title: Troubleshooting Email Notifications created_at: 2014.03.04 updated_at: 2019.12.18 category: Top Articles platforms: Windows, Mac --- :toc: macro :toc-title: toc::[]
Retrospect for Mac and Retrospect for Windows support the majority of email services. SMTP with no authentication or encryption requirements should work without issue. It communicates over port 25. For those that require authentication and/or encryption, Retrospect compatibility depends on the service. They vary in terms of their protocol implementation for TLS and SSL, so you will need to include a platform-specific port after the SMTP server name, separated by a colon: "smtp.example.com:port".
We have tested Retrospect on both platforms for the following services:
smtp.gmail.com:465 or smtp.gmail.com:587
smtp.mail.yahoo.com:465 or smtp.mail.yahoo.com:587
smtp.aol.com:465 or smtp.aol.com:587
smtp.mail.com:465 or smtp.mail.com:587
smtp.mail.me.com:587 with app-specific password for your Apple ID
smtp.mail.me.com:587 with app-specific password for your Apple ID
smtp.zoho.com:465 or smtp.zoho.com:587
Please contact Support to troubleshoot if you are having difficult configuring your email provider.
New to Retrospect 10 for Windows and Retrospect 12 for Mac, there is a checkbox to enable SSL for an email account: "My outgoing server supports Secure Socket Layer (SSL)." For new and existing accounts, the checkbox is on by default. The majority of email services require SSL for communication, but if you encounter email issues, uncheck the box to switch to non-SSL SMTP communication.
Retrospect 12 for Mac
Retrospect 10 for Windows
Below are screenshots for both products to illustrate how to add the port:
Retrospect 11 for Mac
Retrospect 9 for Windows
A number of major email services have started requiring additional authentication for third-party applications by default for authenticating with their service. These come in two forms:
Like most third-party applications, Retrospect’s email authentication uses the standard IMAP protocol, secured with SSL encryption. For services that require this additional authentication process, you have two options:
If you encounter the error "Insufficient permissions (-1017)" when testing email notifications, this authentication step is the issue. You’ll see that error if you have not adjusted the security on your Google Account or you have not used the application-specific password with two-factor authentication.
Retrospect’s error messages do not always contain enough detail to troubleshoot the failure reported when sending an email. To troubleshoot an email issue:
Mac — Command-Option-Comma
Windows — CTRL-ALT-P-P
Step 2 - Send a test email from Preferences. The resulting log entries should shed light on the issue. The log is available in the application at Reports > Operations Log on Windows and at View > Log on Mac. You can use a Google search or consult your mail server documentation for help troubleshooting the reported error. Contact our support team for more assistance.
It might seem like Retrospect sends too many error notifications for a single issue. Let’s say a backup fails in a ProactiveAI script. You will receive three emails:
If you use a scheduled script instead, you will receive the same three emails, but the final one only comes at the end of the backup script’s execution.
If you would prefer to only receive a subset of these, please add a filter or rule to your email service to automatically archive or delete based on the subject.
Alternatively, you can disable "Send e-mail for failure and media requests" in "Email" preferences.
Last Update: 18 December, 2019
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