Skip to page contentSkip to chat
ServiceNow support
    • Community
      Ask questions, give advice, and connect with fellow ServiceNow professionals.
      Developer
      Build, test, and deploy applications
      Documentation
      Find detailed information about ServiceNow products, apps, features, and releases.
      Impact
      Accelerate ROI and amplify your expertise.
      Learning
      Build skills with instructor-led and online training.
      Partner
      Grow your business with promotions, news, and marketing tools
      ServiceNow
      Learn about ServiceNow products & solutions.
      Store
      Download certified apps and integrations that complement ServiceNow.
      Support
      Manage your instances, access self-help, and get technical support.
Verifying the recipient's email address is properly formatted - Support and Troubleshooting
  • >
  • Knowledge Base
  • >
  • Support and Troubleshooting (Knowledge Base)
  • >
  • Verifying the recipient's email address is properly formatted
KB0528671

Verifying the recipient's email address is properly formatted


14030 Views Last updated : Feb 5, 2025 public Copy Permalink English (Original)
  • English (Original)
  • Japanese
KB Summary by Now Assist

Issue

ServiceNow cannot send email if the email address is not properly formatted and valid. If a particular user or group does not receive an email notification, verify the user or group has a properly formatted and valid email address.

Email addresses generally follow this format:

localname@domain

The definition of a properly formatted email address is described in detail in section 3.4 of RFC 2822.  The format is surprisingly complicated in what it allows, with various exceptional cases, making a succinct description difficult.

Simply having a properly formatted address is not enough.  The receiving mail server must recognize the email account. If your email address is properly formatted, but perhaps incorrectly spelled, the receiving mail server will reject the email address as not valid because it cannot find the email account.

Improperly formatted email address examples:

  • john.smith  - The 'domain' part is technically optional according to specification, so this is properly formatted.  However, ServiceNow email servers enforce email addresses with a full domain, in order to eliminate any ambiguity in the recipient.
  • @example  - missing the local part
  • @ex amp le  - unacceptable spaces

Properly formatted email address examples:

  • john.smith@example.com
  • johnZZZ.smith@example.com - This is properly formatted, but if the 'ZZZ' were typed in error, the receiving mail server will reject it as invalid because it cannot find this account.

Release

All releases

Resolution

 

Email Investigation

Check the error_string field of the email record as well as the Email Log-related list.

  1. Open the email record you expected the recipient to receive
  2. Check the error_string field. If a server rejected an email address as invalid, the error may appear here.  The text is server-dependent.
  3. In Eureka and later information is logged that may indicate why a particular user was included or excluded in an email notification.  Check the logs for the reason a recipient was excluded. An improperly formatted address is one reason a recipient might be excluded.   View the 'Email Log' related list and look for the user in question.

Notification Investigation

The notification defines who receives an email in the "Who To Send" tab in the notification

  1. Log in to the instance.
  2. Navigate to System Policy > Notifications.
  3. Select the notification you expected the recipient to receive. For example, the incident commented notification.
  4. Identify the users and groups who would normally receive the notification. For example, the incident comment notification notifies the incident caller.
  5. Determine which specific users or groups did not potentially trigger the notification. For example, determine the user who is the incident caller.
  6. Navigate to User Administration > Users.
  7. Select the user record for the intended recipient.
  8. Verify the address in the Email field is properly formatted.
  9. If you change the user record, click Update.

Related Links

Official RFC: section 3.4 of RFC 2822

Wikipedia article - Email address

 


The world works with ServiceNow.

Sign in for more! There's more content available only to authenticated users Sign in for more!
Did this KB article help you?
Did this KB article help you?

How would you rate your Now Support digital experience?

*

Very unsatisfied

Unsatisfied

Neutral

Satisfied

Very satisfied

Very unsatisfied

Unsatisfied

Neutral

Satisfied

Very satisfied

What can we improve? Please select all that apply.

What are we doing well? Please select all that apply.

Tell us more

*

Do you expect a response from this feedback?

  • Terms and conditions
  • Privacy statement
  • GDPR
  • Cookie policy
  • © 2025 ServiceNow. All rights reserved.