Setup Cognos 11 to send email with Gmail (2020)

When I tried to to setup Cognos 11 to send notification via Gmail, it failed because Google blocked access from Unsecured App. Even if I tried to turn off this option and tried again, it still failed because Google automatically turns this setting off again. So I had to create an App Password for my Gmail account to make it works following the steps below:

Step 1: Configure Gmail account

• Log in to my Gmail account, go to “Manage your Google Account page”, then go to “Security” section
• Enable 2-Step Verification
• Once 2-Step Verification is enabled, the App Passwords option will be visible under the 2-Step verification option

• Click on “App Passwords” to generate a new one. 
• On the next page, choose “Mail” app, and “Other (Custom Name)” in the Select Device drop down

• On the next page, enter “cognos” for the name of the app, then click on “GENERATE”

• On the next page, copy the password, paste it to Notepad, then click on Done

Step 2: Configure Cognos:

• Open “IBM Cognos Analytics” > “IBM Cognos Configuration” (not the one with the same name under “Framework Manager”)

• Open “Notification” on the left side Explorer bar, enter the configuration as below:
• SMTP Mail Server: smtp.gmail.com:465
• Account and Password:
• User ID: <account_name>@gmail.com
• Password: <Generated app password from previous step>
• Default Sender: <account_name>@gmail.com
• SSL Encryption Enabled: True

• Click Ok. Then Save the setting
• Right click “Notification” on the left Explorer menu again, click on “Test” to check if the connection is working.

• After SMTP connection has been tested, to send report from Cognos via email, we have to restart Cognos service for the change to take effect.