An email says undelivered

What Not sent, Bounced and Marked as spam mean in the Mailbox, and how to put each one right.

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What it is#

An email in the Mailbox shows a status other than Sent, or you had a notice that an email could not be delivered.

The short answer: there are three kinds. "Not sent" means it never left, because RotaRound or the email provider refused it. "Bounced" means it left and the customer's mail server sent it back. "Marked as spam" means it arrived and the customer reported it. Each one gives its reason.

When to use it#

Use these checks when a customer says an email never came, or when you see a red status in the Outbox.

How to do it#

  1. Open the Mailbox and choose Outbox. Find the email and read its status.
  2. Open the email. A red line under it says what happened. "RotaRound did not send this" means the app refused it. "The email provider refused this send" means the provider did. Both end with "It did not arrive."
  3. Read the reason and put it right:
    • The customer has no email address: add one on their record.
    • The address ends in example.com: this is a sample customer, and those never receive email.
    • The business account is not live: nothing is sent while your account is paused or closing.
    • Switched off by the team member on their page: they chose a notification instead of that email.
  4. For Bounced, the reason starts "the recipient's mail server returned it". The address is usually wrong or the mailbox is full. Check the email address on the customer's record, correct it and send the email again from the Mailbox.
  5. For Marked as spam, the email did arrive. Speak to the customer.

What your customer sees#

Nothing, when an email was not sent or bounced. That is the problem you are fixing. Once you send it again, they get it as normal.

What happens next#

After you correct the address and send again, the new email shows in the Outbox with its own status. The old row stays as it was, as a record.

Good to know#

  • A bounced address is not blocked. Later emails to it are still tried, and keep bouncing until you correct it.
  • An email could not be delivered is off by default in Settings, Notifications, in all three columns. Until you tick it, failures show only in the Outbox. Tick In app to see them on your Notifications page too.
  • You are told at most once a day for the same address and subject.
  • A visit confirmation that could not go because the customer has no email address has its own notice, also off by default.
  • None of this changes with the mode. It is the same in automatic mode ("Let the diary plan itself") and self mode ("I place visits myself").

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