Mail Outbox Retry Behavior in LiveAgent
This article explains how LiveAgent handles outgoing email delivery failures, including the number of retry attempts, the intervals between them, and what happens when all retries are exhausted.
Overview
When LiveAgent fails to send an outgoing email on the first attempt, the system automatically retries delivery multiple times before marking the message with a permanent error status. This retry mechanism is designed to handle temporary mail server issues without requiring manual intervention.
Retry Schedule
The retry process works as follows:
- 1st attempt – The initial send attempt is made immediately.
- 2nd attempt – If the first attempt fails, LiveAgent retries after 30 minutes.
- 3rd attempt – If the second attempt also fails, LiveAgent retries again after another 30 minutes.
- Attempts 4–20 – If sending continues to fail, LiveAgent makes up to 17 additional retry attempts, each spaced 4 hours apart.
Summary
- Total attempts: 20 (1 initial + 19 retries)
- First two retries: 30 minutes apart
- Remaining retries: Every 4 hours (up to 17 more attempts)
- Total retry window: Approximately 3 days
Permanent Error Status
If the email still cannot be delivered after all 20 attempts, LiveAgent assigns the message a permanent error status. At this point, no further automatic retries will occur and manual action may be required to investigate the delivery issue.
Troubleshooting Tips
- Check that your outgoing mail server (SMTP) settings are correctly configured in LiveAgent.
- Verify that the recipient's email address is valid and the destination mail server is reachable.
- Review any error messages shown alongside the failed email in the outbox for more specific details.
- If messages consistently fail after 20 attempts, contact LiveAgent support for further assistance.