# Email delivery configuration checklist
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/email-delivery-configuration-checklist/209839
**Category:** Self-Hosting
**Tags:** configuring, reference
**Created:** [November 22, 2021, 11:41am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/email-delivery-configuration-checklist/209839 "2021-11-22T11:41:50Z")
**Posts on this page:** 5
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Discourse](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Discourse)
#### Post date: [November 22, 2021, 11:41am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/email-delivery-configuration-checklist/209839/1 "2021-11-22T11:41:50Z")
Email deliverability is complicated. Here are a few important things you should check first:
- Be _sure_ to set the `DISCOURSE_NOTIFICATION_EMAIL:` correctly in your app.yml file. **The domain specified in the “from” address of the emails you send is the domain your email will be validated against**.
- Know how to view the raw source of the email in your mail client, so you can examine email headers for important clues. In Gmail, it is the “show original” option in the drop-down menu at the top right of each mail.
- **IMPORTANT:** Does your ISP have a reverse DNS record entered to associate the domain names and IP addresses you send mail from? [Test your Reverse PTR record](https://mxtoolbox.com/ReverseLookup.aspx) here. If your ISP does not enter the proper reverse DNS pointer record, it’s very unlikely any of your email will be delivered.
- Is your domain’s [SPF record](https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc7208) correct? [Test your SPF record](https://www.kitterman.com/spf/validate.html) here. Note that TXT is the correct official record type for SPF.
- Is your domain’s [DKIM record](http://www.dkim.org/) correct? This will significantly improve email deliverability. [Test your DKIM record](https://www.mail-tester.com/spf-dkim-check) here.
- If you run your own mail server, check to make sure the IPs of your mail server are [not on any email blocklists](https://whatismyipaddress.com/blacklist-check). Also verify that it is definitely sending a fully-qualified hostname that resolves in DNS in its HELO message. If not, this will cause your email to be rejected by many mail services.
- We highly recommend you **send a test email to [mail-tester.com](https://www.mail-tester.com/)** to verify that all the above is working correctly.
(The _easy_ way is to create an account on [SendGrid](https://sendgrid.com/), [Mailgun](https://www.mailgun.com/) or [Mailjet](https://www.mailjet.com/pricing/), which have low cost mailing plans and will be fine for small communities. You’ll still need to set up the SPF and DKIM records in your DNS, though!)
See also: [Troubleshoot email on a new Discourse install](https://meta.discourse.org/t/troubleshoot-email-on-a-new-discourse-install/16326)
> Last edited by @southpaw 2025-11-18T19:50:21Z
>
> > **Check document**
> >
> > Perform check on document:
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### Author:  [@Decorbuz](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Decorbuz)
#### Post date: [November 23, 2021, 1:37am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/email-delivery-configuration-checklist/209839/2 "2021-11-23T01:37:14Z")
> [@techAPJ](#):
>
> Know how to view the raw source of the email in your mail client, so you can examine email headers for important clues. In Gmail, it is the “show original” option in the drop-down menu at the top right of each mail.
Thanks for creating this guide! The only issue I’m having is that I cant find the “show original” option that you’re talking about. As far as I’m concerned, I’m looking in the right place.
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### Author:  [@techAPJ](https://meta.discourse.org/u/techAPJ)
#### Post date: [November 23, 2021, 12:02pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/email-delivery-configuration-checklist/209839/3 "2021-11-23T12:02:32Z")
> [@Decorbuz](#):
>
> The only issue I’m having is that I cant find the “show original” option that you’re talking about.
This might help:
[https://www.lifewire.com/how-to-see-full-email-headers-in-gmail-1171960](https://www.lifewire.com/how-to-see-full-email-headers-in-gmail-1171960)
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### Author:  [@Decorbuz](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Decorbuz)
#### Post date: [November 23, 2021, 5:10pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/email-delivery-configuration-checklist/209839/4 "2021-11-23T17:10:25Z")
Ah, okay. I was able to find it. Thank you! 👍
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### Author:  [@pfaffman](https://meta.discourse.org/u/pfaffman)
#### Post date: [November 23, 2021, 5:53pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/email-delivery-configuration-checklist/209839/5 "2021-11-23T17:53:59Z")
> [@techAPJ](#):
>
> Be _sure_ to set the `notification email` from: address correctly in your site settings. **The domain specified in the “from” address of the emails you send is the domain your email will be validated against**.
For some number of months `notification_email` is set in an ENV variable in `app.yml`, so it’s not accesible in the site settings.
Also, how does this topic relate to [Troubleshooting email on a new Discourse install](https://meta.discourse.org/t/troubleshooting-email-on-a-new-discourse-install/16326), which provides some of the same advice with more what to do information and has been around a long while. Should these two topics about the same thing link to each other?