Why are my emails not sending?

Why are my emails not sending?

In Retailer 3.1.1, the way that Retailer sends emails was completely changed. This troubleshooting guide will only be relevant for versions of Retailer more recent than 3.1.1. If your version of Retailer is older, then your first troubleshooting step is to update!
Click HERE for how to install updates.

First, go to Tasks -> Mail Queue Manager, and take a look at the outgoing list of emails that Retailer has been trying to send - the Status of these emails should be 'Sent', 'Failed' or sometimes 'New'. Jump to the part of this article that is relevant to you.

Once you have completed the steps in the relevant section below, you can check to see if it worked by right-clicking a 'Failed' email in Mail Queue Manager and clicking Re-Send. After a delay (up to 30 seconds), you should see the status change to 'Locked' as Retailer attempts to send the email again. It will then change to 'Sent' or 'Failed'. If it disappeared from the list, this is the same as 'Sent', and means your emails are working again.
Click HERE for guide to re-printing/recovering End of Shift reports that you may have missed.

All my emails have Status 'Failed'

Next to the failed emails, you should see a message in the Response column.
Email providers may periodically change the way their email authentication works, so it's always best to have the latest version of Retailer to ensure emails still work.
Some common responses and their solutions are listed below:
  1. Invalid Username or Password: The username / password in your email settings is incorrect. Check the setup guide HERE for where to re-enter your password.
  2. Authentication Failed: The username / password in your email settings is incorrect. Check the setup guide HERE for where to re-enter your password.
  3. Failed to Authenticate Properly: Your email credentials have expired. Go to Setup->Mail Queue, then click the email address you use to send emails and click Change. Choose the correct email provider and sign into your email account again. Your emails should now be working.
  4. Authentication Unsuccessful, SMTPClientAuthentication is disabled for the tenant: You will need to enable SMTP for the email account you are using. This may be in your account options, or you may need to talk to the people who created your email account.
  5. Socket Error: Most likely caused because the Mail Queue could not access the internet at the time of sending. Right-click the email in the queue and click re-send. If the same error appears again, contact Tower support.
If there is a different error message in the response column, contact Tower Support. As the emails in the queue are Failed, you will need to resend them after resolving the issue. This can be done the Tasks -> Mail Queue Manager, by right clicking a Failed email and clicking Resend Email. You can also use the option Resend All Failed Emails.

My End of Shift emails are 'Failed' but other emails are 'Sent'

Make sure the email address listed in the Recipients column is correct. If not, follow the steps HERE and correct the email address that the email is sending to.

All my emails have Status 'New'

There are 2 possible causes for this issue:
  1. You have never completed the setup for sending emails. Click HERE for a guide to email setup. Note that if you recently updated Retailer from a version older than 3.1, there may be a 'bmail' email address listed in Setup->Mail Queue. Bmail is no longer suitable and cannot be used; delete this email address and follow the guide to set up a new one.
  2. The Mail Queue service has stopped responding. On you MAIN/server computer, open Retailer Backup (The blue 'R' icon). On the left, click 'Services'. In the row that says 'Tower Mail Queue Service', click the 'Stop' button, wait a few seconds, then click the 'Start' button. After about 1 minute your 'new' emails should start sending again. (If you have a version of Retailer older than 3.2.4, you will need to restart your MAIN/server computer instead. Note that while this computer is restarting, Retailer will not work on any other computers.)

My End of Shift emails arrive eventually, but often not until the next day

The Mail Queue service checks for new emails once every 30 seconds, and sends any that it finds. However, the Mail Queue service does not run while you a performing a Retailer backup, and obviously cannot run while the MAIN/server computer is switched off. If you finish your End of Shift, then immediately perform a Retailer backup and switch off the computer, it can delay your end of shift email until the next morning when the computer is switched back on again. This happens simply because the Mail Queue never had the time to send the email.

Consider altering your end of day routine slightly so that there is a pause between finishing your End of Shift and starting your Retailer backup / shutting down the computer. Note that all emails are sent from the MAIN/server computer - it is fine to shut down your other computers immediately.

There are no End of Shift emails in the Mail Queue

Either the End of Shift was not completed, or you have not enabled the emailing of reports. Click HERE for a guide to enabling End of Shift emails.

It says my End of Shift emails were 'Sent', but I didn't get them

Check that the email listed in the Recipient is correct. If not, follow the steps HERE and correct the email address that the email is sending to.
If this is correct, check your spam/junk folder.

All my emails have Status of 'None'

If you are sending via a Gmail address, redo the Email Setup. Make sure to tick Send email on your behalf during the Gmail Login steps

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