Emails are not arriving: what to check, and in what order
PrintIn short: when mail stops reaching your mailbox, it usually comes down to one of three things: the service is not active, the mailbox cannot accept new mail, or DNS is sending your mail somewhere else. Work through the checks below, from the simplest to the most technical.
1. Are the domain and hosting active?
If your website is down too, start here. In the client area, open your domains and services. An unpaid domain expires on its due date, and unpaid hosting is suspended within 5 days of the due date. Either way, email stops working. Look for open invoices as well. More in the article on suspended accounts.
2. Can the mailbox accept mail?
- In cPanel, open Email, then Email Accounts. Make sure the address exists and has not reached its storage quota. A full mailbox turns new mail away; see how to make room.
- Look in the Spam folder in webmail. If new spam is moved to a separate folder automatically, some genuine mail can end up there; the threshold is set in the spam filters.
- Check Forwarders and Email Filters for a rule that moves, forwards or deletes messages.
3. Does the message reach the server?
- Send a test from an outside address, a Gmail account for example, and note the time.
- In cPanel, open Email, then Track Delivery, and search for the message by address.
- If it shows as rejected, read the reason given. Two causes specific to TopHost servers: messages over 50 MB are not accepted, and mail from senders that do not exist is refused with “Sender verify failed”.
- If the message is not listed at all, it never reached our server. Go on to step 4.
4. Do the MX records point to the right place?
The MX record tells the world where to deliver mail for your domain. You can see it under Domains, then Zone Editor, then Manage; editing is covered in the article on MX records.
- Your mailboxes are at TopHost: the MX should point to your hosting account's mail server, which is normally the domain name itself.
- You use Google Workspace, Microsoft 365 or another provider: keep only that provider's MX records. An old record left in the zone can send part of your mail to the wrong place.
- The domain uses nameservers other than ns4.tophost.md and ns5.tophost.md: the zone in cPanel is not the live one. Make the change at your DNS provider instead.
After changing an MX record, allow up to 24 hours for the update to reach every server.
Webmail works, your mail app does not
If you can see the messages in webmail but Outlook or your phone does not download them, the problem is the connection, not delivery:
- compare your IMAP or POP3 and SMTP settings with Setting up mail clients for working with mail;
- an old password saved in the app can get your IP address blocked by the firewall after several failed attempts (see why the firewall blocks an IP address);
- a mailbox may be connected to at most 50 times per hour, so set your app to check mail no more often than every 5 minutes, especially when the same mailbox is on several devices.
Before you change DNS or move the website
Many delivery problems start right after a move. If only the website goes to another server, update only the A record; MX, SPF and DKIM stay as they are. If you are changing nameservers, save a copy of the current DNS zone first and add the mail records to the new zone before you switch.
When you contact support
To speed things up, open a ticket and tell us: the address that is not receiving, which address the test came from and when it was sent, and any error message the sender got back. Never put passwords in a ticket.
