Setup for sending mail via Mutt

The following assumes that you have installed Esmtp or Exim4 (default on Debian)
and you have generated password using App Password (for Gmail)

Configure Esmtp 
1. Added the following to ~/.esmtp file
identity "[email protected]"
hostname smtp.gmail.com:587
username "[email protected]"
password "passwordGeneratedByAppPassword"
starttls required

2. Make sendmail point to esmtp using the command
sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/sbin/sendmail sendmail /usr/bin/esmtp 50

3. Test if esmtp can send mails
echo "Testing email via esmtp" | /usr/sbin/sendmail -v [email protected]

4. Add the following to ~/.muttrc file
set sendmail="/usr/bin/esmtp"
set envelope_from=yes
set from="My Name <[email protected]>"
set use_from=yes
set edit_headers=yes

5. Setup Done


Configure Exim4 (default mail transfer agent - MTA on Debian)
1. Make sendmail point to exim4 using the command
sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/sbin/sendmail sendmail /usr/sbin/exim4 100

2. Run the command below to add gmail and password to exim4 in the format below
sudo vi /etc/exim4/passwd.client

smtp.gmail.com:[email protected]:passwordGeneratedByAppPassword

3. Add the following configuration to update-exim4.conf.conf via sudo
 e.g sudo vi /etc/exim4/update-exim4.conf.conf

dc_eximconfig_configtype='smarthost'
dc_other_hostnames=''
dc_local_interfaces='127.0.0.1; ::1'
dc_readhost=''
dc_relay_domains=''
dc_minimaldns='false'
dc_relay_nets=''
dc_smarthost='smtp.gmail.com::587'
CFILEMODE='644'
dc_use_split_config='false'
dc_hide_mailname='true'
dc_mailname_in_oh='true'
dc_localdelivery='mail_spool'

3. Test if Exim4 can send mails
echo "Testing email via Exim4" | /usr/sbin/sendmail -v [email protected]

4. Add the following to ~/.muttrc
set sendmail="/usr/sbin/exim4"
set use_from=yes
set realname="Your Name"
set from="[email protected]"
set envelope_from=yes

5. Setup Done.