I released email -but it disappeared!

--VQ-- · Site Admin Joined: 06 Jan 2003 Posts: 474

Question: I released email from Held Mail, but it disappeared. What gives?!

Answer:
Here are 10 reasons why email might appear to be missing after it is released. The more common situations are presented at the top of the list. Relax--In each case, your mail is most likely safe. We have not yet seen a situation in which legitimate mail was deleted.

vqME allows you to protect multiple addresses. (In vqNow, these are called aliases). You can collect mail for these addresses in a single vqME address (called a profile) or separately under individual profiles. Click Profiles & Addresses. If you have multiple profiles (indicated by gray mailbox icons), then you have separate IN boxes. The mail in each box is only available when logged in with the corresponding vqME profile.

But the Held Mail page allows you to view entires for all profiles. If you release a message that is not directed to the profile that you are logged in to, the email seems to disappear. That's because it was released to a different mailbox.
After marking one or more messages, you may have pressed Delete instead of Release. It's a common error, even though we have recently colored the delete button red.
Normally, the Block List does not interact with the Held Mail folder, because mail from blocked addreses and domains is deleted before any other process. But if the sender's address or domain was added to a Block List after it arrived into Held Mail, the message will be destroyed upon release. These Block lists are superior to all other features. There is no message to you or to the sender and the action cannot be undone.
Your email program may be sorting your IN box by the date and time in the original message (e.g. when the message was sent). But if you release mail a few days later, you may not see it in a busy IN box because it is sorted in the list far from current messages. Simply scroll down your window to find it. Vanquish uses a technique to force released mail to the top of your IN box, but settings in Outlook and Outlook Express can override our intentions. In Eudora, the problem is solved easily. Click the Date-column header to turn of post-download sorting. You can always click any column header again to RE-sort your messages.
During periods of heavy congestion (for example, when your domain or our server is under a distributed attack), there may be a delay between the release of Held Mail and it's arrival at your IN box. If your other incoming mail is delayed, allow several minutes after clicking Release before discounting this possible explanation.
The released message may have had an attached virus or may have been a "Phishing scam" posing as mail from a familiar sender. In this case, the message is intercepted AFTER you attempt to release it, because threat detection occurs when you attempt to release the message and not when it first arrived. Both you and the sender are typically notified with details about the original email, but some Vanquish providers disable this report. This makes it appear that a released message was deleted. Often, we see this complaint on mail that appears to be from PayPal or eBay. In fact, the mail is a scam and it often contains a virus. If you are certain that you know the sender, check with him or her and find out if they received a report from our anti-spam fiters.
Your Held Mail folder is not subject to the maximum storage limit of your IN Box. If you release a message from the Held Mail page while your vqME IN box is full (or if the message you release will cause it to exceed the quota), you will not receive see the message. Instead, it is returned to sender with an explanation that your mailbox has exceeded its quota. Remember that this return message does not occur when the message first arrives into Held Mail. Instead, it occurs after you release the message - or when the sender responds to an address confirmation.

It's easy to tell if you are over quota - or how much space remains in your mailbox. Just look for the thermometer in the left frame. Additionally, a warning appears at the the top of your mailbox.
Most email programs or email services have a junk mail folder. Check it carefully (and then turn off that feature). Additionally, you may have a filter (also called a "rule") in your email program or online service which diverts some incoming mail to a different mailbox based on the sender address, subject or the content.
You may be releasing mail properly, but your email program may be POPping it in the background -- or perhaps you left another PC fetching and deleting your mail. In either of these three situations, the RELEASED message would appear to be missing - but actually, it was already retrieved by an email application.
[vqNow/vqSA users only]: Check to see if your mail server name or address has changed. If so, then the messages that you release cannot be delivered - and neither can any other email! They will remain in our delivery queue for a brief period (at the time of this writing, 36 hours). If you do not give us the correct address during that period, incoming mail will be returned to individual senders - each one in the sequence that they were sent.

Lamar Blount · Guest

I released 6 emails in the Held file, and NONE of them have appeared after 30 minutes in any of my Outlook 2002 IN box or Custom folders I had previously set to catch suspected spam junk.

On line User Guide is useless Evil or Very Mad

and I am turning my Free Test OFF so I can get critically important emails

HELP !?!?!?!?!?

--VQ-- · Site Admin Joined: 06 Jan 2003 Posts: 474

Hello Lemar. You can bet that we are concerned...

In every situation we encounter, one of the reasons shown above expain the problem - and offer a simple solution. In each case, no email has been lost.

Please send me your email address or phone number. Also, please tell me how late I may call you (it is now Tues night, 11:15 PM EDT).

Phil Raymond

Lamar Blount · Guest

I want to retract my previuos "complaint" about missing Emails. Vanquish took time today to call me, walk me through all the Ouitlook and Vanquish settings and all of my Emails WERE there, as promised.

Afer another week of testing, I will re-post, but for now, Vanquish works as promised. Very Happy

CanadianISP · Joined: 20 Jan 2006 Posts: 6 Location: Ontario, Canada