# 2 Emails stuck in mailq

**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/2-emails-stuck-in-mailq/371320
**Category:** Support
**Tags:** email, mail-receiver
**Created:** [June 23, 2025, 11:10am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/2-emails-stuck-in-mailq/371320 "2025-06-23T11:10:37Z")
**Posts on this page:** 3
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![Ethsim2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/ethsim2/32/522255_2.png) [@Ethsim2](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Ethsim2)
#### Post date: [June 23, 2025, 11:10am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/2-emails-stuck-in-mailq/371320/1 "2025-06-23T11:10:37Z")

</div>

Hello,

I have run

`cd /var/discourse`

`.\launcher enter mail-receiver`

`mailq`

and it shows for the last 2 hours 2 emails are stuck in the queue, `(temporary failure)`

* * *

i then run

`tail -f /shared/log/rails/production.log less /shared/log/rails/production.log`

> **and it didn't work**
>
> ![ails error](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/meta/original/4X/d/d/e/dde42049b56f7fb1695444ef6324290a60ebcb69.png)

so then i try

`tail -f /shared/log/mail-receiver.log less /shared/log/mail-receiver.log`

> **and it didn't work**
>
> ![/log error](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/meta/original/4X/4/8/c/48cd95508a36828a2ea1d529819867ba6a7a5c12.png)

so then i `exit`, `cd`, then `logout`

* * *

and hope someone can help me here on meta?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![Ethsim2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/ethsim2/32/522255_2.png) [@Ethsim2](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Ethsim2)
#### Post date: [June 23, 2025, 11:39am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/2-emails-stuck-in-mailq/371320/2 "2025-06-23T11:39:24Z")

</div>

Right, so i went into the Outlook of the Shared Mailbox that sent the emails, i can see they had a body but 4-10 MB of 5-8 attachments, and both a long chain of email. My admin UI attachment limit is 14MB and all file types were authorised.

I re-forwarded an email corresponding to the most recent of the 2 emails, reducing number of attachments, that worked quickly.

Now i shall clear `mailq`

* * *

`cd /var/discourse`

`.\launcher enter mail-receiver`

`mailq`

`11306 Kilobytes in 2 Requests` is still there

* * *

so i run

`postsuper -d ALL`

and get

`postsuper: Deleted: 2 messages`

* * *

run `mailq` agin for sanity, find that it’s empty

`exit`,`cd`, then `logout`

---

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![NateDhaliwal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/natedhaliwal/32/313494_2.png) [@NateDhaliwal](https://meta.discourse.org/u/NateDhaliwal)
#### Post date: [June 23, 2025, 12:12pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/2-emails-stuck-in-mailq/371320/3 "2025-06-23T12:12:09Z")

</div>

Just a quick note, @Ethsim2: the #community-wiki:sysadmins category is for guides, not issues. I’ve moved it over to #Support.