Agency mail

Areca sends email, such as invitations, through an SMTP mail server. Agency admins set that server under Agency › Mail. You can set it there or in the environment variables. Settings saved in Agency › Mail replace the environment settings completely.

Only agency admins can open Agency › Mail. For what each variable does, see configuration. For provider settings and deliverability, see storage and email.

What gets sentCopy Anchor Link

Areca sends these emails through the mail server:

• Invitations to join a client. See people and invitations.
• Password reset links, when someone asks for one from the sign-in page, or an agency admin sends one from Agency › People.
• Email verification links, when someone asks to verify their address.
• Security notices, such as a password change, two-factor authentication turned on or off, or a change of role. Account emails can't be turned off. See your account and sign-in.
• Notification emails, such as a release going live or failing. People choose these themselves, within any defaults and requirements the agency or a client sets. See notification emails.

Each one appears in Recent emails, with its type.

Without a mail server, invitations still work, and you can share the link with Copy link. The forgot password page tells people to ask an agency admin. Security notices and notification emails are not sent, and are not queued for later.

Before you startCopy Anchor Link

• Get the SMTP details from your mail provider: host, port, encryption, and the username and password if it needs them.
• Make sure the sending domain is verified with the provider, and that you have an address on it to send from.
• To save a password, the installation needs an encryption key. Ask your operator to set SECRETS_ENCRYPTION_KEY, or AI_SETTINGS_ENCRYPTION_KEY. Without a key, the password field is disabled and explains why.

StatusCopy Anchor Link

The top of the page shows where Areca is sending from:

• Sending with Mail settings. The settings saved on this page are in use.
• Sending with environment settings. The SMTP_* variables are in use.
• Mail isn't set up. Neither place has a mail server. Invitations still work. Share the link with Copy link on the People list.

Use environment settingsCopy Anchor Link

The Use environment settings switch decides which settings are used.

• On. Areca sends with the SMTP_* variables. The page shows their values, read-only. The password shows as Set or Not set.
• Off. Areca sends with the settings in this form. Every field is used as entered. Areca does not fill in gaps from the environment, so an empty username stays empty.

Turn the switch on again to go back to the environment settings.

FieldsCopy Anchor Link

Areca always checks the server's certificate, and gives up on a connection after 15 seconds.

Verify and testCopy Anchor Link

Both buttons work on the values in the form, so you can check them before you save.

• Verify connection connects to the server, starts the secure connection and signs in with the username and password. It does not send an email.
• Send test email sends a message to your own address, the one you are signed in with.

SaveCopy Anchor Link

Select Save in the bar at the bottom of the page.

• Verify first. Saving needs a successful Verify connection. If the check has not passed, Areca asks you to confirm. Select Save anyway to save without a passed check. Use it only when you know the settings are right, for example when the provider is temporarily unreachable.
• Confirm with your second factor. Saving asks for a code from your authenticator app. See two-factor and step-up.
• Settings replace the environment. Once you save, Areca sends with these settings, and ignores the SMTP_* variables until you turn Use environment settings on.

Changes are recorded in history and activity. The record shows who changed the settings, and never shows the password.

The saved passwordCopy Anchor Link

Areca stores the password encrypted, and never shows it again. The field shows Set once a password is saved. To change the password, enter the new one. To keep it, leave the field empty and save.

If the encryption key changes, the saved password cannot be read. Enter the password again.

Default notifications for clientsCopy Anchor Link

The Default notifications for clients section sets what each client gets from notification emails, before the client or its members change anything. It has one row for each email, and a column for owners and a column for editors.

Each cell has a switch, to turn the email on or off by default, and a lock. A locked email is required: everyone in every client gets it, and nobody can turn it off.

• Clients can change an unlocked default for their own team. A client's own default takes priority over the agency's.
• Each change saves as soon as you make it. If it fails, a message tells you.
• A client sees a locked email as Required by your agency's name, and can't change it.

For how the defaults combine with a client's settings and a person's own choice, see how a setting is decided.

Agency alertsCopy Anchor Link

The Agency alerts section sets the emails sent to agency admins when a release fails for any client. It has one row for each alert, with one column for agency admins.

• Releases failing for any client is on by default.
• You can lock an alert, the same way as a client default. Agency admins can't turn a locked alert off.
• Clients can't change agency alerts.

An agency admin who is also a member of a client gets that client's emails under the client's settings. They get agency alerts under this section. For the full list of emails, see notification emails.

Recent emailsCopy Anchor Link

The Recent emails list at the bottom of the page shows the last 50 emails Areca tried to send. Each row shows:

• when it was sent
• who it was sent to
• what it was, such as an invitation or a test
• its status: queued, retrying, sent or failed
• how many attempts were made

Failed and retrying rows show the reason in plain language. Use the filter to show All emails or only Failed ones. The row also shows an outbox ID. Use it to find the matching entries in the server log.

A status of sent means the mail server accepted the email. It does not confirm delivery to the inbox.

Paused jobsCopy Anchor Link

Paused jobs lists work that stopped after four failed attempts. Each row has the reason, the time of the last attempt, and Details with the last error. There are two kinds:

• Storage deletions: a file that Areca could not remove from storage. The file stays in the cleanup queue.
• Scheduled publishes: a publish that was scheduled for a site and stopped. Its entries do not go live until it runs again.

The panel shows nothing when nothing is paused.

• Retry starts a fresh set of attempts. Fix the cause first, such as a storage outage or a site that has been repaired, or the work will fail again.
• Dismiss hides the row and stops the automatic retry for it. Nothing is deleted. A dismissed scheduled publish stays paused until you publish it another way.

Areca also retries every paused item that you have not dismissed once an hour, with a fresh set of attempts. An item that still fails pauses again and is logged. The counts are on the readiness and metrics output as areca_storage_deletions_paused and areca_schedules_exhausted. See operations.

Troubleshooting errorsCopy Anchor Link

These are the messages you may see in a toast, on a People invitation, or in Recent emails. Placeholders such as host, port and reply stand for the values from your installation.

RelatedCopy Anchor Link

• Notification emails: which emails exist, and how people and clients choose them.
• Storage and email: provider settings, deliverability, and how sending works.
• Configuration: the SMTP_* variables.
• People and invitations: what an undelivered invitation looks like.
• Two-factor and step-up: why saving asks for a code.