Bounced emails

There are a couple different bounceback messages that can happen for outgoing email from your Helm server. Here are the messages you may see and the possible reasons for them. 

Failed Delivery Bounce

The email could not be delivered to the email address that was provided. This is a permanent failure and the Helm Server will not attempt to retry sending the email.  

This error most often occurs if you misspelled the email address causing the message to be sent to an address that doesn't exist.  

Additionally, in some situations, particularly with Apple iCloud email addresses and other email services that use an email filtering product called Proofpoint, you may get a delivery failure message if your Helm IP address somehow got on to Proofpoint's blocklist.  AT&T email addresses may also be rejected in some situations due to their own IP address blacklist.

If you receive a bounce message that indicated that your IP address was blocked by Proofpoint you should perform these steps: 

1. 1. Go to https://ipcheck.proofpoint.com/
2. Enter in your IP and look it up. Your IP will be listed in the bounceback message you received.
3. Complete the form to submit a support ticket. In the additional details section you can put "New email server used for personal correspondence.”
4. Wait 24-72 hours then check your IP using the same link. If it has not been removed, contact support@thehelm.com for further assistance and include the steps already taken.

If you receive a bounce message that indicates that your IP address was blocked by AT&T you should perform these steps:

1. Forward the bounced email you received to abuse_rbl@abuse-att.net using your Helm email account. The request needs to come from an email account that is at your Helm domain, not from another account. 
2. Include the message that you have recently setup a new email server and that you kindly request that they remove the IP address from their blacklist.
3. After doing so, please allow AT&T 24-72 hours to respond. If you have not received a response and are continuing to see the error, please reach out to support@thehelm.com and include the steps already taken. 

Delayed Delivery Warning

If you received a bounce message that indicates that there was a delay in sending your email, this typically means that the email server that you're sending the email to is temporarily offline. Email is designed to be resilient in situations like this and so if the Helm isn't able to connect to the receiving email server it will periodically retry sending the email for up to 5 days.  You do not need to do anything in this situation.  If after 5 days the email hasn't been able to be delivered, Helm will give up and you will receive a failed delivery message.