Messages Not Sent Error

Owned by Stephen Lovelady (Deactivated)
Last updated: Aug 05, 2020 by Paul Hitchcock

Problem

Users are receiving a popup message that states “There are messages in the message queue that have not been sent.”

There are 2 reasons why a message may be stuck in the queue

  1. The Email Service that send these messages may have stopped

  2. An Error may have occurred when sending an email

If the Email Service has Stopped, event Notifications will stay in the queue until the Service is started. At that point the service will attempt to send any notifications in the queue.

If the Email Service has Stopped, Alerts that are generated by a timer on the service will not occur and will not be sent. This can be a critical situation which is why this popup is sent to all users so that it can be remedied as soon as possible.

Solution

Open the message queue to identify which of the scenarios listed above is causing the error.

Open the Message Queue

  1. Log into Crows Nest with a user who has permission to view Options

  2. Open Settings-->Options

  3. Select the Notifications tab

  4. Click the button ‘View Notification Queue’ to open a window showing the messages currently in the queue

In the Notification Queue window, there are columns titled Error and Error Message. If none of the messages in the queue have a check in the Error column than it’s likely the Email Service has stopped. If there are errors indicated, see the Error Message column for more information.

Starting the Email Service

If the Email Service has stopped, log into the PC/Server where the Crows Nest Email Service has been installed, open the Crows Nest Email Service application and click Start Service. Alternatively, you can also manage this service in Windows Services.

Troubleshooting Message Errors

The Error Message column in the message queue should indicate what type of error occurred when the Email Service attempted to send the message to an SMTP server.

Errors that occur are also logged in the Event Viewer on the PC/Server where the Email Service is installed under the Application log named Crows Nest

If the errors indicate an authentication issue with the server, update/verify the settings in the Crows Nest Email Service application then Stop and Start the service.

If the errors indicate an invalid email address, check the Recipients column in the message queue for invalid email addresses. The recipients may be a reference to an Employee, if that is the case check their email address in their Employee record.

After Troubleshooting Errors

Next to the ‘View Notification Queue’ button where you opened the queue are buttons to ‘Clear Notification Queue’ and ‘Clear Notification Errors’.

  • Clear Notification Queue - This will delete all messages in the queue and they will not be sent

  • Clear Notification Errors - This will clear the Error and Error Message columns on the messages so that the Email Service will attempt to send them again.