diff --git a/server/.secrets.example b/server/.secrets.example
index dda58c26..571c6fa2 100644
--- a/server/.secrets.example
+++ b/server/.secrets.example
@@ -1,4 +1,3 @@
-
 [GOOGLE_KEYS]
 DJANGO_GOOGLE_OAUTH2_CLIENT_ID=
 DJANGO_GOOGLE_OAUTH2_CLIENT_SECRET=
@@ -15,4 +14,5 @@ DJANGO_ORCID_OAUTH2_URL=
 [SERVER]
 SERVER_VERSION=
 SERVER_URL=
-DATABASE=
\ No newline at end of file
+DATABASE=
+EMAIL_BACKEND=
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/server/portaluserdb/settings.py b/server/portaluserdb/settings.py
index 6cbe6b0a..a4a42896 100644
--- a/server/portaluserdb/settings.py
+++ b/server/portaluserdb/settings.py
@@ -60,6 +60,8 @@
 if secrets['GOOGLE_KEYS']['DJANGO_GOOGLE_OAUTH2_CLIENT_SECRET']:
     GOOGLE_SECRET = secrets['GOOGLE_KEYS']['DJANGO_GOOGLE_OAUTH2_CLIENT_SECRET']
 
+EMAIL_BACKEND = secrets['SERVER']['EMAIL_BACKEND']
+
 # SECURITY WARNING: don't run with debug turned on in production!
 DEBUG = True
 
@@ -88,8 +90,6 @@
     "prefix.apps.PrefixConfig"
 ]
 
-EMAIL_BACKEND = 'django.core.mail.backends.console.EmailBackend'
-
 # allows password reset for a user that does not have a usable password (Default: True)
 DJANGO_REST_MULTITOKENAUTH_REQUIRE_USABLE_PASSWORD = False