Outgoing Mail Queue
The server doesn't always deliver a message the moment it's sent. Each message stays in the outgoing mail queue until it's delivered, bounced, or expired, usually for only a few seconds.
The queue shows you the mail that hasn't gone out yet, and why: a remote server can refuse a message for a while, or a quarantine can hold it.
Where you see the queue
| Page | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Email & Identity › Outgoing Mail Queue | The queued mail of all your mailboxes and send-only accounts. Each message shows the address that sent it, with a link to the address. |
| The Outgoing Queue tab of a mailbox or send-only account | The queued mail of that address only. During an outgoing quarantine, this is where you release or delete the held messages. |
Each message shows its subject, state, envelope sender, recipients, arrival time, and size. A deferred message also shows the reason under its state; if the recipients have different reasons, each reason is listed with its recipients. A deferred recipient without a reason shows Not tried yet (see The states of a message). The buttons above the list filter it to one state.
The page of one message
Select a message's subject to open its page, which shows:
- the queue ID, state, arrival time, and size
- the envelope sender, and the address that sent the message
- the
FromandMessage-IDheaders, when the panel recorded the submission, with a link to its record in the Email Traffic Log - each recipient, with the full reason of the last deferral, or Not tried yet. If the server rewrote a recipient's address, e.g. for an alias, the address the sender gave is shown too.
- whether an outgoing quarantine holds the message
When the quarantine holds the message, you can release or delete it here, with the same rules as on the Outgoing Queue tab.
If the message left the queue after the panel read the list, the panel shows the list again with a notice.
The states of a message
| State | What it means |
|---|---|
| Incoming | The server received the message and hasn't started delivery yet. |
| Being delivered | The server is delivering the message now. |
| Deferred | The server couldn't deliver the message to one or more recipients and will try again later. The reason the remote server or the network gave is shown under the state. |
| On hold | The server won't deliver the message until somebody releases it. An outgoing quarantine holds messages, and so can the server operator. |
A deferred message can also be waiting for its first delivery attempt, e.g. one you release from an outgoing quarantine. No remote server has refused anything yet, so there's no reason to show; the list shows Not tried yet instead. The server tries it at its next queue run, usually within a few minutes.
The server retries a deferred message for five days. After that it expires and is returned to the sender with the reason.
What the queue doesn't show
- The panel reads the queue every few minutes, so the list can be a few minutes old. A message delivered in seconds can be gone before the list shows it.
- Forwarded mail, and the mail of your system mailbox. The queue holds only what your mailboxes and send-only accounts sent.
- Delivered messages. To see what happened to a message after it left, use the Email Traffic Log.