# Connect Amazon SES to Meisa

Source: https://help.meisa.io/articles/connect-amazon-ses

To connect Amazon SES, open **Email setup**, click **Connect a provider**, choose **Amazon SES**, paste your IAM access key ID and secret access key, pick the region your SES account uses, and click **Add provider**. Meisa checks the keys straight away and tells you if AWS rejects them.

## Before you start

You need:

- An AWS account with SES available in your chosen region.
- An access key for an IAM user with Meisa's permissions. If you do not have one yet, follow [Create an AWS IAM user and access keys for Meisa](/articles/create-aws-iam-user-for-ses).
- The region where you will verify your domain, for example US East (N. Virginia), `us-east-1`. Not sure? Read [Which AWS SES region should I choose?](/articles/choose-an-aws-ses-region)

## Connect SES

1. In Meisa, click **Email setup** in the sidebar. A new product shows three steps: **Connect your email provider**, **Verify your domain** and **Add a sender address**.

![Email setup page with the three setup steps](https://cdn.kamaan.io/kamaan/sites/6ae9f671d5ea373710b2366f/images/meisa-email-setup-overview-e4fba5ce.webp)
2. In the first step, click **Connect a provider**. The **Add a provider** dialog opens.
3. Click **Amazon SES** at the top of the list.

![Add a provider dialog listing Amazon SES and other providers](https://cdn.kamaan.io/kamaan/sites/6ae9f671d5ea373710b2366f/images/meisa-email-setup-provider-dialog-57634a0a.webp)
4. **Name (optional)**: give it a name you will recognise, such as "SES production". If you leave it empty, Meisa uses "My Amazon SES account".
5. **Access key ID**: paste the access key from IAM. It starts with `AKIA`.
6. **Secret access key**: paste the secret access key.
7. **Region**: choose the same region you use in the SES console, for example **US East (N. Virginia) (us-east-1)**. The default is us-east-1, so change it if your SES account is elsewhere.
8. **Configuration set (optional)**: leave this empty. Meisa creates one for you later when you set up delivery tracking.
9. Click **Add provider**.

![Connect Amazon SES form with access key, secret, region and configuration set fields](https://cdn.kamaan.io/kamaan/sites/6ae9f671d5ea373710b2366f/images/meisa-email-setup-ses-credentials-f0f06426.webp)
Meisa saves the provider and immediately asks AWS for your sending quota to confirm the keys work. If they do, you see a "Saved" message with the provider name and the step shows as done. Next, [verify your sending domain](/articles/verify-your-sending-domain).

## After you finish setup: turn on delivery tracking

Once your provider, domain and sender are all set, **Email setup** switches to a manage view. Do this once:

1. In the **Sending provider** section, click the **More actions** menu (three dots) on your SES provider.
2. Click **Set up delivery tracking**, then **Set up tracking**.

Meisa creates a configuration set and an SNS topic in your AWS account so bounces and spam complaints come back to Meisa and those addresses are suppressed automatically. Details: [Set up open and click tracking](/articles/set-up-open-and-click-tracking).

## Manage the provider later

From the **Sending provider** section of **Email setup** you can:

- **Send a test**: sends a real email through SES from one of your senders. Needs at least one sender.
- **Verify** or **Re-verify**: checks the keys again.
- **Edit**: change the name, keys or region. Leave the secret blank to keep the saved one.
- **Set as default**: when you have more than one provider.
- **Disable** or **Enable**: stop or resume sending through this provider.
- **Delete**: removes the provider and the senders and domains on it.

## Troubleshooting

- **"Amazon SES did not accept these details. Check them and save again."** The key or secret is wrong, has a trailing space, or the IAM user is missing `ses:GetSendQuota`. Fix the values and click **Add provider** again. Meisa updates the same provider instead of creating a duplicate.
- **The provider shows "Keys not working"**: the keys were deactivated or deleted in IAM, or the policy was removed. Click **Fix keys** (or **Edit**) and paste a working key.
- **Keys work but your domain never shows records**: check the region. A domain verified in one region is invisible from another.
- **Test emails do not arrive**: while your SES account is in the sandbox, you can only send to addresses you verified in SES. See [Move AWS SES out of the sandbox](/articles/request-ses-production-access).

## Related articles

- [Create an AWS IAM user and access keys for Meisa](/articles/create-aws-iam-user-for-ses)
- [Verify your sending domain (DKIM, SPF and DMARC)](/articles/verify-your-sending-domain)
- [Move AWS SES out of the sandbox (request production access)](/articles/request-ses-production-access)
- [Set up open and click tracking](/articles/set-up-open-and-click-tracking)