Gmail Can't Send Emails: How to Fix It
Your emails won't send, bounce back, or you get a 'Delivery Status Notification (Failure)' message.
What exactly is happening?
Try these in order
- Look for the bounce message. Check Inbox and Spam for an email from Mail Delivery Subsystem (mailer-daemon@googlemail.com). It tells you exactly why the message failed (Gmail Help).
- Check the address for typos. 'Address doesn't exist' errors usually mean a spelling mistake, a stray space or dot, or an old address — check Google Contacts or ask the person (Gmail Help).
- Wait out the sending limit. Personal Gmail accounts are limited to about 500 emails a day or 500 recipients in one message. Sending comes back within 24 hours (Gmail Help).
- Remove links or requests for personal info if the message was rejected as spam. For big recipient lists, send to a Google Group instead (Gmail Help).
- Check whether the recipient is out of storage. If their Google storage is full, they can't receive anything until they clear space (Gmail Help).
- Try again later for temporary errors. If the recipient's inbox has a temporary problem, wait and resend. If it keeps failing, they should contact their email provider (Gmail Help).
Still stuck? If nothing bounces back but the email sits in Outbox, check your internet connection and your own Google storage — a full account can block sending too.
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