Mail Queue Manager

Valid for versions 82 through the latest version

Version:

82


Last modified: December 5, 2022

Overview

The Mail Queue Manager allows you to view, delete, and attempt to deliver queued messages that the system has not yet delivered to their destinations. For example, the system places messages in your mail queue if the sender addressed the messages to invalid hosts or addresses.

View queued emails

To view messages queued on your server, perform the following steps:

  1. Enter the search term conditions for your query.
  2. Enter your search criteria into the Search… text box.
  3. In the Select Query menu, select the portion of the message to query.
    • If you do not wish to restrict your search to a specific filter, select No Filter.
  4. In the Search Type menu, select how the search function matches your criteria.
    Note:
    Partial matches require more time to run than Begins With and Exact matches.
  5. Enter the Start Date, Start Time, End Date, and End Time values to specify the date range for which you wish to view sent mail.
  6. Click Run Report.
    Note:
    • The search feature does not search the body of the queued messages.
    • The results remain filtered until you clear the search box.

The results table

By default, the system sorts results for your query into seven columns.

  • Time Received — The time at which the email message arrived at the destination server.
  • Sender — The email address that sent the message.
  • Message ID — The message’s unique identifier.
  • Recipient(s) — The email address to which the user sent the message.
  • Size — The size of the message.
  • Status — The status of the message.
  • Action — Click the icon to view information about the selected message. When this report displays, you can also perform the following actions:
    • Delete Message
    • Deliver Message Now
    • Return to Mail Queue.

Read the sections below for more information about the Delete and Deliver actions.

Note:
If an email has several invalid destination addresses (To, CC, and BCC addresses), the message only appears once in the table.

Customize output results

You may add columns to the results table to view more information. To add columns, perform the following steps:

  • Click the icon in the top right corner of the results table, and select the checkbox for the information that you wish to view in the table. To hide information from the table, deselect the checkbox.
  • To automatically select the default columns, click Reset to Default.

Delete messages

The system cannot send emails that users send to incorrect addresses. You must delete these messages from the Mail Queue Manager list.

To delete emails, perform the following steps:

  1. Select the checkbox for each email that you wish to delete.
  2. Click Delete Selected.
  3. A new window will display. Click OK.

To delete all of the emails in the list, perform the following steps:

Warning:
This function deletes all emails, both from the filtered list and mail queue. Only use this if you wish to delete all emails from your mail queue.
  1. Click Delete All. A new window will display.
  2. Click OK to confirm that you wish to delete all emails.
  3. A new window will display. Click OK .

Deliver messages

To attempt to deliver queued emails, perform the following steps:

  1. Select the checkbox for each email that you wish to send.
  2. Click Deliver Selected.
  3. A new window will display. Click OK.
    • The system will confirm that it attempted to deliver the message.
    • Under Delivering Messages in Queue, a delivery report indicates whether this attempt succeeded or failed.

To attempt to deliver all of the server’s queued mail, perform the following steps:

Warning:
This function attempts to deliver all of the queued mail on the server, both from the filtered list and mail queue.
  1. Click Deliver All.
  2. A new window will display. Click OK.
    • The system will confirm that it attempted to deliver the message.
    • Under Delivering Messages in Queue, a delivery report indicates whether this attempt succeeded or failed.

Unfreeze an email

After several attempts, if a message fails to deliver, the system freezes that message. This practice helps to conserve system resources, increase queue runs, and reduce chances that the target mail transfer agent treats your message as spam.

The system will not attempt to deliver the message again until you manually unfreeze the message, or the system reaches a timeout.

To unfreeze a message, click the unfreeze icon that corresponds to the desired message. A new window will open to confirm that the system has unfrozen your message.

Note:
  • This icon only appears when the status of the message is labeled frozen.
  • You can unfreeze only one message at a time.

If several frozen messages appear in your Mail Queue Manager, examine the log file (/var/log/exim_mainlog) to find the cause and troubleshoot Exim.

Additional Documentation