Round-Robin Mailer Technical Support

If the project is configured to run as a Service (see the first setting on the Settings tab), then the computer only needs to be powered on.  Otherwise, Round-Robin Mailer must be running (on the desktop) in order to do its job.  If you don't want to leave your computer running all the time, there are two options:

1.  Install Round-Robin Mailer on a company server that is always running.  Administer it with Remote Desktop.
2.  Configure Round-Robin Mailer to automatically start when your computer boots up by using the "Auto-Start" tool on the Tools menu.  Of course, someone will have to turn your computer on if you take a day off.  You could even schedule an always-on server to send a "Wake-on-LAN" packet to your computer using WOL.EXE.

If you don't want the user interface to be visible, check the "Service" box on the Settings tab.  Then simply close the project.  Email distribution will occur in a background service, even if the computer is rebooted.  If you later reopen the project, the service will automatically stop so that you can make changes.  The service resumes when the project is closed.

To save space on your taskbar, we recommend checking the "Minimize To Tray" option on the Window menu.  That way, when you minimize the window, it will appear as an icon next to the clock.




No, because it forwards emails to their email account which they will receive in their email client as normal.




No, for convenience it can be installed on the computer of the person who administers it.  However, it will only forward emails when the computer is on and Round-Robin Mailer is running.  If this is an issue, then it should be installed on a server, and administered with Remote Desktop.




Round-Robin Mailer does not have a built-in remote administration interface, nor a web interface.  To accomplish this, you should install it on a server, then use the operating system's Remote Desktop feature to gain access to the server.




It is possible to run more than one round-robin operation at the same time.  First, create a separate project for each operation.  Make sure the projects do not specify the same log file.  Then, launch a separate instance of Round-Robin Mailer for each project.  Each instance should run one project, as normal.  As long as the projects use different incoming mail accounts, and different log files, they will not interfere with each other.

Notes:

• To avoid clutter on the taskbar, check "Minimize to tray" on the Window menu.  Then minimize each instance.
• The projects can safely refer to the same outgoing mail server.

Yes.  Once you are done testing the project, open it, go to the Settings branch, and check the "Service" box.  Save and close the project.  It will immediately begin running in the background.  You should then send a test email to verify that it gets forwarded.

To stop the service, simply open its project.  You can then view the log, make changes if desired, and close the project to resume the service.  Or, you can check the "Once" or "Continuous" box to prevent the service from resuming.




The same emails are being sent over and over because the "Delete Emails" box is not checked.  This option is located on the Settings tab.  Emails must be deleted to prevent them from being forwarded again, and to prevent the mail account from filling up.  If you want to maintain a backup of the incoming emails, use the "Archive Outgoing Emails" features on the Settings tab.  Or use the BCC: field on the Settings tab to send a copy to another mail account.




When the "Error: no staff qualify to receive an email." message appears in the log, this means that all staff members are unavailable to receive an email.  There are several settings that make a staff member unavailable:

1. The box in the "Unavailable" column is checked.
2. The schedule in the "Schedule" column does not contain the current day and time for any staff member.
3. Group membership.  Each staff member is assigned one or more groups in the "Groups" column of the Staff Table.  Incoming emails are assigned to the Default Group (located on the Rules tab), but custom Rules can override this.  If the group assigned to the email has no available staff members, then the email cannot be forwarded.
4. There are no more credits in the Quota column.  This is only relevant if the "Quota System Enabled" box is checked (on the Staff tab).

Additional information may be found in the operation log.  Press F6 to view it.




Microsoft Office 365 can be very difficult to forward emails through.  It is infamous for throwing away incoming email without notice, and without utilizing your junk mail folder.  When sending email, it is known for bizarre restrictions and error messages.  But worst of all, it performs spam filtering on outgoing email, not just incoming email.

The following procedure will configure Round-Robin Mailer to use Office 365/Outlook:

1.  The POP3 settings for the Incoming Servers Table are:

Server:  outlook.office365.com
Port:  995

or for IMAP4:

Server:  outlook.office365.com
Port:  993

Note: for POP3, you must go to outlook.live.com and go to Settings > Mail > Sync email > Let devices and apps use POP = Yes.  Also, check "Let apps and devices delete messages from Outlook".

2.  The SMTP settings for the Outgoing Server are:

Server:  smtp.office365.com
Port:  587

3.  The "Incoming Authentication" and "SMTP Authentication" settings should be set to "OAuth-Microsoft".  OAuth does not use a password.  Instead a web page will open in your browser that prompts you to permit Round-Robin Mailer access to your email account.

4.  Set Incoming Encryption to "Required".  Set Outgoing Encryption to "Required".

5.  Set the "Send Bounces To" field to the same email address in the "Outgoing User Name" field.

6.  Office 365 seems to scan the email, read the From: header, and apply restrictions to it.  We don't know of a way to disable this behavior.  Instead, you should overwrite the From: header with the same email address in the Send Bounces To and Outgoing User Name fields, which should be the same.  Create a new Modification as follows:
Where=From Header
How=Overwrite
What=(the Send Bounces To address)

7.  Now the problem with overwriting the From: header is that your staff member can't reply to the email.  To fix this, check the "Append From: to Reply-To:" box at the bottom of the Modifications tab.


If it is not working, consider implementing Option 2 or Option 3 as described in this article.




Gmail is very difficult for a variety or reasons, and we recommend against using it.  But if you must use it, the following information may help.  Receiving email from Gmail requires the following settings:

Server Name: pop.gmail.com
Protocol: POP3
Port: 995
Authentication: OAuth-Gmail
User: your email address at Gmail
Password: not needed for OAuth
Incoming encryption: Required


Sending email through Gmail requires the following settings:

SMTP Server Name: smtp.gmail.com
Port: 465
SMTP Authentication: OAuth-Gmail
User: your email address at Gmail
Password: not needed for OAuth
Outgoing encryption: Required


Notes:

• POP3/IMAP4 access must be enabled in the Gmail settings.  Go to Gmail settings > See all settings > Forwarding and POP/IMAP.  Check "Enable POP for all mail" and/or "Enable IMAP".
• Gmail will overwrite the From: header, preventing your staff members from replying to the email.  To fix this, check the "Append From: to Reply-To:" box at the bottom of the Modifications tab.
• Gmail will sometimes report that there are fewer emails present in the Inbox that there actually are.  Using POP3 instead of IMAP4 may help with this.
• Gmail does not always delete the emails that Round-Robin Mailer tells it to delete.  If this is a problem, go to Gmail settings > See all settings > Forwarding and POP/IMAP.  If using POP3, set "When messages are accessed with POP" to "Delete Gmail's copy".  If using IMAP4, set "When I mark a message in IMAP as deleted" to "Auto-expunge off" and set "When a message is marked as deleted and expunged from the last visible IMAP folder" to "Immediately delete the message forever".  Click the "Save Changes" button.
• A free Gmail account will only relay 100 emails per day.
• When using POP3, you may need to add the "recent:" prefix to the user name.  This is described at the bottom of this page.

To produce a new log for each operation, the "Log Filepath" field supports two wildcard characters: the asterisk (*) and the question-mark (?).  The asterisk is replaced by a sequential number.  The question-mark is replaced by the current date and time.  Use whichever you prefer.

Example:

c:\RRM Logs\log ?.txt

The following settings can affect how emails are distributed:

• The "Unavailable" column in the Staff table.
• The "Schedule" column in the Staff table.
• The "Percentage" column in the Staff table.
• Group membership.
• Permanent relationships.
• The Rules tab.
• Quota.

If none of these settings are a factor, the distribution will always be completely even.  If Round-Robin Mailer is stopped and restarted, it will even remember its place in the order provided that the project is saved.  This is why the "Save Project After Operation" box is checked by default.  You may also want to check the "Always Save Project" box on the Options menu, just to be safe.

Another possibility is that a staff member's spam filter is blocking the forwards.  It is important to enable the "Archive Outgoing Emails" feature so that you can go back and look at the forwards and who they went to.  Likewise, it is a good idea to keep a history of log files.  The "Log Filepath" field supports two wildcard characters:  the asterisk (*) and the question-mark (?).  The asterisk is replaced by a sequential number.  The question-mark is replaced by the current date and time.

If you check these settings (especially the "Schedule" column) and still feel that the distribution is unequal, please enable logging by checking the "Generate Operation Log" box on the Settings tab.  Then let Round-Robin Mailer run long enough to process at least 20 emails.  Then email us a copy of the log and the .RRM project file.  From this we can identify any problems.

• Verify that "Archive Incoming Emails" is checked (located on the Settings tab).
• The "Delete Emails" option on the Settings tab must be checked.  An email is only archived if it is about to be deleted.
• Look in the log (press F6) for the text "Failed to archive email".  Next to this will be a system-generated error message.

Some mail servers will overwrite the From: header, preventing your staff members from replying to the email.  To fix this, check the "Append From: to Reply-To:" box at the bottom of the Modifications tab.




Winsock error 10053 usually indicates that a third party program is interfering with Round-Robin Mailer.  The program could be a firewall, anti-virus, or Internet security application.  It could also be a hardware device like a Dell SonicWALL.  Try disabling all such software, and try again.  It may also be possible to whitelist Round-Robin Mailer, or disable the software's email scanning feature.




When a connection is first made with a mail server, the mail server sends a one-line greeting message.  The first thing in the greeting is a status code.  If the status code is 400 or greater, then the server is indicating that it is not available to relay email.  Round-Robin Mailer reports this as error code 3009.

If you are using Direct Delivery, the most likely cause is that the computer's IP address is on the Spamhaus Policy Block List (PBL).  The PBL is a list of all IP addresses that are assigned a dynamic IP address, or are behind a residential gateway.  It may be possible to request removal from the PBL - ask your Internet Service Provider.  Use the "Direct Delivery Possible?" tool to determine if this is the problem.  The only other solution is to switch to Indirect Delivery (on the Mail Server tab).

If you are using Indirect Delivery, you should verify that the SMTP server name and port number are correct.  Although unlikely, it is possible that the server is too busy to accept more email.  If the problem persists, it will be necessary to contact the mail server's administrator.




Error 4640 indicates that the mail server produced an error code after the email was transmitted.  The possible causes are:

• The "Send Bounces To" field should be an email address that is local to the server.
• The "Send Bounces To" address may need to match the SMTP User Name (especially with Office 365).
• The connection was broken.
• Too many emails have been sent in too short a time.  For example, Gmail has a limit of 100 emails per day.
• Yahoo's free email accounts have restrictions such that they are unusable with Round-Robin Mailer.
• The email is too large.
• The server does not like the content of the email.
• Rarely: the destination email address may be invalid.

Look in the Log.  Near the 4640 error, you may find a message that originates from the server.  This could explain exactly what it doesn't like.  Failing that, only the mail server's administrator will be able to identify and fix this problem.