Troubleshooting email deliverability

In Zendesk, if you have issues with email or any of the behaviors below, use this guide:

An email message wasn't delivered to or from Zendesk Support

You didn't receive emails to or from end users

Emails didn't create tickets

An email was detected as spam

This article includes these topics:

If customers don't receive emails sent by agents in Zendesk

If you don't receive emails sent by end users to Zendesk

If customers don't receive emails sent by agents in Zendesk

If your agents send emails from Zendesk Support but end users don't receive these emails, follow the steps below:

Step 1: Check the email delivery status

Step 2: Verify that a trigger sends your email in the ticket

Step 3: Verify your email forwarding

Step 4: Verify your SPF record

Step 5: Verify the status with the recipient

Step 1: Check the email delivery status

Check the ticket's recipients for the delivery failure notice in the Zendesk Agent Workspace. You can view reasons for email delivery failure in the ticket next to the recipient's name.

To identify the cause of the error, click the warning icon next to a user name or view the ticket events log.

Step 2: Verify that a trigger sends your email in the ticket

If your end users don't receive emails, it's possible that no trigger sent that email. Triggers are essential to communication and emails in Zendesk Support. The default triggers that start with Notify requester in the title shouldn't be deactivated.

To make sure a trigger sends your emails:

Open the affected ticket events by adding /events to the end of the ticket URL

Under the comment left by the agent, check if a trigger sent the email

If no trigger appears in the ticket, in your triggers:

Check your triggers with the Filter button, and check that triggers with Notify requester in the title don't appear deactivated

If these triggers are deactivated, select the checkbox for each trigger and click Activate

If no triggers named Notify requester appear:

Create your triggers again

Match each of your trigger conditions to this article: About the standard ticket triggers

Step 3: Verify your email forwarding

If your trigger sends emails and you use your own email domain in Zendesk:

Check the forwarding status of the email address in your email channel

Make sure no forwarding error appears. If errors appear, use this guide: How to fix the Forwarding check failed error

Step 4: Verify your SPF record

A Sender Policy Framework (SPF) record allows Zendesk to send emails on your behalf. Without an SPF record that includes Zendesk in your domain, recipients may block emails sent from Zendesk.

Check the SPF of the email address in your email channel

You can also check the SPF record for your domain, such as example.com, with external tools: MxToolbox

If include:mail.zendesk.com doesn't appear for your domain, or your SPF returns errors, your customers may not receive your emails

To resolve errors, contact your domain administrator and ask them to edit the existing TXT record to add include:mail.zendesk.com. There can be only one TXT record for your SPF. Your administrator can use these articles:

My SPF record isn't validated

How to fix the email error messages on forwarding, SPF, DNS, and TXT records

Step 5: Verify the status with the recipient

If a trigger sends your emails and the SPF record for your domain includes Zendesk Support, the recipient's server may block incoming emails. You may or may not receive a bounce-back notification in your Suspended tickets view.

Follow these steps with the recipient:

Contact the recipient with details from the blocked email

Ask the recipient to check their spam inbox

If the email isn't in spam, ask the recipient to verify why their server blocked your email

Ask the recipient if they can change their settings to accept future emails from your agents

Email delivery depends on the recipient's relay server. Each company uses different filters and settings that are out of reach for Zendesk Customer Support.

If you don't receive emails sent by end users to Zendesk

If tickets weren't created from an email, follow these steps:

Step 1: Verify which email address your end user contacted

Step 2: Verify the forwarding status of your support email address

Step 3: Verify your Suspended tickets view

Step 1: Verify which email address your end user contacted

If no ticket or comment appears in Zendesk Support after an email arrives, follow the steps below:

Ask the sender to send you a copy of the email

Make sure the support email address appears in your email channel

Step 2: Verify the forwarding status of your support email address

If you use a custom email domain:

Check the forwarding status of your email address in your email channel

Use this guide to fix any errors: How to fix the Forwarding check failed error

Step 3: Verify your Suspended tickets view

If messages from your customers don't create a ticket:

Check whether the email appears in the Suspended tickets view

You may need to check multiple pages

If the email appears suspended, see this article: Causes for ticket suspension

Recover any ticket of your choice

When you recover an email, you inform the spam filter that the email is legitimate. This works like the Not Spam or Not junk button in your email. You may need to recover a few emails. The system learns over time and will allow emails.

If your end user doesn't have an email provider with properly configured Sender Policy Framework (SPF), DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM), or Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance (DMARC) settings, the enhanced sender authentication setting may flag their emails as spam.

Other reasons can cause issues with email delivery. For further troubleshooting steps, see these articles:

Customer emails don't show up in Zendesk

Common email channel problems

What does "Detected as spam" mean