Why track email delivery?

Email tracking helps you verify that your messages are being delivered successfully. Use email tracking to:

  • Confirm sent emails reached their destination
  • Diagnose bounced or rejected messages
  • Identify spam filtering issues
  • Troubleshoot delivery delays
  • Monitor outgoing mail volume
  • Detect unauthorized email sending

DirectAdmin provides tools to view recent email activity and monitor your mail queue.

Accessing email tracking in DirectAdmin

  1. Log in to DirectAdmin
  2. Go to Email Manager or Advanced Features
  3. Click Email Tracking or Mail Queue
  4. You will see recent email activity for your account

DirectAdmin shows the most recent email transactions, including sent, received, and rejected messages.

Understanding the email tracking interface

The email tracking page displays:

  • Date and time: When the email was processed (in SAST/UTC)
  • From address: Sender email address
  • To address: Recipient email address
  • Status: Delivered, bounced, deferred, or rejected
  • Message ID: Unique identifier for tracking
  • Size: Email size in kilobytes

Click on individual entries to view more details about delivery status and any error messages.

Email delivery statuses explained

Delivered

Meaning: The email was successfully delivered to the recipient's mail server.

Note: "Delivered" means the message reached the destination mail server, not necessarily the recipient's inbox. The recipient's server may still filter it as spam or reject it for other reasons.

Bounced (Hard Bounce)

Meaning: The email was permanently rejected and could not be delivered.

Common causes:

  • Recipient email address does not exist
  • Domain name is invalid or does not exist
  • Recipient mail server has blocked your server's IP address
  • Mailbox has been deleted or disabled

Action: Verify the recipient email address is correct. If the address is valid, the problem may be on the recipient's side.

Deferred (Soft Bounce)

Meaning: The email could not be delivered immediately but the server will retry.

Common causes:

  • Recipient's mailbox is full
  • Recipient's mail server is temporarily unavailable
  • Greylisting (temporary delay as anti-spam measure)
  • Network connectivity issues

Action: Wait for the mail server to retry delivery (usually every 15–30 minutes for up to 5 days). Most deferred messages are eventually delivered.

Rejected

Meaning: The recipient's mail server refused the email before accepting it.

Common causes:

  • Your server IP is on a spam blacklist
  • SPF/DKIM/DMARC authentication failed
  • Message content triggered spam filters
  • Recipient's server has strict anti-spam policies
  • Attachment type is blocked (e.g., .exe files)

Action: Check email authentication records (see our SPF/DKIM/DMARC guide) and avoid spam-like content.

Viewing the mail queue

The mail queue shows emails waiting to be sent or retried after temporary failures.

Accessing the mail queue

  1. In DirectAdmin, go to Email Manager → Mail Queue
  2. You will see a list of queued messages
  3. Each entry shows the sender, recipient, time in queue, and reason for queuing

Why emails queue

Messages remain in the queue when:

  • The destination server is temporarily unavailable
  • The recipient's mailbox is full (soft bounce)
  • Network issues prevent immediate delivery
  • The destination server is slow to respond
  • Greylisting delays first-time senders

The mail server automatically retries queued messages every 15–30 minutes. Messages remain in the queue for up to 5 days before being returned as undeliverable.

Clearing stuck messages from the queue

If a message is stuck in the queue and you want to remove it:

  1. Go to Mail Queue in DirectAdmin
  2. Find the message you want to remove
  3. Click Delete or Remove from Queue
  4. Confirm the deletion

Warning: Deleting a message from the queue permanently removes it. The message will not be delivered or returned to the sender.

Checking bounce messages

When an email bounces, the mail server sends a bounce notification to the sender's address. To view bounce messages:

  1. Log in to your email account via webmail or email client
  2. Check your inbox for messages from "Mail Delivery System" or "postmaster"
  3. Open the bounce message to see the error details

Understanding bounce message errors

"User unknown" or "No such user"

  • Meaning: The recipient email address does not exist
  • Fix: Verify the recipient's email address and correct any typos

"Mailbox full" or "Quota exceeded"

  • Meaning: The recipient's mailbox has reached its storage limit
  • Fix: Contact the recipient via alternative means and ask them to clean up their mailbox

"Relay access denied"

  • Meaning: Your mail server is not authorised to send to this domain
  • Fix: Check your email client is using SMTP authentication (username and password)

"Message rejected due to spam content"

  • Meaning: The recipient's spam filter blocked your message
  • Fix: Avoid spam trigger words, use proper email authentication, ask recipient to whitelist your address

"IP address blacklisted"

  • Meaning: Your mail server's IP is on a spam blacklist
  • Fix: Contact 0724 Hosting support for blacklist removal assistance

Testing email delivery

To test if your email is working correctly:

Send a test email

  1. Send an email from your hosting account to an external address (Gmail, Outlook.com, personal email)
  2. Check if the email arrives in the inbox or spam folder
  3. Reply to the test email to verify incoming mail works

Use mail tester tools

Online tools like mail-tester.com provide detailed analysis of your email delivery:

  1. Go to https://www.mail-tester.com/
  2. Copy the unique email address provided
  3. Send a test email to that address from your hosting account
  4. Click "Then check your score" on the website
  5. Review the detailed report showing SPF, DKIM, DMARC, blacklist status, and spam score

Aim for a score of 8/10 or higher for good deliverability.

Improving email deliverability

To ensure your emails reach recipients' inboxes:

Set up email authentication

  • SPF record: Authorises 0724 Hosting servers to send email for your domain
  • DKIM signature: Cryptographically signs your emails to prove authenticity
  • DMARC policy: Tells receiving servers how to handle unauthenticated email

See our SPF, DKIM, and DMARC setup guide for instructions.

Avoid spam triggers

  • Use a clear, professional "From" name
  • Write descriptive subject lines (avoid all caps, excessive punctuation)
  • Include a physical address in email footer (required by anti-spam laws)
  • Provide an unsubscribe link for marketing emails
  • Avoid excessive use of spam trigger words (free, urgent, guarantee, click here)
  • Balance text-to-image ratio (emails with only images are often flagged as spam)

Maintain a good sending reputation

  • Send consistent email volumes (sudden spikes look suspicious)
  • Remove invalid addresses from mailing lists after bounces
  • Never purchase email lists or send unsolicited mail
  • Monitor your server IP's blacklist status
  • Respond promptly to abuse complaints

Monitoring outgoing email volume

Unusual email sending patterns may indicate:

  • A compromised email account sending spam
  • A website contact form being abused by spammers
  • A WordPress plugin sending excessive notifications
  • An email script with a bug causing mail loops

Signs of compromised email accounts

  • Sudden spike in outgoing mail volume
  • Messages in Sent folder you did not send
  • Bounce messages for emails you did not send
  • Contacts reporting spam from your address
  • Your mail server IP appearing on blacklists

Action: Immediately change all email passwords and scan your website for malware. Contact support if you suspect a compromise.

Email rate limits and sending quotas

To prevent spam and abuse, 0724 Hosting mail servers have sending limits:

  • Hourly limit: Typically 100–300 emails per hour per account (varies by plan)
  • Daily limit: Typically 500–1000 emails per day per account
  • Recipient limit: Maximum 50–100 recipients per message

Legitimate users rarely hit these limits. If you need higher limits for bulk mailings, contact support or use a dedicated email marketing service like MailChimp or SendGrid.

What happens when you hit the limit

  • Additional emails are deferred (queued for later delivery)
  • You may receive a bounce message stating "rate limit exceeded"
  • Emails will resume sending once the hourly/daily limit resets

Accessing detailed mail logs

DirectAdmin's email tracking shows recent activity, but full mail server logs are not accessible through the control panel for security and performance reasons.

If you need detailed mail server logs for troubleshooting or legal purposes, contact 0724 Hosting support with:

  • Your domain name
  • The date and approximate time of the email
  • The sender and recipient email addresses
  • The reason you need the logs

Support can extract relevant log entries and provide them to you securely.

Troubleshooting common delivery issues

Emails not arriving at Gmail/Outlook.com

  • Check the recipient's spam/junk folder
  • Verify SPF, DKIM, and DMARC are configured correctly
  • Check your server IP is not blacklisted (use mxtoolbox.com/blacklists.aspx)
  • Ensure your sending volume is not excessive
  • Ask the recipient to whitelist your email address

Emails taking a long time to deliver

  • Check the mail queue for deferred messages
  • Large attachments can cause delays (limit to 10–20MB)
  • Greylisting by the recipient's server can delay first delivery by 15–30 minutes
  • Network issues between mail servers can cause delays

Some recipients receive emails, others do not

  • Different mail providers have different spam filters
  • Check if specific domains (e.g., only Gmail) are affected
  • Verify DNS records (MX, SPF, DKIM) are correct
  • Check for typos in recipient email addresses

Compliance and email archiving

Some industries require email archiving for compliance (legal, financial, healthcare). DirectAdmin does not include automatic email archiving, but you can:

  • Configure email clients to save copies of all sent/received mail locally
  • Use IMAP to keep all email on the server indefinitely
  • Export mailboxes regularly to PST/MBOX archives
  • Use JetBackup to create regular backups (see JetBackup guide)
  • Implement third-party email archiving solutions if required by regulations

Best practices for email tracking

  • Check tracking regularly: Monitor for unusual activity or delivery problems
  • Act on bounces promptly: Remove invalid addresses from contact lists
  • Test before bulk sends: Send test emails before mailing to large lists
  • Monitor queue size: A growing queue indicates delivery problems
  • Use authentication: SPF, DKIM, and DMARC improve deliverability and tracking accuracy
  • Keep passwords secure: Compromised accounts send spam and damage your reputation
  • Document issues: Note delivery problems to help support diagnose patterns

Getting help with email delivery

If you are experiencing persistent email delivery problems, high bounce rates, or blacklist issues, contact 0724 Hosting support. Provide as much detail as possible:

  • Sender and recipient email addresses
  • Date and time of the email
  • Bounce message text (if available)
  • Symptoms (e.g., "all emails to Gmail bounce", "mail delayed by hours")

We can investigate mail server logs, check blacklist status, verify DNS records, and help resolve delivery issues.