Troubleshooting Email Not Arriving

Troubleshooting Email Not Arriving

If emails sent to your Kapsule address are not arriving, there are several places to check. Work through these steps in order to identify and resolve the issue.

Step 1: Check Your Spam and Junk Folder

Before investigating further, check your spam or junk folder in both your email client and the KPanel webmail interface. If the messages are arriving there, mark them as "not spam" to train the filter.

To access KPanel webmail: log in to KPanel and go to Mailboxes, then click Webmail next to the affected mailbox.

Step 2: Confirm the Mailbox Exists

Make sure the mailbox you are expecting email at actually exists:

  1. Log in to KPanel at kpanel.kapsulecloud.com
  2. Go to Mailboxes
  3. Confirm the address is listed

If it is not listed, the mailbox does not exist and the sender may have received a bounce message.

Step 3: Check Your MX Records

Incorrect MX records are one of the most common causes of email delivery failure. Your domain's MX records must point to Kapsule's mail server:

  1. Go to Domains in KPanel and select your domain
  2. Click DNS Records and look for the MX record
  3. Confirm it points to mail.kapsulecloud.com

You can verify the current MX records using MXToolbox.

If you recently changed your MX records, propagation can take up to 48 hours. During this window, some email may still be directed to the old server.

Step 4: Check Your Mailbox Storage

A full mailbox will reject incoming email. To check storage:

  1. Go to Mailboxes in KPanel
  2. Look at the storage usage bar for the affected mailbox

If the mailbox is at or near its limit, delete old emails (particularly those with large attachments) and empty the trash and spam folders.

Step 5: Check for Forwarding Rules

If you have email forwarding set up, messages may be arriving in a different inbox:

  1. Open the mailbox in KPanel
  2. Click the Forwarding tab
  3. Confirm whether forwarding is enabled and where it is going

If "keep a copy in this mailbox" is not checked, messages will not appear in the Kapsule mailbox.

Step 6: Ask the Sender for a Bounce Message

Ask the sender to share any bounce (non-delivery report) message they received. Bounce messages contain specific error codes:

CodeLikely Cause
550Mailbox does not exist or rejected
552Mailbox full
421Temporary server issue, sender should retry
553SPF or domain authentication failure

Still Not Receiving Email?

If you have worked through all of the above and email is still not arriving, open a support ticket in KPanel under Support. Include the affected email address, the domain's current MX records, any bounce messages, and the approximate time email last arrived normally.

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