Problems receiving emails
Emails that do not arrive as expected are the most obvious place to notice when something is not working correctly:
- If something is not working somewhere in the entire process of sending forms and processing form data.
- If there is something wrong with the Joomla installation or the email configuration itself.
- If one of the many players involved does not receive, process and deliver the email as expected.
Hinweis: Within Visforms, sending emails is a very stable and error-free function. Many problems related to sending and receiving emails have reasons that have nothing to do with Visforms.
Numerous players
There are really numerous players involved in the workflow of sending emails.
The following areas are not part of Visforms, but are the responsibility of the respective administrator:
- Joomla,
- a self-operated webmailer,
- the email provider,
- the email server,
- the email client,
- IP blacklists,
- various other spam filters.
Note: The configuration of these players is regularly the reason why emails do not arrive as expected.
Email receipt can be rejected
The email address used can be rejected by the recipient. The entire domain under which the email is sent can also be blocked by the recipient in one way or another.
Note: Sometimes this rejection is only temporary, short-term and temporary.
Different domain in the sender email
In the form configuration, caution is required for the Sender email parameter for User email and Administrator email.
The domain of the email address for the Sender email parameter must match the domain under which the email is sent:
- For SMTP and IMAP, this is the domain of the email account.
- When operating your own webmailer, this is the domain of the webmailer used.
Note: Prominent email providers classify an email with a different domain in the sender email as spam and refuse to receive the email.
Operating your own webmailer
When operating your own webmailer, the domain of the sender email should definitely match the domain of the webmailer used.
Note: If the webmailer is operated as part of the Joomla instance, the domain of the sender email should match the domain of the Joomla instance.
Blocked as spam
If all of the above tests are positive, then the problem is usually that the emails are blocked as spam. We continually strive to design the emails generated by Visforms so that they meet the standards. Please also note the relevant information in the descriptions of some email options.
Therefore, the reason why emails are blocked as spam is usually not due to Visforms. It is more likely due to the server configuration or firewall settings of the receiving email system, for example. In this case, please contact your provider.
Spam filters with points system
Many email providers use email spam filters that work according to a points system. There is a set of filters and each filter is linked to a number of points. If the total number of points calculated by all filters for an email is above a threshold, the email is considered spam and blocked.
High points through “ReplyTo” header
Some email spam filters award very high points, especially if there is a freemail address in the “ReplyTo” header. A freemail account includes email addresses from email providers such as Gmail, freemail, GMX or Yahoo.
If a user with a freemail account fills out the form, the limit is exceeded and the resulting email is blocked as spam. This limit can usually be configured by you. In this case, it may therefore be useful to set the limit a little higher, for example from the default value of 5 to 6.
Google and Yahoo block receipt
The free email providers Google with its free service Gmail and Yahoo have particularly strict requirements for the sender and the sending email server regarding:
- Security (spoofing and phishing),
- Reliability,
- Authenticity.
DMARC requirements
This applies in particular from February 1, 2024, due to the new DMARC requirements introduced by Google and Yahoo. What was previously considered best practice became a general requirement from this date. The goal is to protect users from spoofing and phishing.
DMARC helps protect email recipients from phishing and other fraudulent activities by ensuring that emails actually originate from the specified senders. DMARC authentication and a correct DMARC configuration on the sender side can help with the blocking of sent emails.
Email senders from well-known free email providers, such as @gmx.com or yahoo.com, are also more frequently blocked by Google and Yahoo as a result. An email provider may also reject emails with an email sender address from their own service. This is usually due to the sending email server not meeting DMARC requirements or the sending from a blocked IP address.
The sending IP address
The blocking of an email occurs primarily when spam or other unwanted content is sent from the sending IP address. So, you don’t necessarily have to be the one sending the spam or other unwanted content. It is sufficient that you do not have a separate IP address for your Joomla instance and share the IP address on the same web server with other hosting packages. It is therefore sufficient to send the email from the same IP address.
Google blocks the acceptance of an email
There are many different reasons why Google blocks the acceptance of an email, such as
- violations of Google’s terms of service,
- blacklisting by other spam filters.