
Enable auth	on
Enable STARTTLS	on

Security notes

• All SMTP passwords are encrypted at rest using AES-256-GCM with a key derived from JWT_SECRET.
• Rotating JWT_SECRET invalidates all stored SMTP passwords. After rotation, the admin must re-enter the server SMTP password and each user must re-enter their personal SMTP password. See Configuration for details.
• Passwords are never returned by the API after saving — only a masked hint (last 3 characters) is shown.