API Management stopped sending notification emails for new developer subscriptions

Question

API Management stopped sending notification emails for new developer subscriptions

Don Z 65

Hello,

API Management stopped sending notification emails for new developer subscriptions. This happened suddenly 4-5 days ago, and was working fine before that. no changes were made to any of the emails or API Management recently. The originating email configured in Notification templates is [REDACTED]. Any idea how to troubleshoot? Thank you.

Alex Burlachenko 23,975 Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator

2026-06-24T14:37:39.1733333+00:00
Don Z hi, thx for sharing urs issue here at Q&A portal,

either APIM notification config got stuck, or the mail is being dropped after APIM sends it.

The default sender ******@mail.windowsazure.com is Microsoft-managed, so u won’t get much control over delivery reputation, SPF/DKIM, etc. If this stopped suddenly w/ no APIM changes, check junk or quarantine first, esp if u use Microsoft 365 Defender or Exchange Online. These emails can get silently quarantined and look like APIM never sent them.

Quick test: change the admin notification recipient to an external mailbox like Gmail Outlook and create a test subscription. If external gets it but corporate mail doesn’t, it’s mail filtering. If nobody gets it, prob APIM side.

In APIM, check Notifications and make sure the right notification is still enabled for new subscriptions and has the right recipients. Also check the email template wasn’t disabled or left with bad placeholders https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/api-management/api-management-howto-configure-notifications

If u need reliable delivery, better move away from the default sender and configure custom email settings / SMTP if available in ur tier/setup. Default platform mail is ok for basic alerts, not great when the business process depends on it.

Since this started 4-5 days ago, I’d open an APIM support case w/ service name, region, notification type, timestamp of a test subscription, recipient email, and message id if any. Ask MS to confirm whether APIM attempted to send the notification or if there’s a known delivery issue with mail.windowsazure.com.

rgds,

Alex

&

If my answer was helpful pls mark it and additional thx if u follow me at Q&A portal
Don Z 65 Reputation points

2026-06-24T14:38:48.4866667+00:00

Hello,

Thank you for your response. I explicitly included the Originating email address so you can see it is the default Microsoft email address and it still doesn't work.
Don Z 65 Reputation points

2026-06-24T14:42:06.5666667+00:00

Thank you Alex. APIM doesn't send any email, to corporate or otherwise, and I checked all junk/firewall rules etc. All email templates are displayed without errors. What do you mean by APIM notification config got stuck? Is there a way to reset it?
Rakesh Mishra 10,520 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-06-24T14:53:32.5766667+00:00

Hi Don, could you please check Product Approval Settings. If the subscription being created is tied to an APIM Product that has "Require subscription approval" enabled, the "New subscription activated" email will not trigger immediately. According to official Microsoft documentation:

"If the product requires approval, developers receive a subscription request email... After the administrator approves the subscription, the developer receives a subscription activated email." (Reference: Configure Notifications and Email Templates - Azure API Management)
Vadim Berman 55 Reputation points

2026-06-26T03:55:26.15+00:00

Just wanted to say that I experience the same issue.

In my case, we had deliverability issues with the custom email. We tinkered with email settings, DKIM, SPF, etc. and eventually gave up, and went back to the default address.

That was working well, until a few days ago (can't pinpoint when). No change on our side. The new subscribers keep complaining, and some left after being unable to sign up properly.

We've been using APIM since 2018, and last time we made a change have been months.

It appears that the email notifications are not working at all.

FYI, Microsoft people, these are real financial losses. Since the technical support for APIM is barely there, it's just a matter of time until someone loses lawsuit-grade amount.
Don Z 65 Reputation points

2026-06-26T06:38:11.8533333+00:00
To recap the situation so far:

APIM email notifications are NOT sent out for new product/API subscriptions. to corporate or other email addresses.

The originating email is the default Microsoft email.

This started suddenly about a week ago.

No changes have been made to APIM recently.

No product has "Require subscription approval" enabled.

The issue seems to be widespread (other users experiencing the same), and not local to our environment.

BTW, I've also raised this internally with Microsoft and still no suggestions on how to troubleshoot, workarounds or fixes.
Vadim Berman 55 Reputation points

2026-06-26T06:42:55.0833333+00:00
Thanks, and sorry for butting in.

Since Microsoft doesn't seem to be serious about solving it or maintaining APIM in general, the long-term solution is to look for an alternative.

The short-term solution we found is to:

either use the delegation option, and send a notification email manually from a callback

use an Azure event and link a callback there, then send a notification email

Both are silly, of course, but better than losing customers while Microsoft support is being replaced by interns pasting ChatGPT answers.
Rakesh Mishra 10,520 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-06-26T09:45:44.0366667+00:00

Hi @Vadim Berman , I sincerely apologize for any inconvenience. Please create a new question in Microsoft Q&A portal. And I will connect with you and get the required details over Private message to escalate this further to ensure proper resolution.
Vadim Berman 55 Reputation points

2026-06-26T12:24:37.95+00:00

@Rakesh Mishra : here you go.

Keep in mind that it's critical and letting go is not an option for me.
Rainbow ai 0 Reputation points

2026-06-26T14:19:58.36+00:00
We are experiencing the same behavior in our environment.

We have verified our APIM configuration and have not made any recent changes. The behavior is reproducible in both our development and production APIM instances, which are separate deployments.

The following email notifications are not being delivered:

Developer signup confirmation

Password reset

User invitation

User registration creates the developer account successfully, but the account remains in the Pending state because the confirmation email is never received.

We tested both the default Developer Portal URL and our custom Developer Portal URL with the same result. We also verified that the notification templates are present and configured.

Because the behavior is consistent across multiple APIM instances and notification types, we are trying to determine whether there is a known issue affecting APIM email delivery or whether there are additional diagnostics available to confirm whether APIM attempted to send these messages.

We also encountered another issue while trying to contact Microsoft Support. Our subscription includes a Developer Support plan, but the Azure portal frequently does not allow us to create a support request. When the support request wizard does appear, we are unable to complete it because the Next button on the Additional details step remains disabled, preventing submission of the request.

If anyone has experienced similar behavior or can suggest additional diagnostics or configuration checks, we would appreciate any guidance.
Vadim Berman 55 Reputation points

2026-06-26T14:24:29.6866667+00:00

It's really their bug. I am wondering if the system is now being coded by GenAI and being automatically released, in which case, all bets are off.

They opened a ticket for us, but if it doesn't work and we again get a recommendation to paste a question into CoPilot or something, the only way is to use a callback and send our own notification.
Cameron Horton 5 Reputation points

2026-07-07T11:34:43.6966667+00:00

We're seeing the same behaviour reported in this thread (Don Z, et al.) - the "Invite user" notification email is not being delivered when a developer is invited to our Developer Portal.

This matches the pattern described by other users in the linked thread (developer signup confirmation, password reset, and user invitation emails all affected across multiple separate APIM instances). Can Microsoft confirm whether this is a known platform-wide delivery issue, and if so, is there a tracked incident or ETA?
Vadim Berman 55 Reputation points

2026-07-07T12:04:43.9166667+00:00

We were invited to open an issue weeks ago, it was opened, it went to the product team, which fixed one part, but seems to be unable to figure out what happens with the rest.

I wonder if it's being vibe-coded or something.

4 answers

Your answer

Alex Burlachenko 23,975 Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator

2026-06-24T14:37:39.1733333+00:00

Don Z hi, thx for sharing urs issue here at Q&A portal,

either APIM notification config got stuck, or the mail is being dropped after APIM sends it.

The default sender ******@mail.windowsazure.com is Microsoft-managed, so u won’t get much control over delivery reputation, SPF/DKIM, etc. If this stopped suddenly w/ no APIM changes, check junk or quarantine first, esp if u use Microsoft 365 Defender or Exchange Online. These emails can get silently quarantined and look like APIM never sent them.

Quick test: change the admin notification recipient to an external mailbox like Gmail Outlook and create a test subscription. If external gets it but corporate mail doesn’t, it’s mail filtering. If nobody gets it, prob APIM side.

In APIM, check Notifications and make sure the right notification is still enabled for new subscriptions and has the right recipients. Also check the email template wasn’t disabled or left with bad placeholders https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/api-management/api-management-howto-configure-notifications

If u need reliable delivery, better move away from the default sender and configure custom email settings / SMTP if available in ur tier/setup. Default platform mail is ok for basic alerts, not great when the business process depends on it.

Since this started 4-5 days ago, I’d open an APIM support case w/ service name, region, notification type, timestamp of a test subscription, recipient email, and message id if any. Ask MS to confirm whether APIM attempted to send the notification or if there’s a known delivery issue with mail.windowsazure.com.

rgds,

Alex

&

If my answer was helpful pls mark it and additional thx if u follow me at Q&A portal
Don Z 65 Reputation points

2026-06-24T14:38:48.4866667+00:00

Hello,

Thank you for your response. I explicitly included the Originating email address so you can see it is the default Microsoft email address and it still doesn't work.
Don Z 65 Reputation points

2026-06-24T14:42:06.5666667+00:00

Thank you Alex. APIM doesn't send any email, to corporate or otherwise, and I checked all junk/firewall rules etc. All email templates are displayed without errors. What do you mean by APIM notification config got stuck? Is there a way to reset it?
Rakesh Mishra 10,520 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-06-24T14:53:32.5766667+00:00

Hi Don, could you please check Product Approval Settings. If the subscription being created is tied to an APIM Product that has "Require subscription approval" enabled, the "New subscription activated" email will not trigger immediately. According to official Microsoft documentation:

"If the product requires approval, developers receive a subscription request email... After the administrator approves the subscription, the developer receives a subscription activated email." (Reference: Configure Notifications and Email Templates - Azure API Management)
Vadim Berman 55 Reputation points

2026-06-26T03:55:26.15+00:00

Just wanted to say that I experience the same issue.

In my case, we had deliverability issues with the custom email. We tinkered with email settings, DKIM, SPF, etc. and eventually gave up, and went back to the default address.

That was working well, until a few days ago (can't pinpoint when). No change on our side. The new subscribers keep complaining, and some left after being unable to sign up properly.

We've been using APIM since 2018, and last time we made a change have been months.

It appears that the email notifications are not working at all.

FYI, Microsoft people, these are real financial losses. Since the technical support for APIM is barely there, it's just a matter of time until someone loses lawsuit-grade amount.
Don Z 65 Reputation points

2026-06-26T06:38:11.8533333+00:00

To recap the situation so far:

APIM email notifications are NOT sent out for new product/API subscriptions. to corporate or other email addresses.

The originating email is the default Microsoft email.

This started suddenly about a week ago.

No changes have been made to APIM recently.

No product has "Require subscription approval" enabled.

The issue seems to be widespread (other users experiencing the same), and not local to our environment.

BTW, I've also raised this internally with Microsoft and still no suggestions on how to troubleshoot, workarounds or fixes.
Vadim Berman 55 Reputation points

2026-06-26T06:42:55.0833333+00:00

Thanks, and sorry for butting in.

Since Microsoft doesn't seem to be serious about solving it or maintaining APIM in general, the long-term solution is to look for an alternative.

The short-term solution we found is to:

either use the delegation option, and send a notification email manually from a callback

use an Azure event and link a callback there, then send a notification email

Both are silly, of course, but better than losing customers while Microsoft support is being replaced by interns pasting ChatGPT answers.
Rakesh Mishra 10,520 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-06-26T09:45:44.0366667+00:00

Hi @Vadim Berman , I sincerely apologize for any inconvenience. Please create a new question in Microsoft Q&A portal. And I will connect with you and get the required details over Private message to escalate this further to ensure proper resolution.
Vadim Berman 55 Reputation points

2026-06-26T12:24:37.95+00:00

@Rakesh Mishra : here you go.

Keep in mind that it's critical and letting go is not an option for me.
Rainbow ai 0 Reputation points

2026-06-26T14:19:58.36+00:00

We are experiencing the same behavior in our environment.

We have verified our APIM configuration and have not made any recent changes. The behavior is reproducible in both our development and production APIM instances, which are separate deployments.

The following email notifications are not being delivered:

Developer signup confirmation

Password reset

User invitation

User registration creates the developer account successfully, but the account remains in the Pending state because the confirmation email is never received.

We tested both the default Developer Portal URL and our custom Developer Portal URL with the same result. We also verified that the notification templates are present and configured.

Because the behavior is consistent across multiple APIM instances and notification types, we are trying to determine whether there is a known issue affecting APIM email delivery or whether there are additional diagnostics available to confirm whether APIM attempted to send these messages.

We also encountered another issue while trying to contact Microsoft Support. Our subscription includes a Developer Support plan, but the Azure portal frequently does not allow us to create a support request. When the support request wizard does appear, we are unable to complete it because the Next button on the Additional details step remains disabled, preventing submission of the request.

If anyone has experienced similar behavior or can suggest additional diagnostics or configuration checks, we would appreciate any guidance.
Vadim Berman 55 Reputation points

2026-06-26T14:24:29.6866667+00:00

It's really their bug. I am wondering if the system is now being coded by GenAI and being automatically released, in which case, all bets are off.

They opened a ticket for us, but if it doesn't work and we again get a recommendation to paste a question into CoPilot or something, the only way is to use a callback and send our own notification.
Cameron Horton 5 Reputation points

2026-07-07T11:34:43.6966667+00:00

We're seeing the same behaviour reported in this thread (Don Z, et al.) - the "Invite user" notification email is not being delivered when a developer is invited to our Developer Portal.

This matches the pattern described by other users in the linked thread (developer signup confirmation, password reset, and user invitation emails all affected across multiple separate APIM instances). Can Microsoft confirm whether this is a known platform-wide delivery issue, and if so, is there a tracked incident or ETA?
Vadim Berman 55 Reputation points

2026-07-07T12:04:43.9166667+00:00

We were invited to open an issue weeks ago, it was opened, it went to the product team, which fixed one part, but seems to be unable to figure out what happens with the rest.

I wonder if it's being vibe-coded or something.

Answer 1

Rakesh Mishra 10,520 Microsoft External Staff Moderator

Hello @Don Z ,

Sorry to hear that you are experiencing issues with API Management not sending notification emails for new developer subscriptions.

With the help of backend team, the issue was resolved after they mitigated the issue.

Also, you confirmed over email that issue is resolved.

Please do let me know if you have any further questions.

Rakesh Mishra 10,520 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-07-07T12:41:55.7466667+00:00

Hi @Don Z , please accept the answer as it may help other community members.

Answer 2

kamen nikolov 0

This issue has been resolved for our company by the Microsoft Product Team.

Cameron Horton 5 Reputation points

2026-07-07T14:09:44.8966667+00:00

That's good. It's still not working for us. What did they do?
Rakesh Mishra 10,520 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-07-07T14:15:01.2+00:00

Hi @Cameron Horton , could you please post a new question in Microsoft Q&A portal. I will gather the information over Private message there and will escalate this to Product team.
Vadim Berman 55 Reputation points

2026-07-07T14:20:03.34+00:00

@Cameron Horton : Rakesh suggested I open a ticket, then he forwarded it to the team. So I guess you should follow the suggestion too.

The current net result on our end is, the activation email arrives but the welcome email still doesn't. So still not 100% but we meanwhile use a callback to send our own welcome email. Which is silly but at least works to some extent.

So yeah, not completely resolved.
Cameron Horton 5 Reputation points

2026-07-07T14:23:41.4933333+00:00

Thanks very much both. I've just done this:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/5940191/apim-invite-user-notification-email-not-delivered

Answer 3

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Answer 4

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