Email Troubleshooting: Why is my email stuck?

Email has fast become an integral part of our daily lives. As such, no task remains more daunting than figuring out send/receive errors. Luckily, with very little technical knowledge you can equip yourself to overcome most common issues with a few easy steps.

This is what we call email trouble shooting – simplified.

If your brand new email account is not working, there are several things that need to be checked about how it is set up. Some of them may seem simplistic, but they happen more often than one would think.

• Do you have active internet service?
• Has your provider activated your account? (It is not always instantaneous.)
• Does all equipment have power?
• Is all required software (such as Outlook) installed on your computer?
• Are all the credentials you are entering accurate?

Believe it or not, miskeys and typographical errors account for at least half of new account setup errors, so have a second set of eyes review it.

If your email account has been working perfectly fine and suddenly a message is not sending …

The first thing most people do is verify the internet connection, checking modems and routers and making sure all the lights are blinking, and that all power and computer cords are securely seated. Once the connection is confirmed, it’s time to look more closely at email client settings.

Is it one message or all messages?

1. Is it too large? Attached or embedded images can increase the size of an email. Double check the size. If you don’t see the size, expand the width of your Outbox and the size column will become visible. If it is at or near 19 MB, you may need to find another way to transmit that data. A Web site like Yousendit.com is one option for delivering large files to a recipient. If this happens to you regularly, you may want to consider getting an FTP account for file hosting. Your friends at ePolk can help you set this up. Call us at 863-291-4268.
2. Are there too many recipients? It is recommended that you divide your recipient list into groups of no more than 20 addresses. More than 20 recipients for one message can cause two problems. First, as you click send, your email server does a check for validity. Common typographical errors, such as typing .com when it should be .net, or simple spelling errors will put a halt to the message before it gets off the screen. The more addresses you have, the more difficult it is to troubleshoot and determine which one has the error. You also run a higher risk of an undeliverable mail message when you try to put too many addresses in one message. If your organization regularly sends emails out to members or customers, ask ePolk about an email broadcast system that will significantly reduce the amount of work involved in getting your message out.
3. Port 25 Blocking. If your email is not too big and does not have too many recipients, your email might be a victim of Port 25 Blocking. In an effort to reduce SPAM, several large Internet Service Providers (ISPs) have initiated blocking outgoing emails that use Port 25 on their servers. Port 25 is a standard default port for SMTP outgoing email traffic. (NOTE: if you are an ePolk client using Microsoft Exchange mail the “Port 25 problem” is not applicable.)

Changing your outgoing port is relatively simple – you don’t need to call in the IT department. Just follow these steps:

To change your Port settings in Outlook 2010

• Go To File > Account Settings > Account Settings
• Select the account you want to edit and click “Change”
• Select “More Settings” and go to the “Advanced Tab”
• There you can change your SMTP port from 25 to 366
• Save Settings

For older versions of Outlook

• Go to Tools > Email Accounts then click “Next”
• Select the account you want to edit and click “Change”
• Select “More Settings” and go to the “Advanced Tab”
• There you can change your SMTP port from 25 to 366
• Save Settings

Once you check and clear all of these potential roadblocks, if you are continuing to have issues sending and receiving email, it’s time to call an IT professional, like your good friends at ePolk!