It works now. To summarize for those who may need it : 1. Make the following additions in the jbpm.cfg.xml <string name="jbpm.mail.smtp.host" value="<your smtp server>" /> | <string name="jbpm.mail.smtp.port" value="25" /> | <string name='jbpm.mail.from.address' value=&#39;no-reply(a)company.com&#39; /> | Last two entries are optional. 2. In my task node, I do this : | <task-node name="SomeTask" end-tasks="true"> | <event type="node-enter"> | <mail name="mailTo" to=&quot;blah(a)blah.com&quot;&gt; | <subject>...</subject> | <text>..</text> | </mail> | </event> | </task-node> I would have liked to authenticate with the mail server using but there's no indication in the JBPM docs that it accepts user id and password. Some links seem to show that there is a userid and password variable . View the original post : http://www.jboss.com/index.html?module=bb&op=viewtopic&p=4195168#... Reply to the post : http://www.jboss.com/index.html?module=bb&op=posting&mode=reply&a...