Why isn't my email being sent?

You write an email, click "Send", and nothing happens. Or worse, it bounces back with an error message you can't make sense of. An email that won't send can have several causes, from the simplest to the most technical. Let's go through the most common ones, in the order that's most useful to check them.

1. Your mailbox is full

This is by far the most common cause. Each email address can be assigned a storage quota, which you set yourself when creating the account (by default, no limit is imposed). If you've set a quota and it has been reached, the server will refuse to send (and sometimes even receive) new messages, a bit like a physical mailbox already overflowing that the mail carrier can no longer fill.

How to check.

1. Log in to your cPanel
2. Go to the "Email" section, then "Email Accounts"
3. Find your address in the list and look at the column showing the space used compared to the quota you've set

If the quota is full or close to it, you have two options. Delete old emails you no longer need (especially ones with large attachments), or increase (or even remove) the mailbox quota directly from cPanel.

2. A configuration issue in your email software

If you use Outlook, Thunderbird, Mail on iPhone, or any other email client instead of webmail, the error may come from an incorrect username, password, or port.
A good habit. Try sending the same email from webmail (accessible via https://webmail.votredomaine.com or from cPanel). If sending works from webmail but not from your software, the problem is definitely with your software's configuration, not your hosting.

Here are the settings usually expected for the outgoing server (SMTP), to be adjusted based on the details in your welcome email. You'll find the full details of all the settings in our article What are the IMAP and SMTP servers?.

• The username must be your full email address, not just the part before the @
• Outgoing server authentication must be enabled
• The port and encryption must match, typically port 465 with SSL, or port 587 with STARTTLS

3. A missing or incorrect DNS record

For an email sent from your domain to be accepted by other providers (Gmail, Outlook, etc.), your domain needs to have specific DNS records called SPF and DKIM. They prove that you're indeed authorized to send emails from that domain, a bit like an authenticity stamp on an official letter. Without them (or if they're misconfigured), some of your emails may be rejected or go straight to the recipient's spam folder. You can find more details on these two mechanisms in our article How can I improve my emails' deliverability?.

How to check:

1. Log in to your cPanel
2. Go to the "Email" section, then "Email Deliverability"
3. Find your domain in the list. If the status shown isn't "Valid", click "Repair" so the system automatically suggests the correct records

This only applies if your domain uses our DNS servers. If your DNS is hosted elsewhere, you'll need to manually add these records with your current DNS provider.

4. The email is simply rejected by the recipient

Sometimes, sending works fine on our end, but the recipient's server blocks the message (an overly strict spam filter, an address or domain unknown to them, or the recipient's mailbox itself being full). In this case, you'll normally receive a bounce-back message, also called a "bounce", explaining the exact reason for the rejection.

This bounce message is your best ally for understanding what's going wrong. It usually contains a code (such as 550, 552, or 421) followed by an explanation in English. Feel free to send us this full message if you contact us, it will save us valuable time.

5. Precisely track your email's journey

If you haven't received any bounce message and aren't sure whether your email actually went out, cPanel has a tool that traces the exact path of every message sent or received. It's the most reliable way to find out what actually happened, rather than guessing.

How to use it:

1. Log in to your cPanel
2. Go to the "Email" section, then "Track Delivery"
3. Enter the email address in question (sender or recipient) in the field provided and adjust the search period if needed
4. Click "Search"

You'll then get a detailed list of every send attempt, along with a status for each one. Here are the main statuses you may encounter.

• Sent (Sent/Delivered). The message was successfully delivered to the recipient's server, sending worked on our end
• Deferred (Deferred). The recipient's server temporarily refused the message, a new attempt will be made automatically within the following minutes or hours
• Failed / Bounced (Failed/Bounced). The message could not be delivered, clicking the row in question will usually show you the exact reason for the rejection

This tool is especially useful for distinguishing a problem on our end (the message doesn't even appear in the tracking log) from a problem on the recipient's side (the message shows as sent or deferred but never actually arrives).

Still stuck after these checks?

If none of these leads resolve the situation, contact us via chat or by email at technique@hodi.host, letting us know the email address in question, the approximate time the failed send occurred, and, if possible, the exact error message you received. We can then check our server logs to pinpoint exactly what's going wrong.

Updated on: 17/07/2026