Recipients not receiving attachments
Over the past 2 weeks I've had an alarming number of recipients who tell me they aren't getting my attachments. I work in real estate so we send a LOT of PDF files back and forth.
This is a recent development and seems to be occurring with recipients on Gmail, Yahoo, Comcast, etc. so it's not isolated to 1 domain. And yes, I am checking my Sent mail to confirm the attachment was included on my original email. :)
Not sure if this is a problem on my end with my server?
I'm not super-experienced with cPanel but I do have root access. I have a small biz, so we pay for a cloud-base VPS dedicated host.
-
I'm not super-experienced with cPanel but I do have root access. I have a small biz, so we pay for a cloud-base VPS dedicated host.
Hello, You can search for one of the messages using . Check to see if you notice any specific error messages. You may need to consult with the individual remote mail servers if the message successfully leaves the cPanel server because that would suggest the remote server is blocking the attachment. Thank you.0 -
Hello, You can search for one of the messages using . Check to see if you notice any specific error messages. You may need to consult with the individual remote mail servers if the message successfully leaves the cPanel server because that would suggest the remote server is blocking the attachment.
Just had this happen and I checked the Mail Delivery Report. It confirms the attachment was there. What are some reasons why the remote server block the attachment? Also, how exactly would I go about contacting the admins for services like Gmail or Comcast? The only support contacts I can find are for their own customers.0 -
Hello, Some providers will block attachments with certain file types (e.g. zip, exe). Here is Google's policy: Some file types are blocked - Gmail Help Large providers such as Google typically offer an email troubleshooter for bulk senders: Troubleshooting for bulk email senders - Gmail Help Thank you. 0 -
After another week of observation, I'm convinced it's MY server that is removing the attachments before processing the email. I am the only sender my recipients are reporting not receiving attachments from. Often, when a recipient tells me they didn't get the attachment, and I re-send it to them, they get it. So if it was a case of the recipient's mail server removing the attachments, that wouldn't be happening. So I'm still looking for some help here. Is there any kind of cPanel setting that affects mail attachments? Or permissions/memory/drive space allocated for attachments? Or maybe I have an over-zealous security setting that's flagging PDFs? I can't find anything specifically but thought it might be labeled differently. 0 -
Is it only PDF attachments being removed, or does an image or text document get removed as well? Do you have any 3rd party scripts installed on your server like MailScanner for example? 0 -
It's both PDF and JPG files. I don't believe we have any 3rd party scripts installed, but I profess ignorance on where to look for that. 0 -
Assuming you've got someone managing your server, have you spoken with them about this? Are you sending these attachments right from your mail client or from a mailing script of some sort? 0 -
Please don't laugh, but our server is unmanaged (it's cloud-based VPS hosting through DotBlock). A good friend of mine is an IT professional and he did the initial setup for us. Occasionally he'll check in to make sure everything is running smoothly, but to be honest this is the first "problem" we've ever encountered. Unfortunately my IT friend does everything through the terminal and isn't familiar with cPanel, so I've been trying to educate myself. And yes, these attachments are being sent through Outlook, specifically Outlook for Mac 2016. 0 -
Do you have any indication from your users you email the PDFs to, that any of them are indeed getting them properly? Or are all users not getting them at any email address coming from you? 0 -
Yes, some recipients are getting them just fine, and consistently. Others aren't getting ANY attachments. And others are not getting them in my initial email, but if I re-send them the attachment, sometimes they get it on the 2nd try. 0 -
And yes, these attachments are being sent through Outlook, specifically Outlook for Mac 2016.
Are you using default mail settings for your cPanel account as displayed in your cPanel, for example a normal IMAP account? Is it possible for you to try sending a PDF to a user who doesn't get them, from Webmail instead of your email client? If you've already tested this, did it go out properly?0 -
Are you using default mail settings for your cPanel account as displayed in your cPanel, for example a normal IMAP account? Is it possible for you to try sending a PDF to a user who doesn't get them, from Webmail instead of your email client? If you've already tested this, did it go out properly?
Yes, a normal IMAP account. I believe the settings are default. I tried your Webmail suggestion to email a JPG file to a recipient who had not been receiving my attachments. She did get the attachment, but again, the problem is intermittent. EDIT: Would Outlook sending through unsecured ports have anything to do with this issue I'm having? I had Outlook set up to use SSL but apparently after upgrading recently it defaulted back to the normal setting and wasn't using SSL. I changed it back to SSL.0 -
Hello Please check whether the total message size including the attachment exceeds the set threshold value for a message. You can check the server value using the following command # exim -bP | grep message_size_limit You can alter the value and make an attempt. 0 -
Hello Please check whether the total message size including the attachment exceeds the set threshold value for a message. You can check the server value using the following command # exim -bP | grep message_size_limit You can alter the value and make an attempt.
Thanks for this tip. It's set to "50M" (assuming that's 50 mb), which I would think is plenty sufficient. We try to keep PDF attachments as small as possible, and we even re-optimize and compress PDF's using an app called PDFOptim if the file size is too big. Most of the docs we send are small -- under 1 mb. In the event we have a whole package of documents to send, the file sizes can get up to 7-8 mb. If they get any bigger than that, I usually just send it via DocuSign, Dropbox, DotLoop or some other service our clients are familiar with.0 -
After another week of observation, I'm convinced it's MY server that is removing the attachments before processing the email. I am the only sender my recipients are reporting not receiving attachments from. Often, when a recipient tells me they didn't get the attachment, and I re-send it to them, they get it. So if it was a case of the recipient's mail server removing the attachments, that wouldn't be happening.
Hello, Try searching for one of the messages with a failed attachment via: "WHM Home " Email " Mail Delivery Reports" Look for anything in the log that suggests the message was filtered. Documentation on this option is available at: Mail Delivery Reports - Documentation - cPanel Documentation Thank you.0
Please sign in to leave a comment.
Comments
15 comments