Not Getting Emails? Super Secure Google Email May Be the Problem.
If you use Google to check your domain hosted email, or use Gmail, you may not have received all your emails over the past 5-6 weeks.
Super Secure Emails Implemented Early June
Google rolled out “super secure” emails sometime in the first 10 days of June, adding further encryption to all emails being sent and received in Gmail boxes. This applies even if you use a @mydomain.com email address with Gmail. According to Google, your google mail will use the new data encryptions that will provide extra security and privacy for the users and this is called “End-to-End” encryption. This means that every email being sent will be encrypted before leaving the senders and it will be decrypted only if it reaches the designated recipients.
What Does This Mean To Me?
If you have had some mysterious email issues over the past month, Google’s new security may be to blame. Here are some confirmed issues we have seen:
- Email being delayed
- Email not arriving at all
- People not responding to your emails (you sent them, but they didn’t get them!)
It is important to note that these emails ARE NOT BOUNCING back.
For the most part, these are only @mydomain to @gmail.com accounts. OR if your @mydomain email is being authorized in your gmail account.
How Do I Fix It?
- First, if you are using Gmail, check your website’s contact form. Hopefully you have a place on the backend of your site where requests are stored if you’ve missed any.
- If your contact forms are being SENT to a gmail account (or a @mydomain.com), setup a domain hosted email and check your mail using something OTHER than Gmail.
- To check your email, use your host’s webmail, your phone, or an email program like Outlook or Outlook Express.
- If you suspect that you have not gotten all your emails, or that people have not been responding to your emails, you may need to resend them or ask that people resend them to you. You MUST take Gmail out of this process, or send Gmail to Gmail.
Yup, It Sucks.
I wish I had a better solution! I have no doubt that the bugs will get worked out of this new release over the coming months. However, it is the height of the busy season for most, so missing some of your emails for the next 4-6 months isn’t an option. Try using some or all of the steps above.
If you are using Rackspace for hosting, you will be happy to know that they are actively working on the communication issue with Google. AS SOON AS they release an update, we will let you know!
