Troubleshooting

Connecting a database

“Couldn’t find” the host. The host in the connection string is wrong, or you’re offline. Copy the connection string again from your database’s dashboard.

“Couldn’t reach” the host. Your database doesn’t accept connections from your computer. Many hosts limit connections by IP address: add yours in the host’s network or firewall settings. On MongoDB Atlas, that’s Network Access.

Couldn’t load your tables. The password in the connection string is wrong, or is still a placeholder such as [YOUR-PASSWORD]. Fix it, or write the view’s select by hand in the SQL box.

“This login can change data. Use a read-only one.” On Neon and PlanetScale you bring your own login, and Rowsend refuses one that can write. Create a read-only one as described on Neon or PlanetScale. On MongoDB the message says “This user can change data”; give the user only the read role. See MongoDB.

The new login is rejected on Supabase. Supabase’s pooler takes a few seconds to see a new login, and Rowsend retries a few times. If it still fails, run the latest setup SQL again: changing what Rowsend reads changes the SQL.

“That file isn’t JSON.” On Firebase, choose the key file Google downloaded when you added a JSON key to the service account. See Firebase.

A contact is missing. Check that the row has an email, and that the view or mapping returns it. On SQL databases and MongoDB, Rowsend finds changes by the last-changed column, so an edit that doesn’t update it waits until something else does. Sync now on the Contacts page syncs straight away; Project settings → Database shows recent syncs and their errors.

Setting up sending

Verify fails on Amazon SES. Your from address, or its domain, isn’t a verified identity in the region you chose. Add it in the SES console, in the same region. See Amazon SES.

Verify fails on Postmark. The message stream doesn’t exist, or isn’t a Broadcasts stream. Postmark only allows marketing email on Broadcasts streams. See Postmark.

“Mailgun has no domain … in this region.” Switch Region between US and EU, or check the domain’s spelling. A domain that isn’t verified in Mailgun yet fails too.

Verify fails on SMTP. The host, port, username or password is wrong, or Use TLS doesn’t match the port. Port 465 needs TLS on; 587 and 25 usually need it off.

Set up bounce tracking fails on SES. The access key can’t create the SES configuration set, SNS topic or SQS queue. Give it the permissions on Amazon SES.

Sending

“Your trial has ended.” Sending to your contacts needs a license. See Licenses and billing. Test sends still work.

“This campaign has no recipients.” The audience matches nobody, or everyone it matches has unsubscribed, bounced or complained. Check the segments under To.

The send needs a mailing address. Add one in Project settings → Brand. See Mailing address and footer tags.

A scheduled campaign went back to being a draft. Rowsend wasn’t running at the scheduled time, and the campaign was more than an hour late, or sending failed. The campaign shows why. Fix it and schedule it again.

A send stopped partway. Rowsend was quit or the computer went to sleep. The rest goes out when Rowsend is running again. See Rowsend has to be running to send.

Emails land in spam. Authenticate your domain with SPF, DKIM and DMARC, and send from your own domain. See From address and domain.

Bounces aren’t showing up. On SMTP, bounces need a bounce domain and the companion on your own server. Amazon SES needs Set up bounce tracking once. See Bounces and complaints.

Still stuck

Write to hello@rowsend.com, and check the status page if you use Rowsend Cloud.