Email not arriving or going to spam
Check spam and the exact address first, then read any bounce message, which usually names the cause. Mail that never arrives often points to MX records; mail landing in spam usually points to missing SPF, DKIM or DMARC. Your email provider can trace a specific message.
On this page
When email goes missing, start with the simple checks: the spam folder, the exact address, and any bounce message you received, which usually names the cause. If mail never arrives at all, the problem is often your domain's MX records. If it arrives in spam, it's usually missing or wrong SPF, DKIM or DMARC records.
Your email provider, the company that runs your mailboxes, can trace a specific message. If your domain's DNS is with Oogle, we can check and fix the DNS side.
Quick checks first
- Look in spam or junk, on both the sending and receiving side, including any quarantine your email provider offers.
- Check the address letter by letter. A typo in the domain sends mail nowhere.
- Check your mailbox isn't full. A full mailbox rejects new mail.
- Check forwarding and filters. A rule may be moving or deleting messages, or forwarding them somewhere else.
- Send a test from a different account, such as a personal Gmail or Outlook.com address, to your business address, and the other way round.
Read the bounce message
If a message bounced, the reply you got back ("Undeliverable", "Mail delivery failed") has a code and a reason.
- Codes starting with 5 (such as
550 5.1.1) are permanent failures. Common reasons: the address doesn't exist, the mailbox is full or disabled, or the receiving server rejected the message as spam or as failing SPF or DMARC. - Codes starting with 4 are temporary. The sending server keeps trying for a while. If it still fails, you'll get a final bounce.
Copy the full bounce text into your ticket. It saves a lot of guessing.
Mail isn't arriving at all
Mail for your domain is delivered to whichever server your domain's MX records point to. If those are missing, wrong or recently changed, mail stops arriving or goes to an old provider.
- Did you recently move email providers, change nameservers, or move your website? Each can change or drop MX records.
- If your DNS is in Cloudflare, the hostname your MX record points to must be DNS only (grey cloud). Mail doesn't pass through Cloudflare's proxy. See Proxied or DNS only.
Mail lands in spam
Receiving providers check whether your domain has authorized the server that sent the message.
- SPF lists the servers allowed to send mail for your domain. Each service that sends as you, such as your mailbox provider, newsletter tool, or website, needs to be included.
- DKIM adds a signature that proves the message wasn't changed and came from an authorized sender.
- DMARC tells receivers what to do when SPF and DKIM don't line up with your domain.
Missing or broken records are the most common reason business mail goes to spam. See Email DNS records: MX, SPF, DKIM and DMARC.
Who to ask
- Your email provider for anything about a mailbox, a specific message, quarantine, or the exact SPF and DKIM values to publish.
- Oogle, if your domain's DNS is in our Cloudflare account: open a Website Support ticket and we'll check or change the records. See How to ask us to change a DNS record.
- Oogle, if it's your website's emails (contact forms, order confirmations) that go missing.
In the ticket, include the sending address, the receiving address, the date and time of a test message, and the full bounce text if there was one. Don't include your email password.
You'll know it worked when
A test message sent from an outside account arrives in the inbox, not spam, and a reply from your business address reaches the outside account's inbox too.
If something goes wrong
- It works for some recipients but not others. One receiving provider may be stricter. Their bounce text usually says why.
- It stopped after a DNS change. Compare the current MX, SPF and DKIM records with what your email provider says they should be.
- Fixed, but still failing. DNS changes take time to be seen everywhere. See How long DNS changes take.
Next steps
- Email DNS records: MX, SPF, DKIM and DMARC
- IMAP or POP3: which to choose
Frequently asked questions
Who looks after my email?
Your email provider: the company that runs your mailboxes, such as the one you sign in to for webmail. They can trace individual messages. If your domain's DNS is with Oogle, we can check and change the DNS records your email relies on.
Why do my website's contact form emails go to spam?
Often because the form sends as an address on your domain from a server your domain's SPF record doesn't list, or without DKIM. Open a Website Support ticket with an example and we'll look at how the form sends mail.
How long after a DNS change will email start working?
Once old records expire from caches. Mail records are DNS only, so that's within the record's TTL, up to a day. See How long DNS changes take.