Troubleshooting email delivery issues

If users aren’t receiving email notifications (e.g., for absence requests, calendar invites, or activation links), this guide will help identify potential issues and provide solutions.

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Common causes of undelivered emails

1. Outlook calendar synchronization is enabled: This bypasses email invitations by directly updating users’ calendars.
2. Invitation emails were not sent: The invitation setting might have been disabled.
3. User accounts are inactive: Notifications are not sent to inactive accounts.
4. Email filters or spam rules are blocking absentify notifications: Emails might be routed to spam or blocked by IT policies.
5. Delivery errors are logged in email history: Check absentify’s email history for specific issues.

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Checking email history in absentify

absentify provides an Email History tab to help diagnose delivery issues.

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Steps to check email history:

1. Navigate to Settings > Users.
2. Select the user experiencing the issue and open their profile.
3. Click on the Email History tab.

Here, you’ll see:

• Status: Sent, Bounced, or Failed.
• Timestamp: When the email was sent.
• Reason for failure: For example, an invalid email address or a blocked domain.

Address any issues based on the logged reason (e.g., update the email address or whitelist absentify’s domain).

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Outlook calendar synchronization

When Outlook calendar synchronization is enabled, absences are automatically added to users’ calendars, skipping email invitations.

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How to check and adjust:

1. Navigate to Settings > Microsoft.
2. Disable the Outlook calendar synchronization toggle if you prefer email invitations.

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Invitation emails not sent

If users didn’t receive their invitation emails, check the Send invitation mail setting.

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Steps to resolve:

1. Manually invite the user:

   • Share this link: https://app.absentify.com/login.
   • After logging in, they can select Join an existing company.

2. Enable automatic invites for future users:

   • Go to Settings.
   • Ensure the Send invitation mail toggle is active.

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Account not activated

Users must activate their accounts by logging into absentify at least once to start receiving notifications.

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What to check:

• Confirm if the user has logged in.
• If not, resend the invitation or provide the login link.

For more details, refer to our guide on activating users.

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Email filters or rules blocking absentify notifications

If emails still aren’t arriving, they may be blocked by company-wide email rules or spam filters.

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How to whitelist absentify emails in Microsoft 365

1. Add absentify to Safe Senders List:

   • Log in to the Microsoft 365 Defender Portal (https://security.microsoft.com).
   • Navigate to Policies & rules > Threat policies > Anti-spam policies.
   • Add notifications@mails.absentify.com to the Safe Senders List.

2. Set up mail flow rules in Exchange:

   • Log in to the Microsoft 365 Admin Center.

   • Navigate to Exchange > Mail flow > Rules.

   • Create a new rule with the following settings:

     • Name: Allow absentify emails.
     • Condition: Apply this rule if... > The sender > Domain is > mails.absentify.com.
     • Action: Do the following > Modify the message properties > Set spam confidence level (SCL) to -1.

     Save the rule to allow emails from absentify to bypass spam filters.

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Advanced troubleshooting options

1. Check quarantine settings:

   • Log in to the Microsoft 365 Defender Portal (https://security.microsoft.com).
   • Go to Review > Quarantine.
   • Search for emails from notifications@mails.absentify.com and release them if needed.

2. Enable detailed email tracking:

   • Navigate to the Exchange Admin Center.
   • Select Mail flow > Message trace.
   • Search for the user or email domain to identify any delivery issues.

3. Review Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) policies:

   • If ATP is enabled, add mails.absentify.com as a trusted domain in your anti-phishing and Safe Links policies.

4. Domain configuration:

   • Ensure your organization’s email security policies support the domain mails.absentify.com.

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Need assistance?

If you’re still experiencing issues, contact our support team. We’re here to help resolve any email delivery problems.

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