Email Delivery Issues — UI Diagnostic Checklist

The 60-second dashboard check#

Before assuming the worst, open AcelleMail and walk these four screens. 80% of delivery cases resolve from the UI without needing the operator.

1. Look at the campaign's tracking log#

Open the campaign → Tracking log tab. Every send attempt is here with status + timestamp:

What the rows tell you:

• All recent timestamps, all "Delivered" → AcelleMail sent successfully. The issue is recipient-side (spam folder, blocked domain). Skip to Sending server test below.
• Recent timestamps, mix of "Bounced" + "Deferred" → receiving servers are slow or rejecting. Open the bounce log next.
• Tracking log is empty / old → the campaign never actually sent. See Campaign stuck in Sending.

2. Read the bounce log#

Same campaign → Bounces tab. The DSN code column tells you why each message failed:

• Most bounces are "5.1.1 User unknown" → stale list, addresses no longer exist. Normal at <5%. Run Subscribers → Email verification before next send.
• Most bounces are "5.7.x" (delivery not authorized) → your sending IP or domain is being blocked. Move to step 3.
• Most bounces are "4.x.x" (temporary) → AcelleMail retries automatically. Wait — no action needed.

See Decoding bounce messages for the full DSN code reference.

3. Check sending server health#

Settings → Sending servers → click the active server. The detail page shows the three authentication signals:

What to verify:

• SPF, DKIM, DMARC chips all green — receiving servers can confirm you're authorized to send.
• Daily quota not exhausted — if you sent your daily limit, the rest queues to tomorrow.
• Bounce + complaint rates < 5% — sustained higher rates throttle your IP.

If any chip is red, click Verify domain → AcelleMail walks you through the DNS records to add at your DNS host.

4. Run the live diagnostic test#

Same sending server detail → Test button. Sends a single message to an address you specify:

Send to your own personal email. Three outcomes:

• Arrives in Inbox → sending setup is OK. The original issue is content-side (spam-trigger words) or recipient-side (their filter). See Why emails go to spam.
• Arrives in Spam → authentication or reputation issue. Open the message → Show original (Gmail) → check Authentication-Results header.
• Doesn't arrive at all → IP outright blocked. Check the sending IP at mxtoolbox.com → blocklist lookup.

Common UI fix paths#

When to escalate to the operator#

The dashboard exposes everything most users need. Escalate to the server operator when:

• Tracking log is empty AND the campaign should have started >30 minutes ago (queue worker dead)
• Test diagnostic doesn't arrive AND the IP is verified clean on blocklists (deeper SMTP / DNS / firewall issue)
• Daily quota is large enough but campaigns still stop mid-send (PHP-FPM worker exhaustion, database lock)

ps aux | grep "queue:work" | grep -v grep
# Expect at least one process for each --queue= pool the supervisor config defines.

php artisan queue:size
# Expected: dropping toward zero as the worker processes the backlog.

php artisan queue:failed | wc -l
# >0 means jobs gave up after their tries. Investigate with:
php artisan queue:failed

php artisan tinker --execute='
  \$server = \App\Model\SendingServer::where("status","active")->first();
  echo "Driver: " . \$server->type . "\n";
  echo "Host: " . \$server->host . "\n";
  echo "Test result: " . json_encode(\$server->test()) . "\n";
'

# Replace with your sending server's host + port.
nc -zv email-smtp.us-east-1.amazonaws.com 587
# Expected: Connection succeeded. Failure = firewall blocking outbound SMTP.

openssl s_client -connect smtp.sendgrid.net:587 -starttls smtp -crlf < /dev/null \
  2>/dev/null | grep -E "(subject|issuer|verify)"
# Expected: valid cert chain. Self-signed or expired = TLS rejection.

dig TXT yourdomain.com +short | grep spf
dig TXT default._domainkey.yourdomain.com +short
dig TXT _dmarc.yourdomain.com +short

tail -200 /home/acelle/domains/acellemail.com/storage/logs/laravel.log | grep -iE "(send|smtp|fail|reject)"
tail -200 /var/log/mail.log    # if MTA = local Postfix

php artisan tinker --execute='
  foreach (\App\Model\SendingServer::where("status","active")->get() as \$s) {
    echo \$s->name . ": " . \$s->getCurrentDailySendingQuotaUsage() . " / " . \$s->daily_quota . " today\n";
  }
'

Related articles#

• Decoding bounce messages
• Why are my emails going to spam folder
• Campaign stuck in Sending status
• Setting up queue workers and cron jobs