Gmail Email Bounced Back? Try These Fixes

Common causes

• An email address that doesn’t exist or has a typo
• Links, attachments or text that trigger the recipient’s spam filters
• The daily sending limit on a personal Gmail account
• A recipient email server that’s busy, offline or having a temporary issue
• A recipient who is out of Google storage
• A recipient getting too many emails too fast

Step-by-Step Solutions

Start by reading the error in the bounce email, then go to the step that matches it.

1. 1

   Step 1: Find and read the bounce email

   The bounceback email from Gmail has an error message that explains why your email wasn’t delivered.

   When you send an email and it fails to reach your recipient, you get an automated bounceback email with an error message.

   Open Gmail and look in your Inbox and Spam for an email from “Mail Delivery Subsystem (mailer-daemon@googlemail.com).” The subject line is often “Delivery Status Notification (Failure).”

   Open the email and review the error message that explains why Gmail can’t deliver your email. Then use the step below that matches it.

2. 2

   Step 2: Check the recipient’s email address

   If the error says the recipient’s email address doesn’t exist, the address may not exist or may have a typo or another error before or after the “@” symbol.

   Look for common errors in the address, such as:

   Also make sure you have the person’s current email address, as their email address may have changed. If possible, ask the person for their email address. To check your contact information, go to Google Contacts.

   • Spelling errors
   • Quotation marks
   • Dots at the end of the address
   • Spaces before or after an address
3. 3

   Step 3: Change a message flagged as spam

   If your email was flagged as spam or temporarily rejected, something in it, like links, attachments or text, triggered the recipient’s spam filters.

   Remove links to websites or text that ask for personal information.

   This can also happen when you send a message to a large group of recipients at once. If you email a large number of people, put all recipients in a Google Group and send the message to that single group address.

4. 4

   Step 4: Wait out the daily sending limit

   Personal Gmail accounts have a limit on the number of emails you can send per day, and the error is temporary.

   You get the “You have reached a limit for sending mail” error when you send more than 500 emails in a day or one email to more than 500 recipients.

   The error is temporary. You can send emails again within 24 hours.

   To keep it from happening again, try creating a Google Group of all your email recipients and sending the message to that group’s email address.

   Good to know

   If you use Gmail through your work, school or other organization, there are different limits when you send an email.

5. 5

   Step 5: Send it again later

   If there’s a temporary problem with the recipient’s inbox, their email server is busy, offline or having a temporary technical issue.

   Send the message again at a later time.

   If you still can’t reach the recipient, check if there are any mistakes with their email address, then reach out to your recipient’s email provider for support.

6. 6

   Step 6: Let the recipient know their storage is full

   If the recipient’s inbox is out of storage space, they can’t receive new messages until they clear space.

   Your recipient is out of Google storage. The recipient must clear space in their account storage before they can receive new email.

   Storage is shared across Google Drive, Gmail and Google Photos. You can let them know how they can manage their storage in Drive, Gmail and Photos.

7. 7

   Step 7: Reach someone who’s getting too much mail

   If the person you’re emailing is getting too many emails too fast, additional messages can’t be delivered to them.

   In that case you might see this message: “The user you are trying to contact is receiving mail at a rate that prevents additional messages from being delivered.”

   You’ll need to contact the person another way.

Frequently Asked Questions