Website works but email does not: split the checks

What does this mean?

Web traffic and email delivery use different services and DNS records. A working homepage proves little about MX routing or mailbox access. Start by separating receiving problems, sending problems and mail-app login problems; each can have a different cause.

What should I check first?

Send one test from an external account to an existing mailbox and one test outward from webmail. Keep the full bounce response if either fails. If webmail works but a phone app does not, inspect the app’s server names, authentication and provider requirements before touching domain DNS.

How can I diagnose the cause?

For receiving failures, compare MX with your mail provider’s instructions and verify mailbox quotas and existence. For outgoing rejections, inspect SPF, DKIM and DMARC results in a delivered message’s headers or the provider’s diagnostic log. Use the exact domain and DKIM selector that message shows.

How do I fix it safely?

If the fault began after a DNS change, copy the zone and restore missing mail records from the confirmed provider values. Do not replace every TXT record or change nameservers just because the website is reachable. If hosted mail routing is set to local while mail is external, ask the web host to confirm the correct routing mode.

Verify the fix and know when to contact your provider

Test sending and receiving again from independent accounts, without sending repeated bulk tests. Ask the email provider for a trace when published DNS and mailbox settings are correct. Include direction of failure, times, redacted message ID and bounce text; never send passwords or full customer correspondence.

Work through these checks in order

1. Make a small matrix: incoming external mail, outgoing webmail, and outgoing mail-app messages. Mark which succeeds; this prevents a mail-app login failure from being treated as an MX problem.
2. For receiving failures, compare published MX and mailbox quota. For outgoing rejection, retain the full SMTP reply and inspect the exact SPF and DKIM domains in receiver results.
3. After a targeted repair, repeat the same tests and include website-form mail if it uses another sender. Keep private message content and credentials out of any shared trace.

Which tool can help?

MX record checker · SPF DNS record checker · DMARC DNS record checker · DKIM public record checker

DNS tools show one resolver’s public answers. Record explainers do not authenticate a message, and calculators do not monitor a server. Use the evidence alongside your provider’s logs.