> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.timetracker.in/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Email notifications not arriving

> Why a TimeTracker email did not arrive – you are never notified about your own action, plus personal settings, workspace defaults, digests and spam filters.

Start with cause number one, because it explains most reports of a "missing" email
and it is not a fault at all.

## 1. You are never notified about your own action

**The person who does something is excluded from the notifications about it.**

Approve a timesheet and you do not get an email saying a timesheet was approved. The
person whose week it was does.

This is deliberate. You just did it – you already know.

| You did this                  | Who hears about it |
| ----------------------------- | ------------------ |
| Approved Sarah's timesheet    | Sarah              |
| Assigned a task to Jonas      | Jonas              |
| Commented and mentioned Priya | Priya              |
| Sent an invoice               | The client contact |

<Note>
  **How to test it properly:** ask a colleague to do the thing, and watch your own
  inbox. Doing it yourself and waiting for an email will always look broken.
</Note>

There is one deliberate exception: **your export is ready** is about you, so you do
get that one.

If nobody would be left to notify, no notification is created at all. A one-person
workspace where you do everything yourself will be quiet, and that is correct.

## 2. Your own notification settings

Notification settings live on **you**, not on the workspace. Yours can differ from
everyone else's.

<Steps>
  <Step title="Open your notification preferences">
    Go to [your notification preferences](/account/notification-preferences).
  </Step>

  <Step title="Find the category">
    Settings are per category – approvals, assignments, reminders and so on – not per
    individual event.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Check email is on for that category">
    You may have it going to your in-app inbox only.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Check the delivery mode">
    See [digests](#4-you-are-on-a-digest) below.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## 3. The workspace defaults

A workspace sets the starting point for everyone. If a category is off by default and
you never changed it, you are following the default.

Check [workspace notification defaults](/notifications/workspace-notification-defaults).
You need `workspace.updateSettings` to change them – Owner or Admin.

## 4. You are on a digest

Each category can arrive **immediately**, **daily** or **weekly**.

| Mode      | What happens                                                   |
| --------- | -------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Immediate | Each notice is emailed as it happens. **This is the default.** |
| Daily     | Batched into one email a day                                   |
| Weekly    | Batched into one email a week                                  |

Digesting is **opt-in**. If you never touched the setting, you are on immediate. But
if you did set daily or weekly and then forgot, an email you expected right away is
sitting in tomorrow's batch.

<Note>
  **Security and account notices are never batched.** A sign-in alert or an email
  change always arrives immediately, whatever the setting says.
</Note>

See [digests](/notifications/digests).

## 5. The app is switched off

Switching an app off stops its background messages. That is usually what you want,
but it is worth knowing before a month-end.

| App off        | What stops                                                      |
| -------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Reports        | Scheduled report deliveries                                     |
| Time Clock     | Missing clock-out reminders                                     |
| Timesheets     | Submission and approval notices                                 |
| Time off       | Leave request notices                                           |
| Webhooks & API | Deliveries to your endpoints (they queue, they are not dropped) |

Check [Settings → Apps](/settings/apps).

## 6. Spam, filters and the wrong address

<Steps>
  <Step title="Search your whole mailbox">
    Search for "TimeTracker" including spam and junk, not just your inbox. Rules and
    tabs move mail quietly.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Allow-list the sender">
    Add TimeTracker to your safe senders so future mail lands in the inbox.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Check the address on file">
    Open [your profile](/account/your-profile) and confirm the email is the one you
    read. An old work address is a common cause.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Ask your IT team">
    Corporate filters quarantine mail without telling the recipient. Ask them to check
    the quarantine and allow the sender at the gateway.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## 7. The person has no email address

Someone can be added to a workspace **without** an email address. They appear in
reports and you can log time for them, but they cannot sign in and they cannot be
emailed.

If a teammate never gets anything at all, check their record. See
[add a member directly](/team/add-a-member-directly) and
[member record](/team/member-record).

## 8. They were never a recipient

Some notices go to a specific person, not to everyone.

| Notice              | Who gets it                              |
| ------------------- | ---------------------------------------- |
| Timesheet submitted | The approver it was routed to            |
| Timesheet approved  | The person whose week it was             |
| Task assigned       | The assignee                             |
| Comment mention     | The person mentioned                     |
| Approval overdue    | The approver, and their escalation route |

When someone submits a timesheet they pick **one** approver. A different manager who
expected the email was never a recipient. See
[approve a timesheet](/approvals/approve-a-timesheet).

Scope applies too – a notice about a person outside your
[supervision scope](/concepts/supervision-scope) does not reach you.

## Work through it in order

<Steps>
  <Step title="Did you do the thing yourself?">
    Then there is no email. Ask a colleague to test it.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Are you a recipient at all?">
    Check who the notice is aimed at in the table above.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Is the category on for email in your settings?">
    [Your notification preferences](/account/notification-preferences).
  </Step>

  <Step title="Are you on a daily or weekly digest?">
    Switch that category to immediate.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Is the app on?">
    [Settings → Apps](/settings/apps).
  </Step>

  <Step title="Is it in spam?">
    Search your whole mailbox.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Is the address on file correct?">
    [Your profile](/account/your-profile).
  </Step>
</Steps>

Still nothing? See [contact support](/troubleshooting/contact-support) and include
the exact event, the date and time it should have fired, and who was expecting it.

## Common questions

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="Why do I never get emails about my own work?">
    Because you did it. The actor is excluded from the recipients of their own action.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="My in-app inbox shows it but no email arrived.">
    They are separate channels. The inbox entry exists and email is off for that
    category, or you are on a digest. See [inbox](/notifications/inbox).
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Can I turn all email off?">
    You can switch email off per category in your own preferences. Security and
    account notices always send.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Can an admin change my notification settings?">
    No. Settings live on the person. An admin sets the workspace defaults that new
    people start from.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Why did I get one email covering several things?">
    That category is on a daily or weekly digest. Switch it to immediate.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Reminders stopped after we changed plan.">
    Check whether the app that sends them is still on, and whether the feature is Pro.
    See [when a plan lapses](/billing/when-a-plan-lapses).
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## Related guides

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Email notifications" icon="envelope" href="/notifications/email-notifications">
    What TimeTracker emails, and when.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Your notification settings" icon="bell" href="/notifications/your-notification-settings">
    Per-category channels and modes.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Digests" icon="layer-group" href="/notifications/digests">
    Batching notices into one email.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Workspace defaults" icon="building" href="/notifications/workspace-notification-defaults">
    The starting point for everyone.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Notification types" icon="list" href="/notifications/notification-types">
    Every notice and who receives it.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Reminders" icon="clock" href="/notifications/reminders">
    Scheduled nudges and rollups.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>