Emails that do not arrive

This page covers the most common reasons why email from Odoo does not go out, does not reach the recipient or does not come back into Odoo, and what you can check before you contact Exigo. It also covers notifications you do not want and how your company's email addresses are connected to Odoo.

Odoo has stopped sending email

Invoices, quotations and other emails do not go out, and the envelope next to the message in the record's chatter is red.

What could cause this

• The connection to the mailbox has expired. Odoo sends email through a mailbox at your company's mail provider. When Odoo is connected to Microsoft 365 through an app registration in Azure, the client secret has an expiry date. When it expires, Odoo can neither send nor fetch email.
• The mailbox password or settings were changed. If the mailbox password is changed, or a setting for Odoo is changed or deleted in the mail provider's admin console, Odoo can no longer sign in.
• The daily sending limit has been reached. The mail provider limits how many emails the mailbox can send per day. Once the limit is reached, it refuses further sending for the rest of that day.
• The Odoo address changed. The connection to Microsoft 365 and Google is based on Odoo's web address. If Odoo moves to a new domain, the address in the app registration at the mail provider must be updated.

What you can check

1. Open the record, for example the invoice, and click the red envelope next to the message in the chatter. It lists each recipient, the delivery status for each one and the error message where sending failed.
2. Check whether sending failed for all recipients or only one. If only one recipient did not get the email, check their address as described in the next section.
3. Take a screenshot of the error message or copy the text. Exigo needs it to find the cause.
4. If your company uses Microsoft 365, ask whoever manages Microsoft 365 for you whether the client secret of the Odoo app in Azure has expired.
5. If the error message mentions a sending limit or quota, wait until the next day.
6. Once the cause has been fixed, send the email again from the record.

[Screenshot: a red envelope next to a message in the chatter and the list that opens, with the error next to the recipient]

When to contact Exigo

• Sending fails for every recipient.
• A new client secret has been created in Azure, the mailbox password has been changed or Odoo's domain has changed. The new details then need to be entered in Odoo.
• Email stopped going out right after an Odoo upgrade.

Include: a screenshot of the error message, when sending was attempted, the name or number of the record, and whether all emails or only some fail.

Emails do not reach recipients or land in spam

Odoo shows no error, but the recipient does not receive the email or finds it in the spam folder.

What could cause this

• SPF, DKIM or DMARC is missing or wrong. These are DNS records for your company's domain. They show the recipients' mail servers that the email comes from a server allowed to send on behalf of the domain. If they are missing or wrong, the email lands in spam or is not delivered.
• A change at the mail provider or in DNS. If you change mail provider, mass mailing service or domain, or the DNS records are changed, SPF, DKIM and DMARC must be updated to match the new service.
• The sender address does not match the mailbox. Odoo sends from the user's address only if the mailbox Odoo sends through is allowed to send from that address or domain. Otherwise Odoo sends the email from the company's default sending address, or the mail server refuses it. This happens, for example, when a user has an address on another domain or a free address such as gmail.com.
• The recipient's spam filter. Recipients' mail servers apply their own rules and can classify email as spam even when SPF and DKIM pass.
• A wrong address on the contact. A typing error, for example a dot in the wrong place, or an old address. The email then bounces or the envelope turns red.
• The attachment is too large. Mail providers limit attachment size and refuse email with an attachment that is too large.
• The attachment does not open for the recipient. If the attachment opens in Odoo but not for the recipient, the problem lies with the recipient's email program or mail server.

What you can check

1. Click the envelope next to the message in the chatter and check the delivery status for the recipient. If the envelope is red, follow the section "Odoo has stopped sending email" above.
2. Compare the address on the contact with the recipient's correct address: no spaces, no extra dots and the right domain.
3. Ask the recipient to look in their spam folder.
4. If the email has a large attachment, try sending it with a smaller attachment.
5. If the recipient sees a different sender address than yours, let Exigo know. The addresses the Odoo mailbox is allowed to send from then need to be reviewed.
6. If your company recently changed mail provider or domain, or the DNS records were changed, ask whoever hosts your domain to add the SPF, DKIM and DMARC records following the mail provider's instructions.
7. You can test the DNS records with tools such as MXToolbox and Mail-Tester, which are mentioned on the page about DNS records.

When to contact Exigo

• Many recipients at different companies do not get the email or find it in spam.
• Email goes out from a different address than intended.
• You do not know which DNS records are missing or what values they should have.

Include: the recipient's address, when the email was sent, the name or number of the record and, if possible, a copy of the email the recipient received or of the bounce message, saved as an .eml or .msg file.

I get too many notifications from Odoo

You get an email from Odoo every time something happens on a record, for example when a customer views a quotation, a new opportunity arrives or an activity is assigned to you.

What could cause this

• You follow the record. Whoever creates a record or is assigned to it automatically becomes a follower and gets notifications about it.
• Notifications arrive as email. By default, users receive notifications by email.
• A customer viewed a quotation. When a customer opens a quotation online, Odoo logs it on the quotation and the quotation's followers get a notification. Followers of the sales team also get this notification for the team's quotations.
• An activity type has a default user. If the Default User field is filled in on an activity type, activities of that type go to that user, who gets a notification for each one.
• New opportunities from email are assigned to the team leader. In Odoo 19, a new opportunity created from an email gets the sales team's leader as salesperson unless rule-based assignment is active. The team leader then gets a notification for every opportunity.
• Digests. Odoo regularly sends digest emails with key business figures to the users on the digest's recipient list.

What you can check

1. To stop following a record: click the icon with the number of followers at the top of the record's chatter and choose Unfollow.
2. To get fewer kinds of notifications from a record you still want to follow: click the icon with the number of followers and then the pencil Edit subscription. Untick the notifications you do not want, for example Quotation Viewed, and click Apply.
3. If you get notifications about the whole sales team's quotations: open the sales team under Sales ‣ Configuration ‣ Sales Teams and unfollow it, or edit the subscription the same way. This requires Sales administrator rights.
4. To get notifications inside Odoo instead of by email: click your picture in the top right corner, choose My Preferences, choose In Odoo in the Notification field and save.
5. To stop receiving activities of a certain type: go to Settings ‣ General Settings, the Discuss section, and click Activity Types. Open the type and clear the Default User field. This requires access to Settings.
6. To stop receiving digests: click Unsubscribe at the bottom of the digest email. To turn a digest off for everyone: go to Settings ‣ General Settings, the Emails section, click Configure Digest Emails, open the digest and click Deactivate.

[Screenshot: the follower list in the chatter with Unfollow and the Edit subscription pencil]

[Screenshot: My Preferences with the Notification field set to In Odoo]

When to contact Exigo

• You get an assignment notification for every opportunity that arrives by email. The opportunity assignment setting in CRM then needs to be changed.
• Notifications continue after you have unfollowed the record and changed the settings above.

Include: a screenshot of a notification you do not want and the name of the record it relates to.

Customers or suppliers get emails they should not receive

A customer or supplier receives a message meant for staff, an automatic email from Odoo or a welcome email with a login link.

What could cause this

• Send message was used instead of Log note. Send message emails all followers of the record, including customers and suppliers. Log note is an internal note that only staff can see.
• The customer or supplier follows the record. Followers automatically receive messages sent on the record, and also automatic emails Odoo sends to followers, for example about a subscription renewal.
• An external contact was mentioned in a note. If an external contact is mentioned with @ in an internal note, they receive an email with the content of the note.
• The contact was given portal access. When a contact is given access to the customer portal, Odoo sends them an email with a link to choose a password and activate the account.

What you can check

1. Use Log note for anything meant only for staff, and Send message only when the recipients should get the email.
2. Before you send a message: click the icon with the number of followers at the top of the chatter and check who follows the record. Remove those who should not get the email with Remove this follower.
3. Mention only staff with @ in internal notes.
4. If a customer received a welcome email: open the contact, click Actions and choose Grant portal access. The Portal Access Management window shows whether the contact has access, and you can revoke it with Revoke Access.

[Screenshot: the Send message and Log note buttons at the top of the chatter]

When to contact Exigo

• Customers receive a welcome email without anyone having given them portal access.
• Automatic emails, for example about subscriptions or orders, go to recipients who should not get them.

Include: the contact's name, the name or number of the record and a copy or screenshot of the email.

Incoming email does not reach Odoo or arrives twice

A customer replies to an email from Odoo but the reply does not appear on the record, email to an address that should create records in Odoo (for example vendor bills or enquiries) does not arrive, or the same email appears twice.

Odoo fetches incoming email from a mailbox connected to Odoo and links replies to the right record.

What could cause this

• The connection to the mailbox has expired. An expired client secret or a changed password stops receiving in the same way as sending.
• The email was read, moved or landed in spam. Odoo fetches only unread email in the mailbox's Inbox. Email that someone opens before Odoo does, that a rule moves to another folder or that the mail provider puts in the spam folder does not reach Odoo.
• The reply went to another address. If a customer replies to an address other than the reply-to address on the email from Odoo, for example to an employee's personal address or a mistyped address, the reply does not reach Odoo.
• The address is not connected to Odoo. Every address that should bring email into Odoo must be registered as an alias in Odoo, and email to it must arrive in the mailbox Odoo fetches from.
• Odoo's loop protection stopped the email. To prevent endless email loops, Odoo ignores email from a sender who has already created 20 records, or sent 20 emails to the same record, in the last 120 minutes.
• Email is forwarded by more than one route. If rules in your company's mailboxes forward email into the mailbox Odoo fetches from, in addition to email that already arrives there, the same email is created twice in Odoo.

What you can check

1. If sending and receiving both stopped at the same time, check the connection to the mailbox first, as described in the section "Odoo has stopped sending email".
2. If you have access to the mailbox Odoo fetches from: look for the email there. If it is in the spam folder or another folder, move it to the Inbox and mark it as unread. Odoo then picks it up the next time it fetches email.
3. Check which address the customer sent the reply to. Ask them to reply to the email they received from Odoo rather than writing a new email to another address.
4. If email arrives twice: ask whoever manages your company's email to check whether rules forward email into the mailbox Odoo fetches from.

When to contact Exigo

• No incoming email reaches Odoo, or receiving stopped after an Odoo upgrade.
• Email from a particular sender is stopped by the loop protection. The sender can be registered as an allowed sender so the protection does not stop them.
• A new address should bring email into Odoo.

Include: the sender's address, the address the email was sent to, when it was sent and, if possible, a copy of the email saved as an .eml or .msg file.

Connecting your company's email to Odoo or changing mail provider

Odoo sends and receives email through a mailbox at your company's mail provider, for example Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace. Your company provides the mailbox and the access to it, and Exigo connects the mailbox to Odoo.

What needs to be in place

• A dedicated mailbox for Odoo. Use a shared mailbox, not an employee's personal mailbox. It receives email sent to Odoo's aliases, and Odoo sends through it.
• Odoo's access to the mailbox. For Microsoft 365 this is an app registration in Azure (Microsoft Entra) with a client ID and a client secret. For Google it is OAuth credentials or an app password. This is set up by whoever has admin access to your mail provider.
• DNS records. SPF, DKIM and DMARC for your company's domain, following the mail provider's instructions, set up with whoever hosts the domain.
• A list of addresses that should bring email into Odoo. For example an address for vendor bills or for enquiries, and which part of Odoo the email should go to.

What you can do

1. Create the mailbox at the mail provider.
2. Set up access for Odoo following the Azure OAuth or Google OAuth instructions below. Write down when the client secret expires.
3. Contact Exigo. Exigo connects the mailbox to Odoo, sets up the aliases and tests sending and receiving.
4. Ask whoever hosts the domain to add the mail provider's SPF, DKIM and DMARC records.

When to contact Exigo

• A new mailbox is to be connected, or an address added that should bring email into Odoo.
• The mail provider, mailbox or domain is to be changed.
• The client secret or the password of a mailbox Odoo uses is to be renewed.

Include: the name of the mail provider, the mailbox address, which addresses should bring email into Odoo and who manages the domain and email for your company.