# Getting 'address not found' error trying to set up reply via email
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/getting-address-not-found-error-trying-to-set-up-reply-via-email/127047
**Category:** Support
**Created:** [August 28, 2019, 6:29pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/getting-address-not-found-error-trying-to-set-up-reply-via-email/127047 "2019-08-28T18:29:14Z")
**Posts on this page:** 17
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Liz\_Froment](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Liz_Froment)
#### Post date: [August 28, 2019, 6:29pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/getting-address-not-found-error-trying-to-set-up-reply-via-email/127047/1 "2019-08-28T18:29:14Z")
Hi everyone,
I’m hoping I can get a little bit of help on this. I’m not supremely tech confident so I’m sure I’ve done something wrong on my end.
I’ve gone through this thread and I thought set it up correctly:
[https://meta.discourse.org/t/set-up-reply-via-email-support/14003/139](https://meta.discourse.org/t/set-up-reply-via-email-support/14003/139)
And tried a few things mentioned in some of the trouble shooting threads that I could find including enabling forwarding, allowing access to the Gmail account by signing out and then back in on a new browser, sending a test email to [username+1234@gmail.com](mailto:username+1234@gmail.com) (that worked) and so on.
I’m getting the following message every time I try to reply to a PM email that we’re testing:
550 no mailbox by that name is currently available.
Here are all the error messages (as you can see I’ve been trying to figure this out for a while):
We set up a gmail address for the replies, I did make sure POP is enabled.
Since this is my first post, I’m only allowed to upload one image, but I have multiple screenshots of the setup I can send as well if that helps.
Beyond that, I’m just at a loss and can’t figure out where I missed something. It feels like it shouldn’t take 5 hours to figure this out! Any help would be greatly appreciated! Please let me know if you need more information.
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### Author:  [@jtbayly](https://meta.discourse.org/u/jtbayly)
#### Post date: [August 28, 2019, 6:50pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/getting-address-not-found-error-trying-to-set-up-reply-via-email/127047/2 "2019-08-28T18:50:34Z")
I feel you. These sorts of problems can be very frustrating. As it happens, my own reply by email just stopped working though it had been working for months. Different symptoms from you, but anyway…
Do you have 2-factor authorization enabled on the gmail account you’re trying to use for replies?
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### Author:  [@Liz\_Froment](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Liz_Froment)
#### Post date: [August 28, 2019, 7:02pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/getting-address-not-found-error-trying-to-set-up-reply-via-email/127047/3 "2019-08-28T19:02:38Z")
Thanks for the reply. I have that set as off in the gmail settings.
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### Author:  [@pfaffman](https://meta.discourse.org/u/pfaffman)
#### Post date: [August 28, 2019, 7:05pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/getting-address-not-found-error-trying-to-set-up-reply-via-email/127047/4 "2019-08-28T19:05:10Z")
Check out [Configure direct-delivery incoming email for self-hosted sites with Mail-Receiver](https://meta.discourse.org/t/straightforward-direct-delivery-incoming-mail/49487). It makes things much easier.
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### Author:  [@jtbayly](https://meta.discourse.org/u/jtbayly)
#### Post date: [August 28, 2019, 7:05pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/getting-address-not-found-error-trying-to-set-up-reply-via-email/127047/5 "2019-08-28T19:05:47Z")
And do you have the “Less secure app access” enabled for that google account?
Link to the right settings page, [here](https://myaccount.google.com/security), but double check that you’re signed in to the right account when you get there.
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### Author:  [@Liz\_Froment](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Liz_Froment)
#### Post date: [August 28, 2019, 7:09pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/getting-address-not-found-error-trying-to-set-up-reply-via-email/127047/6 "2019-08-28T19:09:39Z")
Yup, less secure apps is enabled.
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### Author:  [@Liz\_Froment](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Liz_Froment)
#### Post date: [August 28, 2019, 7:12pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/getting-address-not-found-error-trying-to-set-up-reply-via-email/127047/7 "2019-08-28T19:12:55Z")
This one scares me, logging into the server might be above my paygrade. But will check this one. Thanks.
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### Author:  [@pfaffman](https://meta.discourse.org/u/pfaffman)
#### Post date: [August 28, 2019, 7:17pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/getting-address-not-found-error-trying-to-set-up-reply-via-email/127047/8 "2019-08-28T19:17:57Z")
The tricky thing is that you’ll use `discourse.example.com` (or whatever your forum subdomain is) for the incoming mail address rather that the gmail address. As long as you don’t mess with your MX record(s) for `example.com` (and set MX for `discourse.example.com`) you won’t break anything.
If you’ve got a [standard install](https://meta.discourse.org/t/142537?silent=true), I’ll [install and configure it for you for $150](https://www.literatecomputing.com/product/incoming-mail-server/).
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### Author:  [@jtbayly](https://meta.discourse.org/u/jtbayly)
#### Post date: [August 28, 2019, 7:17pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/getting-address-not-found-error-trying-to-set-up-reply-via-email/127047/9 "2019-08-28T19:17:58Z")
By the way, I meant to say before, you shouldn’t need any forwarding turned on in gmail. If you can setup the solution @pfaffman suggests, that would be great. I can’t because I’m not running my own server.
Sometimes it’s easier to just look at a screenshot and see if you notice anything out of place. These are the Discourse settings that were working for me.
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### Author:  [@Liz\_Froment](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Liz_Froment)
#### Post date: [August 28, 2019, 7:23pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/getting-address-not-found-error-trying-to-set-up-reply-via-email/127047/10 "2019-08-28T19:23:41Z")
Here’s my setup:
Now looking at yours, I see I should switch the pop3 polling username to the gmail reply account it looks like.
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### Author:  [@jtbayly](https://meta.discourse.org/u/jtbayly)
#### Post date: [August 28, 2019, 7:24pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/getting-address-not-found-error-trying-to-set-up-reply-via-email/127047/11 "2019-08-28T19:24:22Z")
Yes. I suspect that will fix it! Fingers crossed for you.
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### Author:  [@Liz\_Froment](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Liz_Froment)
#### Post date: [August 28, 2019, 7:25pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/getting-address-not-found-error-trying-to-set-up-reply-via-email/127047/12 "2019-08-28T19:25:01Z")
Thanks, will follow up!
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### Author:  [@Liz\_Froment](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Liz_Froment)
#### Post date: [August 28, 2019, 7:25pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/getting-address-not-found-error-trying-to-set-up-reply-via-email/127047/13 "2019-08-28T19:25:59Z")
I’ll keep your link handy!!
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### Author:  [@jtbayly](https://meta.discourse.org/u/jtbayly)
#### Post date: [August 28, 2019, 7:26pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/getting-address-not-found-error-trying-to-set-up-reply-via-email/127047/14 "2019-08-28T19:26:11Z")
By the way, I think you also need to change your “reply by email address” to be the gmail address with “+%(reply\_key)” just before the @.
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### Author:  [@Liz\_Froment](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Liz_Froment)
#### Post date: [August 28, 2019, 7:28pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/getting-address-not-found-error-trying-to-set-up-reply-via-email/127047/15 "2019-08-28T19:28:57Z")
Will update that too, thank you!
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### Author:  [@system](https://meta.discourse.org/u/system)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2023, 1:46pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/getting-address-not-found-error-trying-to-set-up-reply-via-email/127047/16 "2023-03-19T13:46:44Z")
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### Author:  [@JammyDodger](https://meta.discourse.org/u/JammyDodger)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2023, 4:52pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/getting-address-not-found-error-trying-to-set-up-reply-via-email/127047/17 "2023-03-19T16:52:45Z")