Why a send is held

Where to look first

Your newsletter list shows a badge on any post whose email is still on its way, or didn't go out:

Hover over a badge to see the reason. The same reason appears on the post's overview and on its review screen. At the top of the list, the Scheduled tab shows posts that are scheduled or sending, and the Failed tab shows posts whose send failed. Posts waiting to send are under All. When a send fails, you also get a notification in the bell.

You can't publish: postal address missing

Anti-spam rules require a physical postal address in the footer of every email. Until your publication has one, Publish Now and Schedule are refused, and the review screen shows Postal address required before sending with the missing parts.

To fix it:

1. Go to Settings, Emails.
2. Under Address, click the pencil icon.
3. Fill in all five fields: Street Address, City, State, Postal Code and Country.
4. Click Save.

Every field is needed. A partly filled address counts as missing.

The address is checked again when the email actually goes out. If you clear it after scheduling a post, that send fails with a message that the postal address is incomplete. Add the address back, then send the post again.

It's scheduled

A post you scheduled with Schedule shows Scheduled and the time. It starts sending on its own at that time. The time you pick has to be in the future.

The checks below still apply when the time comes. A scheduled post can still fail or wait at that point, for example if the daily email limit has been reached.

Waiting to send: the daily email limit

Inkwave can send a certain number of newsletter emails each day. When that limit has been reached, your newsletter waits instead of going out half-sent:

• It shows Waiting to send with the time it will start.
• At that time it goes to all its subscribers together. Nothing is sent before then.
• You don't need to do anything.

If you would rather not send it, click Cancel send on the post. The post stays published, and nobody is emailed. You can publish it again later to send it.

While a post is waiting, you can't publish it again. Cancel the send first.

When waiting isn't enough

Sometimes waiting can't help, and the send fails. The most common messages are:

For these, contact Inkwave support. The message on the post includes the contact.

Sending is paused for your publication

Inkwave can pause email sending for a publication, for example while looking into delivery problems. A send then fails with "Not sent: email sending is paused for this publication." If the pause started partway through a send, the message is "Stopped part-way", and some subscribers already received it. Contact Inkwave support.

Your publication is suspended

While a publication is suspended, a banner shows on every page: readers can't reach your website, and nothing is sent. You can still sign in, view your data and export your subscribers.

Any newsletter or automation email that was due during the suspension is not sent. It is not saved for later either. A newsletter that was due fails with "Not sent: the publication was suspended". Once the suspension is lifted, send them again yourself. The banner and the email you received say how to contact Inkwave.

Double opt-in: new readers haven't confirmed yet

With Double Opt in Email turned on under Settings, Emails, new subscribers must confirm their email address before they are added to your list. Until they confirm, they don't receive your newsletters. This setting doesn't affect your existing subscribers or imported subscribers.

To help more people finish, turn on Smart Nudge. It sends one reminder 48 hours after signing up to anyone who hasn't confirmed.

Readers who unsubscribed and then sign up again always have to confirm, whatever this setting says.

It went out, but some readers didn't get it

A newsletter only goes to readers who are subscribed and have access. These readers are left out:

• readers who unsubscribed, or whose address bounced or marked your email as spam
• readers who have paused emails from your preference centre
• readers who opted out of any preference group the newsletter is filed under
• with double opt-in, readers who haven't confirmed yet
• readers still waiting for your approval
• readers who have opted out of all email across Inkwave

This is why a send can reach fewer people than your subscriber count. See the Preference centre guide for pausing and groups.

Sending again after a failure

If a send failed and nobody received it, a Retry send button appears on the post (also in the post's menu in the list). Fix whatever stopped it first, then click Retry send and confirm with Send again. The send starts again from the beginning.

Retry is refused if anyone already received the post, so nobody can get it twice. It isn't offered when the email only partly went out.

Other things you might see

"Your post is ready. Someone with publishing access can send it.": your role lets you write posts but not send them. Ask someone with publishing access in your team.

"Please fix the following errors before publishing.": something on the post needs attention first, such as a missing subject line or audience, or the postal address. The messages after it say what.

"Not sent: this post was removed by Inkwave": Inkwave took this post down, so it can't be sent. Contact Inkwave support if you think this is a mistake.

Status unknown: the send started over an hour ago and never reported finishing. Check with Inkwave support before publishing again, so nobody receives it twice.