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Emails are stuck in the mail queue as pending

This guide explains the reasons why email messages may be delayed and remain in a 'Pending' state within the queue.

Written by Terence Cassidy

Emails can get stuck in the mail queue as pending for several reasons. Work through the steps below to identify the cause before contacting support.

📌 ​Note: Our mail queue will process 30 emails per user every 2 minutes and these will be handled in sequential order. This limit and timings were put in to work in synergy with Microsoft 365 and ensure that we do not impact the limit set of 30 messages per minute that side.

1. A mailshot is still processing

If you have recently sent a mailshot, individual emails will stay in a pending status until all mailshot emails ahead of them have been sent. The mail queue processes 30 emails per user every 2 minutes in sequential order — large mailshots can take several hours to clear.

What to do: Wait for the mailshot to finish processing. You can monitor progress in the mail queue. If emails are still pending more than 2 hours after the mailshot completed, move to the next step.

2. SMTP credentials contain an error

An incorrect or corrupted SMTP setting — including invisible characters that can be introduced when copying and pasting credentials — will cause emails to fail silently in the queue.

What to do:

  1. Go to My Actions > Profile > Mail tab.

  2. Delete and manually retype (do not paste) your SMTP username and password.

  3. Save and try sending a test email.

3. A specific email type is failing

Some email types — such as Right to Representation emails or emails to candidates in a specific workflow stage — can fail while others send successfully. If the issue only affects certain emails and not your whole queue, note the following before contacting support:

  • Which email type or template is affected

  • Whether the failure is consistent or intermittent

  • The candidate name(s) or record(s) where failures are occurring

  • Any error messages shown in the mail queue

4. The mailer task has stalled

If none of the above apply and emails remain stuck across multiple users or your whole account, the underlying mailer task may have stalled and require intervention by our support team.

Still stuck? Contact support

If your issue persists after checking the above, please contact us via the Access Digital Assistant, referencing the title of this article. To help us investigate quickly, include:

  • How long emails have been stuck

  • Whether it affects all users or specific users

  • Whether it affects all email types or specific ones

  • Any error messages visible in the mail queue

  • Steps you have already tried

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