How to Troubleshoot Cannot Receive Email
Not receiving mail has a handful of usual causes. Check them in this order and you will almost always find it quickly.
Step-by-step
- Check the mailbox is not full. A full mailbox bounces incoming mail — see freeing space. This is the most common cause.
- Check spam and filters. The mail may be in the Spam folder, or an email filter may be discarding it.
- Verify MX records and routing. Wrong MX or Email Routing sends mail to the wrong server — see email routing.
- Use Track Delivery. cPanel → Email → Track Delivery shows whether messages reached the server and any error — see reading the result.
- Test from an outside account (e.g. Gmail) and watch for a bounce message, which states the exact reason.
- Confirm the address exists and is spelled correctly — a deleted or mistyped mailbox simply rejects mail.
💡 Good to know
- A full mailbox is the number-one reason mail stops arriving — keep up the POP download habit.
- Bounce messages to the sender contain the precise reason — ask them to forward it.
- Recently changed DNS? Allow time for propagation.