Who is this article for?

Administrators needing to learn about email sending.

Admin or Server access is required to complete some of these steps.

This article answers frequently asked questions about email sending. For more details, see common email sending questions.

1. What servers do the emails originate from for whitelist or SPF record purposes?

To whitelist or add to the SPF record on your domain, you need to identify the servers from which the emails originate. This depends on your outgoing server settings configured during Please Review installation, specifically in the Tara.EmailTara.Email settings found in the Runtime\config\Config.xml file. For installations hosted in our Please Review cloud, emails are relayed from 50.31.46.70, hosted by SendGrid, which provisions email services for our hosted servers. This IP address is dedicated to Ideagen-hosted customers, represented in CIDR notation as 50.31.46.70/32.

Only outgoing mail servers should be listed in SPF records. Therefore, the SendGrid IP suffices for our hosted servers and has passed SPF record checks.

If you're uncertain about the sending IP address in your setup, examine the email headers to find the corresponding IP address of the mail sending server. Tools like MX Toolbox can assist in obtaining this information, or you can contact support for further details.

2. What is the sending domain for system emails?

The system address is configured under Admin Workgroup Management Settings.

For our hosted cloud servers, system emails originate by default from a customer-specific system address @pleasereview.net for notifications such as password resets. This can be updated if required.

3. How are email spoofing and additional sending addresses handled?

• New user notifications: Sent from the address of the user adding them.
• Review-related emails: Sent from the owner of the review by default.

To prevent this behaviour, update the Emails From System Suffixes setting under Admin Workgroup Management Settings. The easiest option is to set this to *.

4. How do I identify undelivered emails from the outgoing server?

Locate emails sent by the system and potentially re-queue them by navigating to Admin Email Status under the sysadmin user account. Review owners have the capability to access and potentially re-queue these emails if required.

5. How do I determine if emails were not successfully delivered or bounced?

To determine if emails weren't successfully delivered or bounced, check with the mail servers and review any bounce-backs in the mailboxes. For our hosted cloud environment, system mailboxes are unavailable. Support may provide a general overview or assist in specific cases, but exhaustive reviews exceed the scope of standard agreements.

6. How to handle 'Sent OK' status without receiving on mail server?

If emails aren't blocked or bounced but are not received, check if the user is disabled in Please Review. Disabled users won't receive emails, even if they show as sent.

7. How can I use my own outgoing email server (SMTP)?

To configure your outgoing email server:

1. Open the Runtime\config\Config.xml file and locate the Tara.EmailTara.Email settings.
2. Make the necessary changes to configure your outgoing email server.
3. Restart the TaraService:
   1. Run Runtime\bin\AdminClient.exe as an Administrator, or
   2. Use the Services.msc application.
4. If Please Review is hosted in the cloud, confirm the details with support to apply the updates.

8. Can I resend failed emails? What is the retention period for email records?

Please Review retains email records for the last 30 days. You can resend failed emails via the email status options mentioned in earlier steps.

9. What are the troubleshooting steps for recurring issues with bounced, blocked, or lost emails?

1. Investigate Incoming Mail Servers:
   • Ensure emails aren't filtered into specific folders by user-defined rules.
   • Request the responsible party to investigate why emails are being bounced, blocked, or lost.
   • Add the sending IP to a whitelist or SPF record to reduce issues.
   • Consult with administrators if problems persist.
2. Address Spoofing Issues:
   1. If emails from your domain are being spoofed, update the SPF record to prevent issues.
   2. Alternatively, configure emails to originate solely from the system address.
3. Hosted Email Considerations:
   • Ensure root causes of blocks or bounces are addressed before clearing blocks.
   • Verify that all necessary blocks are cleared before requesting further actions.
   • By following these steps, you can troubleshoot and potentially resolve ongoing issues with email failures.

Note: Changing settings may add a message advising against replying due to the system origin, though replies might still occur.

10. How can I resolve issues with troubleshooting emails not being sent after rectifying mail server issues?

To address this issue:

1. Contact the administrators of the mail server.
2. Check if the mail sending server has recalled past failures to send emails and is limiting further attempts.
3. If emails are not being sent due to past failures and we manage the email hosting, reach out to support with recipient email addresses/domains for investigation.
4. We can assist in removing blocks if preventive measures have been taken to prevent future bounces or blocks.

11. Can I set up for stringent mail server requirements?

Setting up DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail) can help users encountering strict receiving mail servers. Follow these steps:

1. Coordinate between your email sending server and domain for DKIM setup. If managing your own server, it is your responsibility.
2. If we host your instance, DKIM can be set up through Cloud Ops. Raise a request with support to initiate this process.
3. Note that setting up DKIM involves multiple steps on both ends and may take time to implement.

12. Whare are the various server email addresses and their purposes?

Hosted customers have default email addresses that can be customized:

By default, emails from the system address advise users not to reply. You may use noreply@yourdomain.com instead if desired, provided correct settings are configured to ensure delivery.

13. Why is my email server on a blacklist?

We have put measures in place to ensure our hosted mail sending server is not on known blacklists. If you host your own server or are hosted with us, but not using our email sending server, it would be your responsibility to ensure your mail sending server doesn't get blacklisted and is remove from any blacklists it does get listed on.

There are different blacklists with different reputations and usage rates. Some block indiscriminately and charge to remove or you just wait for automatic removal over time. If our hosted mail sending server IP was blocked with a service that was known to be reputable and affected others, we would work to remove it, but blocks imposed by less reputable organisations will not be addressed.

To investigate this, we would need definite proof that any failed email delivery was as a result of a specific blacklist listing and just showing that a blacklist has listed it, is not proof alone.