Why is my email not arriving?

This guide goes through the usual reasons email sent to you doesn’t arrive, and how to check what happened to a message.

Check where your domain’s mail goes

For mail to reach your mailbox with us, your domain must point at our servers. If it uses our nameservers (ns1.whgbdns.com to ns4.whgbdns.com), this is set up for you. See how to point your domain at our hosting.

If you changed nameservers in the last day or two, some mail may still be going to your old provider. Log in there and check for it.

If your DNS is managed somewhere else, the domain’s MX record decides where mail goes. If it still points at an old provider or at Microsoft 365, mail won’t reach us. Update it at your DNS provider, or open a support ticket if you’re not sure what it should be.

Use Track Delivery

cPanel can show what happened to recent messages sent to or from your addresses.

1. Log in to cPanel. See how to log in to cPanel.
2. Open Track Delivery in the Email section.
3. Type the recipient address and run the search. You can filter by sender too.
4. Look for the message by time and sender. Clicking the information icon next to it shows more detail.

If the message isn’t listed at all, it never reached our server. The problem is with the sender or with your domain’s DNS. If it’s listed as delivered, check your mailbox folders. If it shows as failed or rejected, the detail will usually say why.

Check the mailbox isn’t full

When a mailbox reaches its storage limit, new mail bounces back to the sender. In cPanel, open Email Accounts and look at the storage used. See how to change an email password or mailbox size.

Check the spam filter

If you’ve turned on Spam Filters, look in the spam folder in webmail. If Auto-Delete is turned on with a low score, genuine mail could be deleted. See how to stop spam. Also check the junk folder in your email program and any rules or filters you’ve set up there.

Check your forwarders

If an address forwards to another address, the mail is delivered there, not to the mailbox you’re looking at. If two forwarders point at each other, mail goes round in a loop and is rejected. Open Forwarders in cPanel and check the list. See how to forward email.

If it doesn’t work

• One sender’s mail never arrives. Ask them for the bounce message they received. It will say why.
• Mail disappears after being read on one device. A device set up with POP3 may be downloading and deleting mail from the server. Switch it to IMAP.
• You deleted mail by mistake. Backups run every six hours and include email. See how to restore a backup with JetBackup.

If you open a ticket, include the sender’s address and roughly when the message was sent.

Still stuck? Open a support ticket and we’ll help.