diff --git a/docs/TROUBLESHOOTING_NOTIFICATIONS.md b/docs/TROUBLESHOOTING_NOTIFICATIONS.md
index 1a1d22c..e7d480c 100644
--- a/docs/TROUBLESHOOTING_NOTIFICATIONS.md
+++ b/docs/TROUBLESHOOTING_NOTIFICATIONS.md
@@ -24,8 +24,23 @@ SCRUTINY_MESSAGE - eg. "Scrutiny SMART error notification for device: %s\nFailur
 SCRUTINY_HOST_ID - (optional) eg. "my-custom-host-id"
 ```
 
+# Special Characters
+
+`Shoutrrr` supports special characters in the username and password fields, however you'll need to url-encode the
+username and the password separately.
+
+- if your username is: `myname@example.com`
+- if your password is `124@34$1`
+
+Then your `shoutrrr` url will look something like:
+
+- `smtp://myname%40example%2Ecom:124%4034%241@ms.my.domain.com:587`
+
 # Testing Notifications
-You can test that your notifications are configured correctly by posting an empty payload to the notifications health check API.
+
+You can test that your notifications are configured correctly by posting an empty payload to the notifications health
+check API.
+
 ```
 curl -X POST http://localhost:8080/api/health/notify
 ```
diff --git a/example.scrutiny.yaml b/example.scrutiny.yaml
index 1ca8d16..c57775f 100644
--- a/example.scrutiny.yaml
+++ b/example.scrutiny.yaml
@@ -60,6 +60,10 @@ log:
 
 # Notification "urls" look like the following. For more information about service specific configuration see
 # Shoutrrr's documentation: https://containrrr.dev/shoutrrr/services/overview/
+#
+# note, usernames and passwords containing special characters will need to be urlencoded.
+# if your username is: "myname@example.com" and your password is "124@34$1"
+# your shoutrrr url will look like: "smtp://myname%40example%2Ecom:124%4034%241@ms.my.domain.com:587"
 
 #notify:
 #  urls: