Setup Django Application Form to send emails to your Gmail Inbox

For September 2024 none of the guides I found online were up to date and comprehensive for this so just writing the steps to make it work here:

https://myaccount.google.com/
Under "Recent Security Activity" make sure 2FA is on
Go to the search bar above, and search "App Passwords"

You'll be prompted as such - "To create a new app specific password, type a name for it below..."

Name it something like "my-django-site-form"

It will generate a password you can use in your application. Store this securely somewhere. This can be used in your Django settings, but I opt for saving as an .env variable.

To test to make sure this setup is working, you can run the following code in the Django shell:

python manage.py shell

from django.core.mail import send_mail
send_mail(
    'Test Email',
    'This is a test email.',
    'sender@email.com',
    ['recipient@example.com'],
    fail_silently=False,
)

Replace the two emails, and you should see an email sent to recipient@example.com