Bounce Handling

• What’s a bounce e-mail?
• Configure the bounce handling
  • Connect to your mailbox
  • Default rules applied to bounce messages
  • Create/Modify a rule
• Process the bounce system
• POP/IMAP configurations
  • 1and1
  • GMail
  • GoDaddy
  • OVH
• Connection errors
  • The extension "php_imap.dll" could not be loaded
  • Certificate failure
  • ESMTP Exim
  • Invalid remote specification
• Frequently Asked Questions
  • What happen with auto-reply messages such as “I’m out of the office” or “Thank you for your message”?
  • I sent a Newsletter to a non-existing e-mail address but I didn't receive the bounce immediately, why?
  • What's the right configuration for GMail?
  • How can I check the bounce address specified in my Newsletters?
  • What's the difference between "failed" and "bounced"?
  • I would like to get back the default rules, how can I do that?

The bounce handling system has been modified with AcyMailing 2.0.0 so if you don't have the same screenshots, please update your AcyMailing!

What's a bounce e-mail?

When you send a message to a non-existing e-mail address, you will get an automatic reply saying that this e-mail address does not exist.
This is what we call a bounce e-mail and this message will be automatically sent to the e-mail address you specified as “bounce address” in the AcyMailing configuration page.
Depending on your server, this message may not be returned immediately and sometimes it can be sent up to one week after you sent your e-mail.

AcyMailing Enterprise is able to handle such messages.

AcyMailing will connect to your mailbox, "read" your messages, determine which e-mail address bounced and automatically execute actions on this wrong receiver such as:

• Delete the user
• Block the user
• Remove the subscription of the user
• Unsubscribe the user
• Subscribe the user to another list

Then AcyMailing can delete the message from your mailbox, save it on the AcyMailing user profile and/or forward it to an other e-mail address so that it won't be processed twice.

That way, you will always keep a clean list of subscribers and the non-existing e-mail addresses will be removed from the system.

Configure the bounce handling

Your bounce messages will be automatically sent to the address you specified as “bounce address” in the AcyMailing configuration page.
This address won’t be visible by the receiver of your message and will only be used to handle bounce messages and automatic replies.

You should specify an e-mail address attached to one of your mailboxes so AcyMailing will be able to connect to it and handle the messages.

Let's now configure the bounce handling.
First access the bounce configuration via the AcyMailing back-end menu.

Connect to your mailbox

• Bounce Address : This field indicates the same e-mail address you specified in the field "Bounce Address" on the "Mail Configuration" tab. It's just there as a reminder as you should configure the system to connect to this e-mail address.
• Mail Server : The e-mail server AcyMailing should connect to to handle messages.
• Port : Port of your e-mail server. In most of the cases, it will be 110 for POP3, 143 for IMAP and 993 for IMAP using a secured connection.
• Connection Method : Choose the method AcyMailing should use to connect to your mailbox.
• Secure Method : You can select a secured method to connect to your e-mail server (if you use GMail, you should select "SSL")
• Self-Signed Certificates : Do you want AcyMailing to auto-sign your certificates?
• Username : Username used to connect to your e-mail account. In most of the cases, it will be the same as your bounce address. Sometimes, you have to replace the @ by a % or remove the domain name.
• Password : Password used to connect to your e-mail account.
• Connection timeout (seconds) : Set the maximum number of seconds AcyMailing should try to connect to your e-mail server before stopping. 10 seconds is a good default value.
• Maximum number of e-mails : Each time AcyMailing will connect to your mailbox, it will handle a series of e-mails. You can set the maximum number of e-mails AcyMailing will handle at the same time.
• Enable the Automatic Bounce Handling : Once tested, you will want this system to run automatically so you can then turn On this option and let Acy do the job.

Default rules applied to the messages

The default rules will handle most of cases so you should not have to add any other rule.

If the regex matches the message, then AcyMailing will execute the corresponding actions (on the detected subscriber and on the e-mail) and then will handle the next message.
If the regex does not match the e-mail, then AcyMailing will try to execute the next rule.
It's useless to specify twice the same regex as AcyMailing will stop processing the e-mail as soon as it finds a rule which matches, the final action is only executed if none of the rules can be applied to the message.

• The first rule "Action Required" will be executed on messages which require an action from you. You will want this kind of message to be manually handled so you should forward them to a webmaster and handle them one by one.
• The second rule "Message delayed" will be applied on temporary failure issues such as a full mailbox. This is what we call a "soft bounce".
  By default AcyMailing will only execute an action on the subscriber if it receives at least 3 bounce messages from this user.
• The third rule "Failed permanently error" will handle what we call "hard bounces". The mailbox or receiver domain does not exist so we want to immediately block the user to not contact him any more.
• The rule "Out of the office" will delete notification message such as "thank you for contacting us..."
• The rule "Mailbox not accessible" is a more general rule to identify bounces. It's used in case of Acy could not identify if it was an hard or a soft bounce.
• The final rule will be executed in case of the message didn't match any of the previous rules.

You can modify all our default rules, re-order them, add new ones, delete them...

We recommend you to not delete your bounce users but simply subscribe them to an other specific list or block them.
That way, you will be able to easily keep track of who bounced and when.

For that, you should:

• Create a new list in AcyMailing and keep this list unpublished (we called it "Bounce List" in our example)
• Edit the rules "Mailbox not accessible", "Message delayed" and "Failed permanently error", select the subscriber action "Subscribe the user to" and then select the list you just created.
• That way, your identified bounce users will be subscribed to your Bounce list (don't forget to block them as well so they won't receive upcoming messages).

Create/Modify a rule

You may want to modify a rule or create your own one.

To edit an existing rule, simply click on its name.

To create a new rule, click on the new button on the top right of the bounce handling screen.

• Name : Name of the rule. It doesn't have any importance, the objective is simply to clearly identify the rule during the process so that you can understand it better.
• Enabled : Only enabled rules will be loaded during the bounce handling.
• Regex : Regular expression to identify if the current rule applies to the message or not. If the rule matches the message, the action on the subscriber and on the e-mail will be triggered otherwise the next rule will be considered.
  If the Regex matches the message, no more rule will be triggered.
• Execute the regex on : The regex can be executed on the sender information, on the subject and / or on the body of the message.
• Statistics : If the rule matches, should AcyMailing flag the message as a bounce message in the statistics?
• Subscriber Action : If the regex matches the message, AcyMailing will try to identify the subscriber and an action will be applied to this subscriber.
  
  • The following actions on the subscriber will only be executed if AcyMailing received X bounce messages from this user. This option is very useful to handle "soft bounces".
    If you specify 0 or 1 then the action on the subscriber will be executed immediately.
    If you specify 2 or more, then Acy won't execute the subscriber action unless it already received X bounce messages from this user which have been considered as bounce message in the statistics (due to the option "statistics : Yes").
  • Delete the user subscription : The user will be removed from all your mailing lists but the user won't be deleted.
  • Unsubscribe the user : The user will be unsubscribed from the mailing lists he was subscribed to.
  • Subscribe the user : The user will be subscribed to the selected list.
  • Block the user : The user will be disabled but his subscription won't be changed. AcyMailing does not send e-mails to a blocked user.
  • Delete the user : The user will be deleted from AcyMailing. AcyMailing does never delete a Joomla User (his subscription will be deleted in AcyMailing but not the user itself if it's a registered one).
• Email Action : If the regex matches the message, an action will be applied to the message itself.
  
  • No Action : No action will be applied to the message, so the message will stay in your mailbox and will be handled next time you trigger the bounce system.
    This action is only recommended when testing the system.
  • Forward the message : The message will be forwarded to the specified e-mail address so that you can handle it manually.
  • Delete the message : The message will be deleted from your mailbox.
    You should always delete the message from the mailbox unless you're testing the system.

    

Process the bounce system

You can either launch the bounce handling manually or use your cron task to automatically trigger it.

• Go on your AcyMailing bounce configuration page and configure your bounce system as you want.
• Then, test your configuration by clicking on the button "Bounce Handling", AcyMailing will try to connect to your mailbox and return the actual number of messages in your mailbox.
  
  



• If you don't have error and you have some e-mails in your mailbox, then AcyMailing will display you a message to trigger the real bounce handling.
  
  

• Now you successfully tested the whole process, you can configure AcyMailing to do the job automatically using your cron task.



• Turn on the option Enable the Automatic Bounce Handling and then configure the frequency used to connect to your mailbox.
  Connecting to your mailbox to handle messages can take some times. We don't recommend you to do it too often (once a day should be enough)

POP/IMAP configurations

1and1

• Server: imap.1and1.com (or imap.1and1.fr)
• Port: 143
• Connection Method: IMAP
• Secure Method: - - -
• Self-signed certificates: No
• Your e-mail account/password

GMail

If you want to use your GMail account to handle the bounces, you should first enable the IMAP connection on your GMail account settings and then configure AcyMailing:

• Server: imap.gmail.com
• Port: 993
• Connection Method: IMAP
• Secure Method: SSL
• Self-signed certificates: Yes
• Your GMail username/password

GoDaddy

• Server: pop.secureserver.net
• Port: 110
• Connection Method: POP3 (without imap extension)
• Secure Method: - - -
• Self-signed certificates: No
• Your e-mail account/password

OVH

• Server: ns0.ovh.net
• Port: 110
• Connection Method: POP3
• Secure Method: - - -
• Self-signed certificates: No
• Your e-mail account/password

Connection errors

The extension "php_imap.dll" could not be loaded

• AcyMailing uses special php functions to connect to your mailbox, it requires the PHP Imap extension to be installed on your server.
• Even if you use the POP3 connection, AcyMailing will need this PHP extension which handles all the communication with your mail server.
• Please enable this extension on your php.ini file or contact your hosting company to enable this extension on your website.
• If you cannot enable this extension, you can use the Connection method : POP3 without IMAP extension, this method has been only developed for users not being able to enable the IMAP PDP extension on their server.

Certificate failure

• Your mail server apparently need you to sign a certificate to enable you the connection to your mailbox.
• You should turn on the option "Self-signed Certificates" and give it a new try.

ESMTP Exim

• This is a typical error when your website can not connect to your mail server.
• This is not a problem of authentication but really a problem of mail server address or port.
• In our screen-shot, we were using the wrong port. The default port are:
  
  • 110 for POP3
  • 143 for IMAP
  • 993 for IMAP when using a secured connection

Invalid Remote Specification

The error message "Invalid remote specification" maye appear if your php_imap module has not been compiled with ssl support.
You will need to ask your web host to recompile php and add the --with-imap-ssl option to the configure command.