Bounced emails can happen for a number of reasons.  Listed below are some of the most common reasons.


  • Check for spacing.  Spacing is not allowed in email addresses.
  • Check that an email field that appears to be blank has the words “email address” in gray in the field. If the field is completely blank, there’s possibly a space in the field.
  • An underscore, period, or dash within the prefix of the email address must be followed by one or more letters or numbers.
  • The last portion of the domain must be at least two characters. (For example, .org, .com or .cc)
  • There is no @ sign separating the email prefix and domain name.
  • Change of email address.  
  • General typo mistakes (extra characters included in the email address).  We see a number of emails followed by a note.  For example the email address of “jsmith@test.com Home” will bounce. The field for an email must contain only the specific email address. Any additional information or comments should not be placed in the email field. 
  • When listing multiple emails the correct formatting is to separate them with semi-colons.  Separating the emails with spacing and other words will result in bounced emails.

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When you send an email from Gabriel, it uses the platform Send Grid. To check for bounced emails, pull the Report Library report “Email Exception Report”. The report does not the family or member name, just an email address and a reason for the bounce.  

 

Below is a definition of each category of bounced email:


Bounced:  A bounce occurs when a sent message is rejected by the receiving mail server.   

 

What are the most common reasons for emails bouncing?

 

  • Unsubscribed:  The parishioner has clicked on the unsubscribe link at the bottom of the email that was sent to them.  This could be done intentionally or the parishioner could hit by accident. (To re-subscribe them, contact Gabriel Support.)

 

  • Deferred:  A deferred event, or deferral, is a temporary event the receiving server which the receiving server has temporarily limited access to their system. It will result in a delivery event once the message has been accepted by the receiving server.  

 

  • Dropped:  In certain cases, SendGrid will “Drop” a message to a specific email address to protect our sender reputation. SendGrid keeps Email Lists to track bounces, spam reports, and unsubscribes for each of our users. If you see this message notify us and we can check all the lists and remove if necessary.

 

** To search for the family who has the bounced email address, use the family email field in Family Search.  Copy the email from the email exception report and paste into the Family search box. See the sample search below.