Issue with SMTP email addresses for scanners causing occasional scan-to-email failures

Question

We are currently facing an issue where scans sent via email from our scanners occasionally do not reach their destination. These emails were configured by a colleague using an older method, which the mail address does not appear in Exchange Manager under typical categories such as mailbox, mail user, mail contact, or mail group.

Upon inspecting our logs, it's evident that emails originate from the scanner, but they do not progress through our Exchange environment to reach the intended recipients. This sporadic issue results in some scans not being delivered to users.

Attempts to trace the emails online have been unsuccessful due to their failure to arrive in Exchange. Additionally, efforts to locate them on-premises have proven fruitless.

While most scans sent to my email address are received successfully, approximately 5% of the time, they do not arrive. This inconsistency is affecting our operations.

Has anyone encountered a similar issue or can advise on how and where to locate these emails?

Thank you for any insights or assistance you can provide.

Answer 1

Hi @Al Khazragy Laith,

Welcome to the Microsoft Q&A platform!

According to your description,it sounds like you’re dealing with a tricky issue involving your scanner's email configuration and potential intermittent delivery problems.

Here are some steps and suggestions that might help you troubleshoot and resolve the issue:

1. Check Scanner Configuration:

   - Verify the SMTP server settings on the scanner. Ensure the SMTP server, port, authentication, and other relevant settings are correct and consistent.

   - Ensure that the size of the scanned documents is within the limits set by your SMTP server and Exchange.

   - Check if there are any firmware updates available for the scanner that might address email-related issues.

2. Examine Exchange Server Settings:

   - Make sure the receive connectors on your Exchange server are properly configured to accept emails from the scanner's IP address.

   - Ensure that anti-spam or anti-virus software isn’t mistakenly filtering or blocking the emails from the scanner. Check quarantine logs if available.

   - Although you mentioned that some emails do get through, use the message tracking tool in Exchange to see if there are any patterns or common factors in the undelivered emails.

3. Network Considerations:

   - Intermittent network issues could cause sporadic email delivery problems. Ensure the network connection is stable and there are no outages or disruptions when the issue occurs.

   - Make sure there are no firewall rules or network policies that could intermittently block the traffic from the scanner to the Exchange server.

4. Logs Examination:

   - Check the scanner’s logs to see if there are any error messages or indicators of why some emails fail to send.

   - Besides the message tracking logs, look into the SMTP logs on the Exchange server for any clues.

5. Check Exchange Admin Center (EAC) and PowerShell:

   - There might be transport rules that affect the delivery of emails from internal devices. Check for any hidden or conditional rules.

   - Ensure that there are no throttling policies in place that might limit the number of emails sent from the scanner in a short period.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any queries.

Best,

Jake Zhang