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New Voice
May 14, 2025
Question

No warning when recipeint email is invalid or bounces

  • May 14, 2025
  • 14 replies
  • 414 views

Hello - I remember years ago I would get a warning from DocuSign if an envelope was sent to a recipient and their email address was invalid or bounced for one reason or another.  I am no longer getting those warning notifications/email warnings and I can’t find the setting to see if it’s something that got inadvertently turned off or not. 

I need to know if I send an envelope that one of the receipents is not getting the document so I can fix the email address, but I can’t seem to figure out why I am no longer getting the warnings and how to fix it so that I do. Can someone please point me in the direction to fix this? 

Thank you for your assistance!

14 replies

Established Contributor
May 14, 2025

In your Agreements tab, under the Sent folder, what does it show as the status for the envelope?

New Voice
May 15, 2025

Thanks for the reply. I already corrected the envelope so it’s fine now.  The only reason I knew the address bounced was because I sent a separate email to the recipient asking them to go in to sign and Outlook sent the warning that the address was no longer working (the person had recently left the company).  Doesn’t DocuSign have some sort of notification that will tell you when an email did not go through after an evelope is sent?  It just seems to act like everything is fine and there are no issues. It would be good to know right away if something didn’t get through after an envelope is sent. I thought for sure I used to get an email notification from DocuSign but maybe I am dreaming? :)

Established Contributor
May 15, 2025

DocuSign delivered the email to the domain as you requested.  From there, the domain has its own settings to handle the email.  Some will check the recipient and deny the email if the recipient is invalid.  Most take the email and send it to a designated catch-all.

 

Its like you hired FedEx to send a package to <fakePerson> at <realAddress>.  FedEx only cares about the address, not the person.

Respected Advisor
May 15, 2025

@voconnor28 

There is notification in some cases. I received one the other day - a few minutes after I sent an envelope I received an email from DocuSign saying it could not be delivered  (other times I have received a notice saying the address sent an ‘auto response’). The message also appeared on the DocuSign home page with a red line indicating there was an issue.

But, you are correct in saying it does not always happen. There are many instances where we became aware of a problem only after an envelope sat, unsigned, for several days and we tried to contact the signer by email/phone.

mr1

 

MR1
Established Contributor
May 15, 2025

MR1, if you look at the History on those envelopes, does it show DocuSign successfully sending the email?  

What are the email providers involved?  Major ones or smaller?

Respected Advisor
May 15, 2025

@Drewcifer 

Sorry, I can’t remember which messages we had issues with. It is possible they were ‘sent’ even if they were incorrect/no longer used addresses. It’s likely they were major providers (gmail - comcast) . BUT - it would be nice to know that an envelope didn’t reach the recipient because the address is no longer in use.

I see your point. From DocuSign’s perspective, the envelope is gone and no longer DocuSign’s problem. But, as a user of DocuSign it IS a problem when the envelope doesn’t reach the recipient. From your example, if I had mailed a package to <fakePerson> at <realAddress> I’d still want to know if the package arrived…

mr1

MR1
Established Contributor
May 15, 2025

More accurately, they’ve delivered the package to the front desk and the doorman accepted it without seeing if the addressee is any of tenants.  Some buildings just throw those packages away, some refuse to take them from FedEx unless there’s a matching name, and some take all things that don’t name an actual tenant and put them in a box for management to look at. So unless they refuse it outright, FedEx marks it delivered.

 

I think a good feature request for DocuSign would be “Notify me if the recipient doesn’t open the envelope within X hours.”                                                                                                    

Respected Advisor
May 15, 2025

 

I think a good feature request for DocuSign would be “Notify me if the recipient doesn’t open the envelope within X hours.”                                                                                                    

I can look at my “waiting for others” list for this - but I have no way of knowing if the recipient is just ignoring the signature request or if the request went to a defunct address. I only want to be notified for addresses that are unused/invalid/defunct. 

I’ve have weeks where I’m sending 300 envelopes. If I had received a notice for every message not looked at in the first 24 hours…? That seems more time-consuming than helpful. :-)

mr1

 

MR1
Community Moderator
May 29, 2025

Hi ​@voconnor28   — thanks for raising this.


I hope you are doing well. 
I want to confirm if you were able to solve your issue by utilizing the suggested solution or if the information provided was useful.
Let me know, and I will gladly help you address the situation as soon as possible.

 

Ma. Cassandra | Docusign Community Moderator
Mark as “Best Answer” if this helped clarify things.

New Voice
May 30, 2025

@Ma.Cubio - Thank you for checking in.  There was no real solution to the problem.  DocuSign doesn’t seem to alert you once you send an envelope if one of the recipients email address did not go through or get bounced back. I don’t know that my envelope didn’t get through to that recipient until I email the recipient directly and get the email warning through Outlook that it was unable to send.  I don’t know if that is a setting under Admin settings that needs turned on, or if it’s an issue in the background with DocuSign?  Any help would be appreciated.  Thank you!