Inbound Email | Troubleshooting

Overview

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Inbound email automatically routes inbound email inquiries to the right place both quickly and efficiently. All inbound emails are placed in the Inbox mailbox until they are processed. Once cleared, they are moved to the Received (if processed) or Junk (if ignored by your Inbound Email Actions) mailbox. If the ServiceNow system is restarted for any reason, such as during a system upgrade, all inbound mail remains in the external mail server until ServiceNow can request delivery.

 

Common Inbound Email Issues

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Inbound email automatically routes inbound email inquiries to the right place both quickly and efficiently. All inbound emails are placed in the Inbox mailbox until they are processed. Once cleared, they are moved to the Received (if processed) or Junk (if ignored by your Inbound Email Actions) mailbox. If the ServiceNow system is restarted for any reason, such as during a system upgrade, all inbound mail remains in the external mail server until ServiceNow can request delivery.

The following are common inbound email issues, their symptoms, and solutions.

Common Inbound Email Issue	Symptom	Solution
The instance is not enabled to receive email.	No messages appear in the Inbox or Received mailboxes.	Verify if the instance is configured to receive emails
Instance does not have proper settings for custom POP server.	When using a custom POP server, no messages appear in the Inbox or Received mailboxes.	Verify the instance has the proper custom POP server settings
The Pop Reader scheduled job is in an error state.	New messages do not appear in the Inbox.	Confirm the scheduled job (POP Reader) is running
Email not triggering inbound action.	Email does not create incident or other expected record, and email is skipped or processed.	Validate the inbound email action is performed
The Events Process scheduled job is in an error state.	Email does not create incident or other expected record, and email remains in Inbox in the Ready state.	Verify the events process scheduled job is running

 

Video Tutorials

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If you are having issues using the inbound email functionality in ServiceNow, our video tutorials are a great way to help find solutions. These video tutorials guide you step by step to a solution and provide common troubleshooting methods. This tutorial covers common issues, their causes, and the required steps to resolve them. They range from basic to more advanced topics, and are best watched in the order that they are listed.