Odoo does not only hold data; it sends and receives email as part of how it works. Email server setup is what makes that work. This piece is about it.
Why Odoo needs email
Email runs through how Odoo works in many places. Odoo sends email: quotations and invoices sent to customers, communications, notifications, and more. Odoo can also receive email, for example email turning into leads or relating to records. So Odoo, to work fully, needs to be able to send and, where used, receive email. That ability does not come from nowhere; it depends on Odoo being connected to email, which is what email server setup provides.
What email server setup is
Email server setup is the configuring of Odoo so it can genuinely send and receive email: connecting Odoo to the email infrastructure, the means by which email is actually sent and received, so that when Odoo needs to send an email, it genuinely can, and where Odoo is to receive email, it genuinely does. Email server setup is, in essence, wiring Odoo into email.
Why getting it right matters
Email server setup matters because the email-dependent parts of Odoo only work if it is done and done right. If Odoo cannot genuinely send email, then sending a quotation or an invoice to a customer, sending notifications, all the email-dependent things, do not work. If Odoo is meant to receive email and the setup is wrong, the things that depend on received email do not work. So email server setup is not an optional extra; it is what makes a real, working part of Odoo function. A business setting up Odoo needs the email server setup done, and done correctly, for the email-dependent parts of the system to genuinely work.
Email server setup should be done properly
An honest note. Email server setup is a genuine technical setup task, connecting Odoo correctly to email infrastructure, and getting it genuinely right matters, since email is something both Odoo and customers genuinely depend on. It should be done properly, with the genuine technical care it needs, so that Odoo's sending and receiving of email genuinely works and works reliably. Email server setup done poorly, so email is unreliable, undermines the email-dependent parts of the system. A business should ensure its email server setup is done properly, as the genuine setup task it is.
The takeaway
Email server setup in Odoo configures Odoo to genuinely send and receive email, by connecting it to email infrastructure. Odoo needs email because email runs through how it works, sending quotations and invoices, notifications, and receiving email where used. Getting the email server setup right matters because the email-dependent parts of Odoo only work if it is done correctly. Email server setup is a genuine technical setup task and should be done properly, so Odoo's email genuinely works reliably. For how we approach Odoo, see our ERP practice.