E-mails in JIRA are not sent immediately when an operation is performed. Instead, they are placed in a mail queue, which JIRA empties periodically (every minute). This is very similar to the real-life scenario, where e-mails are placed in mailboxes and picked up every day.
Normally, you do not need to manage the mail queue. JIRA automatically places e-mails into the queue and flushes them periodically. However, as an administrator, there may be times when you wish to inspect the mail queue, especially to troubleshoot problems related to JIRA notification e-mails. Sometimes, e-mails can get stuck for a number of reasons and inspecting the mail queue will help you identify the problems and fix them.
Perform the following steps to view the content of the mail queue:
- Browse to the JIRA administration console.
- Select the System tab and then the Mail queue option.
This page provides you with a one-page view of the current e-mails in the queue waiting for delivery. There are two queues: the main mail queue and the error queue.
The Mail Queue tab contains all the e-mails that are pending to be delivered. If JIRA is able to successfully deliver these e-mails, they will be removed from the queue. Items listed in red indicate that JIRA has unsuccessfully attempted to send those e-mails. JIRA will retry 10 times, and if still unsuccessful, these items will be moved to the error queue.
The Error Queue tab contains e-mails that cannot be delivered by JIRA. You can choose to resend all the failed items in the error queue or delete them.
While JIRA automatically flushes the mail queue, you can also manually flush the queue if it gets stuck or to send out e-mails immediately. When you manually flush the queue, JIRA will try to send all the e-mails that are currently in the queue.
Perform the following steps to manually flush the mail queue:
- Browse to the Mail Queue page.
- Click on the Flush mail queue button.
If JIRA is successful in sending e-mails, you will see the queue shrink and the items disappear. If some e-mails fail to be delivered, those items will be highlighted in red.