Troubleshooting Flocknote
The Office of Technology occasionally get complaints “about Flocknote” saying that users aren’t receiving the messages. The vast majority of these complaints are actually not about Flocknote – Flocknote is working correctly and the problem is on the recipient’s end. This article is to help Flocknote Note Senders find the source of a problem and troubleshoot the most common issues.
Determine the Delivery Status
Did it bounce?
The first thing to check when someone says they didn’t receive an expected Flocknote note, is to see if the email delivery failed from Flocknote. To get to the delivery statistics, click the note in question. The far right panel will have a pie chart that shows your delivery statistics for that note. Clicking the pie gives a detailed breakdown of Opened, Unopened, Bounced, and Text. If Bounced shows anything other than 0%, click the “Bounced” tab and ensure your reporting recipient isn’t in the list. These lists are sorted alphabetically by last name of the recipient. A bounced email is often an incorrect email address, but could be another delivery failure. If the email address is correct, contact me and I’ll work with Flocknote to find the cause of the failure.
Was it delivered, but unopened?
If the recipient is not under the bounced tab, click the Unopened tab and ensure it is there. Presence in the Unopened tab indicates the message was delivered by Flocknote, but hasn’t been reported as read. This is almost always a problem on the recipient end and our ability to troubleshoot is limited. They will probably need to contact their technical support. However, you can see the section below to give them some hints to troubleshoot the most common recipient issues.
Was it opened?
If the recipient can’t be found in the Bounced or Unopened tabs, but can be found under the Opened tab, the message was delivered and opened. If they share their email with someone, they should contact that person because someone opened the email. The problem is definitely not on the Archdiocese end of the communication.
Common Recipient Troubleshooting Steps
Are they receiving other email?
This sounds silly, but if they aren’t receiving any mail, they won’t receive ours.
Is mail@flocknote.com in the safe senders list?
All hosted email services, and most private email systems have some spam filtering. Adding mail@flocknote.com to the safe senders list prevents most spam filtering problems.
Is the message in the junk/spam/clutter/infected folder?
Most messaging systems have a folder that holds suspicious email. Usually adding mail@flocknote.com to the safe senders list prevents Flocknotes from going there, but checking these folders could reveal that the message was delivered, but misrouted to one of these folders.
Is there a custom rule to automatically route emails?
Some email clients have the ability to route some emails to a custom folder. Following these rules may help find the message.
Is there a filter to the view?
Many mail clients, such as Outlook, allow users to setup custom views that sort or filter based on criteria of the messages. Resetting the view may allow the message that was delivered but hidden, to appear normally.