✅ Prerequisites
- • PHP 7.4+ with IMAP extension
- • Access to email account (Gmail recommended)
- • Cron access for scheduling
- • Blog system already configured
1 Check PHP IMAP Extension
php -m | grep imap
If not installed:
Ubuntu/Debian:
sudo apt-get install php-imap
sudo systemctl restart apache2
CentOS/RHEL:
sudo yum install php-imap
sudo systemctl restart httpd
Windows (XAMPP):
- 1. Open
php.ini - 2. Find
;extension=imap - 3. Remove the
;to uncomment - 4. Restart Apache
2 Configure Email Account
Option A: Gmail (Recommended)
1. Enable IMAP
- • Go to Gmail Settings → Forwarding and POP/IMAP
- • Enable IMAP
- • Save changes
2. Create App Password
- • Go to Google Account Security
- • Enable 2-Factor Authentication (if not already)
- • Go to "App Passwords"
- • Select "Mail" and your device
- • Copy the 16-character password
3. Update .env file
BLOG_EMAIL_ADDRESS=blogs@yourdomain.com
BLOG_EMAIL_PASSWORD=your-16-char-app-password
BLOG_EMAIL_MAILBOX={imap.gmail.com:993/imap/ssl}INBOX
Option B: Office 365
BLOG_EMAIL_ADDRESS=blogs@yourdomain.com
BLOG_EMAIL_PASSWORD=your-password
BLOG_EMAIL_MAILBOX={outlook.office365.com:993/imap/ssl}INBOX
Option C: Custom Domain / cPanel
BLOG_EMAIL_ADDRESS=blogs@yourdomain.com
BLOG_EMAIL_PASSWORD=your-password
BLOG_EMAIL_MAILBOX={mail.yourdomain.com:993/imap/ssl}INBOX
3 Create Required Directories
# Create upload directory for blog images
mkdir -p uploads/blog-images
chmod 755 uploads/blog-images
# Create logs directory
mkdir -p logs
chmod 755 logs
4 Test the System
Run manually to test:
cd api
php email-to-blog.php
Check the output for any errors. You should see:
Starting email-to-blog processor
Connected to mailbox
Connected to database
Found 0 new email(s)
Email-to-blog processor completed successfully
5 Setup Cron Job
Make the script executable:
chmod +x cron/email-to-blog-cron.sh
Edit crontab:
crontab -e
Add one of these lines:
Every 30 minutes (recommended):
*/30 * * * * /path/to/cron/email-to-blog-cron.sh
Every 15 minutes (more frequent):
*/15 * * * * /path/to/cron/email-to-blog-cron.sh
Every hour:
0 * * * * /path/to/cron/email-to-blog-cron.sh
Save and exit. Verify cron is set:
crontab -l
6 Enable Blogger Permissions
Make sure at least one user has blogger privileges:
-- Via MySQL
UPDATE users SET is_blogger = 1 WHERE username = 'your-username';
-- Or make admin user the default blogger
UPDATE users SET is_blogger = 1 WHERE is_admin = 1 LIMIT 1;
7 Send Test Email
To: blogs@yourdomain.com
Subject: Test Blog Post
Body:
STATUS: draft
CATEGORY: Test
# This is a Test
This is my first automated blog post!
Pretty cool, right?
Wait 30 minutes (or however long your cron interval is)
Then check:
- • Logs:
tail -f logs/email-to-blog.log - • Blog admin:
https://morsetrainerpro.com/blog-admin.html
🔍 Quick Troubleshooting
Error: "Cannot connect to mailbox"
Solution:
- 1. Verify IMAP is enabled in email settings
- 2. Check firewall allows outbound port 993
- 3. Verify credentials in
.env - 4. For Gmail, use App Password (not regular password)
Error: "PHP Fatal error: Call to undefined function imap_open"
Solution: IMAP extension not installed
# Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt-get install php-imap
sudo systemctl restart apache2
# Verify
php -m | grep imap
Images not uploading
Solution:
# Check directory exists and is writable
mkdir -p uploads/blog-images
chmod 755 uploads/blog-images
chown www-data:www-data uploads/blog-images # Linux
📊 Monitoring
View Logs
# Last 50 lines
tail -n 50 logs/email-to-blog.log
# Follow live
tail -f logs/email-to-blog.log
# Search for errors
grep ERROR logs/email-to-blog.log
# Count successful posts
grep "Created blog post" logs/email-to-blog.log | wc -l
Admin Interface
Access the monitoring dashboard:
https://morsetrainerpro.com/admin-email-to-blog.html
Features:
- • View recent logs
- • Run processor manually
- • Check system status
- • Clear old logs
🎉 You're Done!
Your email-to-blog system is now operational!
Next Steps:
- 1. Send your first real blog post
- 2. Monitor logs to ensure it's working
- 3. Add email templates to your email client
- 4. Share the blog email with your team
Happy Blogging! 📝✨