Troubleshooting Email Notifications

If members of your community have stopped receiving email notifications, it’s usually due to a few common reasons. Here’s how to identify the issue and what you can do to fix it.

At a Glance

If members have stopped receiving community email notifications, start by checking these common causes:

• Inactivity (Over 6 Months)
  Notifications are paused if a member hasn’t logged in for more than six months. Logging in again automatically resumes emails.
• Notification Settings
  Members may have turned off notifications or selected a delivery frequency such as daily or weekly, which delays when messages are sent.
• Spam or Bounce Suppression
  Emails won’t be delivered if a member previously marked a message as spam or if the address previously bounced.
• Custom “From” Address Configuration
  If your community uses a custom email address, your domain should have proper authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) set up to ensure deliverability.

Inactivity (Over 6 Months)

If a member hasn’t accessed the community in more than 6 months, their email notifications are automatically paused. This helps avoid sending unwanted emails to inactive users.

How to fix it:

• As soon as the member logs in again, notifications will resume automatically.

How to check last login: 

• Go to Admin > Users
• Look under each user’s name to see the Last Accessed date
• Use the top menu to sort by Last Accessed

How to Re-Engage Inactive Members

You can help members restart their notifications by prompting them to log back in.

Option 1: Send a Reminder Email

• Go to Admin > Users > Export users (CSV)

• Email them using your organization’s email tool with a message such as: 

“We’ve noticed you haven’t visited in a while! To keep getting updates from the community, just log in here: [link].”
 

Option 2: Post in the Forum and @Mention a Group

1. Create a new topic in your community

2. Use the @mention feature to tag a user group (e.g., @GroupName)
3. Include a message such as:

“To continue receiving notifications, just log in once every 6 months. Clicking this link and signing in will restart your email updates."

Tip: Link to a relevant or popular topic to make the visit worthwhile.

Option 3: Send a Direct Message

You can also send a private message to a member directly. This is a good way to personally re-engage them.

Note: Direct messages can only be sent to individual members, not groups. Messages are delivered via email immediately, even if the user is inactive.

Learn more

• How to @mention user groups

• Using groups

Notification Settings

How Notifications Work

Members receive email notifications based on their activity and preferences. Here’s how it works:

Notifications Are Sent When:

• They are following a category, tag, topic, or member
• A post is made in a category set to notify all users (Go to Admin > Categories to configure this)
• They are @mentioned in a post
• They receive a direct message (chat)
• They’ve enabled “All replies in categories I am following” in Notification Settings

@mentions and direct messages are always sent immediately, even if the member hasn’t logged in recently.

Replies to topics do not send notifications unless the member is following the topic or has enabled the “All replies in categories I am following” setting.

Configure Notification Settings

Each member can fine-tune their preferences in Notification Settings. Options include:

• Receiving notifications for their own posts
• Enabling or disabling alerts for replies, new topics, @mentions, direct messages, and more
• Choosing their desired notification frequency

Configure Notification Frequency

Each member can also choose how often to receive email notifications. The available options are:

• As it happens (emails are sent immediately for each new notification)
• Hourly
• Every 4 hours
• Daily
• Weekly

If a frequency (e.g., daily or weekly) is selected, the member will only receive one email per period, summarizing all notifications for that timeframe.

For example, if a member’s setting is Daily, and a new post is made right after their daily digest is sent, that post will be included in the next day’s email.

Encourage members to review their notification frequency settings if they’re expecting more immediate notifications.

Tip: Create a “@Members” Group

To easily notify sets of users:

1. Go to Admin > Users > Groups
2. Create a group.
3. Add all or a subset of users to the group
4. Use @GroupName in important posts

💡 Remember to manually add new users to the group as they join.

Spam or Bounce Suppression

• If a recipient previously marked a community email as spam, they will no longer receive future messages.
• If their email bounced in the past (for example, because their mailbox was full or the address was invalid)
• In some cases, our team can check whether this has occurred and help restore delivery if possible.

Encourage members to:

• Check their spam or junk folder
• Mark community messages as “Not spam”
• Add the community’s “From” address to their safe sender list or contacts. 

By default, emails are sent from no-reply@forumbee.com if a custom address has not been configured.
 

Custom “From” Address Configuration

If your community uses a custom “From” email (e.g., community@yourdomain.com), make sure your domain’s email authentication is correctly set up. Having valid SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records helps verify your domain and prevents messages from being filtered as spam.

If you’re not sure whether this is set up for your domain, contact us for assistance.