Demo Email Extention Notification Freestyle

In this tutorial, we’ll replace Jenkins’s built-in email notifications with the powerful Email Extension Plugin. You’ll learn how to install the plugin, configure global SMTP settings, and customize notifications for your Freestyle jobs—including attachments and conditional triggers.

1. Install the Email Extension Plugin

1. Go to Manage Jenkins → Plugin Manager → Available.
2. Search for Email Extension Plugin and click Install without restart.
3. When installation completes, restart Jenkins.

Once Jenkins restarts, log in and confirm the plugin appears under Installed.

2. Configure Global Email Settings

Navigate to Manage Jenkins → Configure System and scroll to Extended E-mail Notification. Set up your SMTP details:

1. Add Credentials
   Click Add → Jenkins and select Username with password.
   • Username: your Gmail address
   • Password: an app-specific password

   Note

   Generate an app-specific password in your Google Account under Security → App passwords.

2. Select the new credentials and enable Use SSL.

3. Default List-ID Header
   Optionally specify a List-ID to group your emails.

4. Default Subject & Body
   Use tokens like ${PROJECT_NAME}, ${BUILD_NUMBER}, and ${BUILD_STATUS}.

5. Default Triggers
   Enable Failure – Any, and add others (e.g., Unstable, Always) as needed.

Click Apply and Save to persist.

3. Configure a Freestyle Job

Open your Freestyle project (e.g., npm-version-test) and click Configure.

1. Remove any existing E-mail Notification.

2. Under Post-build Actions, select Add post-build action → Editable Email Notification.

3. Add a Shell Build Step to simulate failure:

   echo "Updating job config using Jenkins CLI"
   node -v
   npm -v
   exit 1
   

   Warning

   The exit 1 command will force the build to fail to trigger the failure notification.

4. Project Recipient List
   Leave blank to use global defaults or specify an address (e.g., [email protected]).

5. Leave Default Subject and Default Content inherited from global settings.
6. Click Apply and Save.

3.1 Trigger a Build Without Recipients

Run the job to see:

Email was triggered for trigger: Failure - Any  
Sending email for trigger: Failure - Any  
An attempt to send an e-mail to empty list of recipients, ignored.

By default, the plugin only mails Developers, not your recipient list.

4. Add Recipients and Rerun

1. In Editable Email Notification, expand Advanced Settings.
2. Under Default Recipients, add your email or check Send to Recipient List for each trigger.

Save and rebuild:

Now the console shows:

Email was triggered for: Failure - Any  
Sending email for trigger: Failure - Any  
Sending email to: [email protected]

5. Verify in Your Inbox

You should receive a notification with your default HTML template:

6. Attach the Build Log

To include the build log in your notification:

1. Under Editable Email Notification → Advanced Settings, enable Attach Build Log and optionally Compress Build Log.
2. Save and rerun the job.

The next email will include build.log as an attachment:

You’ve now set up the Jenkins Email Extension Plugin for Freestyle jobs—covering installation, global SMTP configuration, project-level notifications, triggers, and attachments.