Email troubleshooter
Tell us what's going wrong. The troubleshooter reads your bounce message, checks your domain's live email records, and puts the likely causes in order, with the fix for each one and a report you can send to IT.
How the troubleshooter decides
It combines three kinds of evidence and labels each result, so you know how sure it is:
- Found: confirmed by a live DNS lookup of your domain, or by the error code in your bounce message.
- Possible cause: a common cause of this problem that can't be tested from a browser, such as a hacked account or a daily sending limit.
- Worth checking: something that may or may not apply, such as a DKIM key we couldn't find on the usual selector names.
Results are ranked by how likely they are to explain your problem. A confirmed "no such domain" or a failing SPF record always comes before general advice.
What it can't check
- Your sending IP's reputation and blocklist status. Look for a blocklist name in the bounce message.
- Whether a message reached the inbox or spam. Only the receiving provider knows that.
- Your account settings, passwords or billing.
- DKIM keys with unusual selector names. Use the DNS checker with your selector to be sure.
Other tools for one job
- Bounce message decoder: just explain a bounce.
- DMARC, SPF, DKIM and MX checker: the full DNS report for a domain.
- Email header analyzer: check where a message really came from.
- SMTP error code library and email server settings.
What the email troubleshooter does
The email troubleshooter helps you figure out why email isn't working. You pick the problem, add a bounce message or your domain if you have them, and it lists the most likely causes in order, each with a fix. It also builds a short report you can copy and send to your IT person or email provider.
Benefits
- Starts from your problemChoose from six common situations, such as a bounce, mail going to spam, mail suddenly stopping, not receiving mail, an app that can't send, or a suspicious email.
- Only asks for what it needsThe form shows just the fields that matter for the problem you picked, so you are not filling in things that don't apply.
- Reads your bounce messagePaste a bounce and the troubleshooter decodes the error code and puts that cause near the top of the list.
- Checks your domain liveEnter your domain and it looks up your MX, SPF, DKIM and DMARC records, flagging things like a missing SPF record, two SPF records or no DMARC.
- Tells you how sure it isEach cause is labeled Found, Possible cause or Worth checking, so you know what was confirmed and what is general advice.
- Points to your provider's settingsPick your email provider, such as Gmail, Outlook.com, Microsoft 365, Yahoo or iCloud, and you get a link to its server settings and sign-in rules.
- A report you can hand offCopy a plain-text report listing what was checked and the likely causes in order, ready to paste into an email or support ticket.
- Safe steps for suspicious mailIf you got a suspicious email, it walks you through what not to click and how to check where the message really came from.
Who it is for
- Small business owners whose customers say they never got their emails.
- Office staff whose email app suddenly stopped sending and who need a fix fast.
- Freelancers and solo workers without an IT department who want to know where to start.
- IT helpers who want a quick first pass and a tidy report before digging deeper.
- Anyone who received an odd email and wants to know if it is safe.
How to use it
- Choose what's going wrong.
- Paste the bounce message, enter your domain or pick your email provider if the form asks for them.
- Click Find the cause.
- Work through the causes from the top, and copy the report if you need help from IT.
Your privacy
The troubleshooter runs in your browser and your bounce message is never sent anywhere. If you enter a domain, only that domain name is looked up through public DNS services: Cloudflare, with Google as a backup. Free email domains like gmail.com are not looked up.
Questions people ask
- Why are my emails not being delivered?
- The most common reasons are a wrong address, missing SPF, DKIM or DMARC on the sending domain, a blocklisted sending server, and sending too much too fast. The troubleshooter checks the ones that can be tested and ranks the rest.
- Is the troubleshooter free?
- Yes. No sign-up, and it runs in your browser.
- Can I send the result to my IT person?
- Yes. Use the Copy button under the report. It lists what was checked, what was found and the likely causes in order.