Problems with transferring mail

If you are experiencing any problems sending or checking your mail, the first general rule is to have a look at the account's log - use the Account|View Log menu command of the main window when the account having the problem is selected. By examining the log records, you can turn usually up some possible reasons for the failure.

Could not connect to the server

All protocols

1.	You are not connected to the Internet. You should check your connection settings and whether your networking hardware (Ethernet card, phone or cable modem, ISDN adaptor) is working and connected properly.

2.	The mail server address is wrong. Please contact your ISP or mail server administrator and ask for the correct address of your mail server.

3.	Your PC is located behind of a Firewall and requires connection through a Proxy server. You should contact your server administrator asking for the correct values for the mail server and the user name.

You are using an incorrect protocol. The Bat! supports three most common protocols to access mail: POP3, IMAP4 and MAPI for MS Exchange Server. Please contact your ISP or mail server administrator and ask whether you are using the correct protocol for your account. If you are sure the protocol is correct, see No.5

The port number of the mail service is incorrect. The standard port numbers are: POP3 - 110, IMAP4 - 143, SMTP - 25. These are the default values set by The Bat! when you create an account. However, some mail services require special port numbers for security reasons, so you may need to contact your ISP or mail server administrator asking whether you should use any special port numbers.

The server requires secure connection (TLS). If you have been told that, ask whether you should configure your mail client to use the standard POP/IMAP/SMTP port with STARTTLS extension or you should connect to a special dedicated port. Secured connections to a dedicated port using a standard protocol usually have the -S suffix. The standard port numbers for secure connections are: POPS - 995, IMAPS - 993, SMTPS - 465. Make sure the correct connection type is selected at the Transport page of the Account Properties dialogue.

7.	Your ISP does not allow to connect to the mail servers outside its network. You should examine the contract with your ISP and if it does mention that, you can do nothing about that. Otherwise, contact the ISP and ask them what is wrong.

All protocols

Your login data is incorrect. Make sure you are using the correct user name and password for the mail server. Note that passwords are often case sensitive, so make sure the Caps Lock on your keyboard is OFF when you are typing the password in. Sometimes, the user name can also be case-sensitive, so type it exactly as it is given to you by your ISP or mail server administrator. Also, if you are connecting via a Proxy server, the user name usually has a specific format like user@server.tld, the "@" symbol is specific to the Proxy server used on your Network; in this case, you should contact the system administrator or refer to the documentation of the Proxy server.

2.	You are using an inappropriate authentication mechanism. Some servers may require a specific authentication mechanism. Find out which mechanism is required and make sure it is selected in the Authentication dialogue (which is invoked by clicking the Authentication button beside the server address).

Your mailbox is being locked (POP, IMAP only). You may often see a record about that in the log, but some systems do not provide details about this type of error. The most common reason for such a failure is that your mailbox is being checked simultaneously from different places. The simplest solution would be to check your mailbox later. Alternatively, you may try to schedule mailbox checking at different times in all of the places the mailbox is being checked from; make sure there is a reasonable interval between checks to avoid conflicts (e.g. when you receive large volumes of mail, the checking gap should be wide enough so that one system collects mail before a concurrent one starts checking). This also can be a case when you have multiple accounts defined within The Bat! and they actually refer to the same mail server account. The same rule as above applies (schedule checking within reasonable intervals) or you may use only one The Bat! account and set up your filters so mail is retrieved by one of The Bat! accounts and goes into other accounts using filters.

(Not very common, but still worth a mention). You are using the wrong mail server. Make sure you have entered the correct server address on the Transport page of the Account Properties dialogue - it may be that your records got mixed up and you have picked the wrong server address - one from another account for instance.

If you are 100% sure no above applies, this could be a security alarm - someone may steal your password by pretending to be your mail server. This involves rather complex technical tricks, but is still possible. Do not forget to warn your system administrator about that and you should really change the password for your mailbox.

Connection broken

All protocols

1.	Networking hardware (Ethernet card, phone or cable modem, ISDN adaptor) malfunction. Check whether all your networking hardware is connected to the network, powered on and working properly.

2.	Your phone line or cable is cut off, damaged or provides poor signal. Contact your phone or cable operator and ask them to check your connection to their network.

3.	Mail server went down during the session or some unrecoverable error occurred there. It is rather unusual, but happens sometimes. Try again later.

Server reports: "We don't relay" or anything like that.

SMTP

1.	Authentication is required for sending mail through the SMTP server. You should enable authentication in the Authentication dialogue available by clicking the Authentication button beside the SMTP server address field.

You are using a different SMTP server from the domain of the e-mail address you are using. You should either use the mail server corresponding to your address' domain or contact the server's administration asking for permission to use the mail server for sending messages addressed from whatever e-mail addresses you have.

Could not store message (file name - NNNN)

POP3

1.	Your disk is full. Check whether you have enough space to store your mail.

2.	The Inbox folder of the account is somehow damaged. Check integrity of your folders using the Folder\|Maintenance... menu command of the main window and try to receive mail again.

If your problem still persists, contact your ISP or System Administrator.