Hi,
I’ve been using Sendlayer SMTP settings for a while now but every now and then Quickfile reports 3 errors in a row and then deactivates the SMTP settings. If I reactivate with the same settings then everything carries on work for several weeks/months. No errors show in the Sendlayer console. It looks like temporary connectivity issues as the error says unable to reach the servers. What delay to you have between retries and can it be adjusted on my account?
Thanks,
Steve
What you’re seeing is caused by QuickFile’s built-in safety for SMTP connections. After three consecutive send failures, it temporarily disables the SMTP settings to prevent repeated errors.
The retries happen automatically with short delays, but these intervals aren’t adjustable per account. Since Sendlayer shows no issues, it’s likely a temporary connectivity hiccup between QuickFile and their servers.
The usual workaround is what you’re already doing: reactivate the settings when this happens. It will resume normal operation without losing any queued emails.
Thanks for the info. As a future dev request it would be useful to have some way of seeing what’s in the queue.
Steve
This seems to be happening daily now, please can you look into it?
Steve
Hi @G0UQT
It’s likely to be just a timeout issue. I would need to check with our development team on the exact timeout limit, but this is usually the case if it’s been working fine up until now.
If you have a Power User Subscription, we do have a sent email log (Account Settings > All Settings > Audit > Sent Email Log), where you can view queued and sent emails. If you view them, you can also see if they were sent through your SMTP or our standard setup.
If this has only recently been happening, it may be worth reaching out to your email provider to see if they can see anything on their end.
Hi @QFMathew,
I forgot about the Audit Log. Looking at the Audit log all the emails are showing as SENT. One failed on Jan 16th but that was the customer changing domains.
It seems odd that they are being sent but it still deactivates. I would expect to see more FAILED errors. As a software developer I know quite a bit about SMTP. I’m wondering if the connection isn’t closing correctly, triggering a timeout even the data has been sent?
Steve
It’s worth noting that if we fail to send the email via your SMTP set up, we will revert to the default QuickFile settings, so the email can still be sent.
If you click on “View” next to the email:
You will see a “SMTP” line at the top, which will tell you how it was sent (your SMTP, or the QuickFile default).
Hi @QFMathew ,
Ok that’s good to here. If you could get your devs to check then that would be great? I switched to Sendlayer as the same issues started after using Google Workspace GMail App password for years, I switched around July last year.
Kind regards,
Steve
QuickFile disables SMTP after three consecutive connection failures, even if most emails show as sent. It is likely a timeout or connection close issue between QuickFile and Sendlayer rather than a delivery failure.
Since retries and timeout limits cannot be adjusted, the best step is to ask Sendlayer to check for dropped or partially closed SMTP sessions. You can also monitor the Sent Email Log to confirm whether messages are going via your SMTP or fallback routing.
Hi @River1 ,
I have contacted Sendlayer, and there response is below. Obviously answer to Q1 is Quickfile is SaaS.
We checked your SendLayer email logs ( Checking the Email Log ), and we don’t see any delivery failures or other issues that would indicate a problem on the SendLayer side
Since QuickFile disables the SMTP integration after 3 consecutive errors, this is most likely related to an SMTP connection/authentication issue (for example, a temporary timeout, connection failure, or a transient authentication error) occurring between QuickFile and SendLayer. In cases like this, the email may fail before it is accepted by SendLayer, which would explain why nothing appears in your SendLayer dashboard logs.
A couple of quick questions so we can narrow this down:
Next step:
Could you please ask QuickFile to share the exact SMTP error text (or a screenshot of the error) from the 3 failed attempts? Once you send that to us, I can review it and share it with our engineers to confirm whether any changes are needed on our side (or whether it’s a QuickFile-side connectivity/rate-limit setting)
Kind regards,
Steve
Is it possible to look into this more for Sendlayer? See above.
Kind regards,
Steve
Looking back through the Audit log it looks like most of the auto invoices are failing. Did you see my above messages with info from sendlayer?
Kind regards,
Steve
Hi @G0UQT
The error is the one you see on the SMTP settings page.
QuickFile is classed as “SaaS” (Software-as-a-service), and is hosted in the cloud. We don’t offer a self-hosting option.
It is quite possible that it’s timing out when trying to connect, however, I don’t believe this is a short timeout period.
Have you confirmed with SendLayer that the details used (the server, port, STARTTLS, etc.) are correct?
Hi @QFMathew ,
Yes details are correct:
Username and password is as generated by my dashboard for Quickfile.
From address is @bitsolver.co.uk so I’m using steven@bitsolver.co.uk.
Uses STARTTLS on port 587.
Surely you should be able to access the backend log files which will reveal the error. It could be timeout, authentication error … Does Quickfile not capture the error message? As a software developer I make sure these types of errors are logged in my applications.
I’ve just created a test customer and sent an estimate with a CC:
To address sent through sendlayer (stevengnash@gmail.com)
CC sent through quickfile.
Looks like it maybe an issue with how CC addresses are handled?
Kind regards,
Steve
Kind regards,
Steve
Yes. The error message is shown on the SMTP settings page for you to review in the event of an error. The error shown would either be the one sent to us, or would be a timeout issue (as an example).
This is by design. All CC emails are sent through the default QuickFile setup.
Hi @QFMathew ,
Whilst there was no obvious error on the settings page. An extract from the email sent to be just says Error: exception thrown.
So something isn’t capturing the route cause if the exception, here’s a copy from the email:
We have been unable to send a number of items through your own custom SMTP email server. The last 3 consecutive attempts failed. The error recorded is as follows:
Email: steven@bitsolver.co.uk Error: Exception thrown!
Please return to the SMTP settings page on your QuickFile account (Account Settings Area). If you have recently changed your email password or any other credentials please update and reactivate your SMTP services accordingly.
Kind regards,
Steve
Hi @QFMathew ,
I raise a credit against an invoice and SMTP Failed again, attached is a screen grab.
Again no indication of what the actual issue is.
Kind regards,
Steve
