When it works well, e-mail can be great. It's hard to beat e-mail for everything from staying in touch with family to requesting information from businesses or other organizations. That's how we are here today with common email problems and solutions.
Want to send the same message to several people? Communicate with someone across the continent? Transmit photos, manuscripts, or other information? This virtually instantaneous medium is one of the most convenient modern life features for speed and efficiency.
But e-mail is not without problems. If you key in the name of an intended recipient, but your message keeps bouncing back, you might not be singing e-mail's praises—Ditto for attachments that won't open or other such nuisances. With just a little patience, though, you can easily overcome most e-mail problems.
Common Email Problems and Solutions
The typical email problems:
- Why can’t I get my emails on my iPhone?
- Can you send but not receive emails?
- Can you receive but not send emails?
- Unable to send an email phone.
- Cannot send email from iPhone username or password incorrect.
- Can you no longer send emails from your iPhone?
- Why is my email not working on my computer?
Common email problems and solutions for overcoming them.
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For Emails that are too Long
Why it’s a problem and how to fix it. Long emails are a problem when they relay information that is better-conveyed face to face or in a phone call. The problem comes when the email is used for ineffective messages, such as a difficult conversation.
Cut the Unnecessary text: You don’t need to start every email telling people that you hoped they had a good weekend.
IMPORTANT TIP: Put your emails in a word counter to see how many words you currently average per email—it might shock you. Keep track of your progress and see how low you can go.
Common Email Problems and Solutions
Cut Out Extra Words: Remove any words or phrases that aren’t absolutely necessary.
Before sending an email, take an extra 20 seconds and read it over. Ask yourself the following questions:
- Is there a clear, easy-to-understand point to this email?
- Is there anything I can take out that doesn’t add to the main point?
Can’t Send or Receive Emails
If you are unable to send or receive emails, there are a few possible common email problems and solutions causes:
The first step is to make sure to connect to the Internet. If you cannot access a website, for example, Google, there is an Internet connection problem. Separate the router and restart the computer. If this problem has not been solved, contact your ISP (ISP) service provider if you have issues with the field.
If you can access the internet, the next step is to check your email settings within your email program.
Username: This should always be your full email address
Password: This is the password created when the account was created.
Incoming mail server: mail.mydomain.com
Incoming port number: 110 (POP3) or 143 (IMAP)
Outgoing mail server: mail.mydomain.com
Outgoing port number: 587
If your settings are ok, the next step is to ensure that authentication is turned on for the outgoing server. This is to prevent unauthorized users from sending from your email account, and the account will not work if this is unticked.
If the issues continue, try deleting the account and setting it up again using common email problems and solutions tips.
If you are still unable to send or receive mail, please take note of error messages.
Some Emails go Missing at Times
There can be multiple reasons for some emails to go missing. Here is how to rectify the error.
- Log in to the webmail account to verify if it has received the emails.
- If it has received them, there could be an issue with the email program. Check for redirecting issues and look into other folders to ensure that the emails have not been moved elsewhere.
- If the emails are not found on the webmail, ask the sender if they have received any bounce-back messages.
- There can be issues with the sender. Under such circumstances, the sender should rectify the issue at their end.
Problem – Returned Messages
This may be the most frustrating of all e-mail problems. After creating a message, click on the “send” button and consider your task accomplished. But the next thing you know, the message pops up in your inbox with a heading that it did not reach its intended recipient.
Common email problems and solutions:
First, take the simple step of checking to see that your recipient's address has been entered correctly. This may seem obvious, but sometimes the only wrong is a misplaced letter, “com” instead of “net,” or some similar error. If you know the correct address, double-checking each character is a straightforward matter. If not, you might need to experiment by sending multiple messages or entering alternative addresses with slight variations.
Under this approach, track which messages are bounced back and compares them with the comprehensive list of addresses you used. If you sent four variations, but only three were returned, you have solved the problem by the process of elimination.
Sometimes the source of your problem lies with the recipient. If messages to other addresses go through but fail here, try to contact the intended recipient by other means and report the situation.
The cause may range from a temporary problem with the recipient's server to switching to another e-mail provider to a full inbox. In this case, simply waiting may be the best recourse. Or a phone call or other communication may be required on your part to obtain the correct e-mail address. If all your messages are returned, you may have a connection problem. See below for more details.
Disk Quota Error
If a disk quota error appears, follow the below steps.
- When setting up an email account, users receive a specific amount of space on the server to store their emails. For instance, with Gmail, it is usually 15GB (for a basic or free account). Go to Settings and check out the storage options. It will show how much memory the email account has consumed.
- If the memory is fully consumed, a user experiences a disk quota error. The ideal solution is to delete unwanted emails from the inbox. When doing so, ensure to access the webmail account and delete emails. Otherwise, the emails remain on the server.
- Customers should be given a notice that deleted emails are unretrievable. If they cannot afford to delete any emails, they can purchase additional disk space through the customer portal.
Failure to Connect or No Response
Sometimes a failure to send or receive e-mail can be traced to a lost connection with your Internet service provider.
Common email problems and solutions:
If you see a “failure to connect” or “no response” message or have otherwise determined that you have failed to connect, double-check to ensure, there are no physical problems.
First, check your cables and connections. If you use a dial-up modem, listen to ensure it produces the typical high-pitched dialing sound. If not, the problem could be a loose connection. Locate the phone cord that runs from the back of your computer to the phone jack, and then make sure that each end is plugged in snugly.
If you don't hear the expected dialing sound, check to ensure your phone cord is undamaged. If it seems worn, replace it with a new one. Other steps include making sure the line is plugged into the correct port and checking the phone jack by plugging the cord into a different jack. You have made a successful connection if you hear the dialing sound after any of these steps.
Connection problems may be more familiar with dial-up modems than broadband connections, but the latter also depends on physical connections. A loose wire or poorly connected cable can easily be problematic. Sometimes, a glitch can best address that by repeating portions of the initial setup process.
A simple fix touted by Verizon technical service reps for some DSL (digital subscriber line) customers is disconnecting the three cables from the back of the modem and reconnecting them in a specified order. When this action is taken, the online connection is immediately regained.
If you are online but keep getting bumped off, the lost connection can result from an unintended software command. For example, in Outlook Express, you will find the command “Hang up when finished.” If the box in front of this phrase is checked, the connection will automatically be severed each time you send or download an e-mail. Sometimes, your mouse's misdirected click will cause you to place a check in the box even though you do not realize it. Click on the checkmark to make it disappear, and the hang-ups will cease.
Outlook Keeps Asking for User Password
Outlook asks the users to enter the password every time they send an email. This problem occurs when Outlook is not configured to store the user's password. Fix Outlook problems on this error by trying the solution below.
Solution: While entering the user details like username and password, when you link Outlook to a POP3 account, you must select the option to store a user's password. Otherwise, Outlook asks for the password each time you send an email. To fix Outlook issues, open the control panel and use the Mail option to edit the Outlook profile.
How to Reconnect Email Account in Windows 10
Email Accounts may sometimes have connection problems, and this may happen for several reasons:
- Problem with email – Message concerning the email account
- Couldn't connect to the host. – Issues with reaching the mail server.
- Authentication failed – Invalid login credentials.
Reconnecting the Email
- Navigate to Settings → Email & Accounts.
- Click your email account in the list.
- Click “MANAGE.,” then input/verify your login credentials or make changes to which one is needed and click the SAVE button. Windows 10 will then try and reconnect this email account.
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Fix a Misbehaving Email Program or App
Sometimes your email client may run into an issue and forget the connection settings. In these cases, the best course of action is to quit the app and start it back up.
To quit an app on macOS, right-click on the Dock app icon and select “Quit.” If it doesn’t want to quit, hold the Option key and right-click to force quit the app (which works like CTRL + ALT + DELETE on Windows).
On iOS devices with a home button, double-click the home button and swipe up to remove the Mail app from memory. If you have an iPhone without a home button, such as the iPhone X, swipe up from the bottom and stop halfway to bring up the app switcher.
Then touch and hold the Mail app until you see the red “quit” circle in the app's upper-left corner. From there, press the red icon or swipe up on the app to shut it down.
FAQs About Common Email Problems and Solutions
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How do you diagnose email problems?
First, if you get an error message, copy it. This is the best way to diagnose a problem. If the username and password are incorrect, errors may be correct. Therefore, re-enter the information or reset your email password.
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Why do emails not come through?
Email address misspellings are a widespread reason why you can't send an email. It's easy to miss the letters and dots in your email address, and you won't be able to pass. Always check the address carefully to avoid this when sending to new recipients.
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Can receive email but Cannot send?
This error usually indicates your email program's failure to connect to port 25, the SMTP (outgoing mail) port. Maybe your Internet Service Provider (ISP) does not allow SMTP connections to an internet mail server. To solve this, we highly recommend contacting your internet service provider.
Conclusion: Common Email Problems and Solutions
These common email problems and solutions are pretty easy to determine, and when rectified, will make your emailing experience more enjoyable.
Above, we genuinely tried to cover the most common email problems, and solutions users face. Quickly fix most problems by solving compatibility issues, disabling add-ons, resetting Toolbars, removing unwanted apps, etc. Even after trying all these solutions, you can comment below and quickly respond to me to guide you on common email problems and solutions if you are still in the same place even after trying all these solutions.