Fix Incoming Emails Not Working Issue in SharePoint Migration

Problem:
After a Database attach method of SharePoint migration from SharePoint 2007 to SharePoint 2010, all incoming E-mail enabled libraries stopped working! They no longer receive E-mails!!  Here is the root cause and fix for SharePoint incoming email stopped working issue.

Root Cause:
This is because SharePoint stores incoming E-mail configurations on its Farm Configuration Database (usually SharePoint_Config) and during the database attachment method of migration, We didn’t (and we can’t) migrate the configuration database. So, incoming email settings on SharePoint 2010 not working.

Solution:
One quick solution is simply Flip the value of  “Allow this list to receive e-mail?”

  1. Just go to List Settings
  2. Under Communication, click on the “Incoming e-mail settings” link
  3. Select “Allow this list to receive e-mail?” to “No” and click on “Save”
  4. Now, go back to the Incoming e-mail settings again and choose “Allow this list to receive e-mail?” to “Yes” and then save your changes.
    sharepoint document library incoming email not working

We can also automate the above activities with PowerShell.

Wait, There is an elegant solution yet:
However, there is another efficient way by Calling RefreshEmailEnabledObjects() method of SPSite object to refresh all Incoming Email settings! (or use: stsadm -o refreshdms command). Here is the PowerShell script:

Add-PSSnapin Microsoft.SharePoint.PowerShell -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
 
#Get All Site Collections of the given web application
$SiteCollections = Get-SPWebApplication "https://sharepoint.crescent.com" | Get-SPSite -Limit All 
 
#Iterate through Each site collection
ForEach ($site in $SiteCollections)
{
    #Refresh Incoming Email settings
    $site.RefreshEmailEnabledObjects()

    #Write Ouput message
    Write-Host "Processed: $($site.rootweb.url)"

    #Dispose the Site object
    $site.Dispose() 
}
Make sure you enabled incoming email settings in SharePoint central admin, before running this script

Salaudeen Rajack

Salaudeen Rajack - Information Technology Expert with Two-decades of hands-on experience, specializing in SharePoint, PowerShell, Microsoft 365, and related products. He has held various positions including SharePoint Architect, Administrator, Developer and consultant, has helped many organizations to implement and optimize SharePoint solutions. Known for his deep technical expertise, He's passionate about sharing the knowledge and insights to help others, through the real-world articles!

6 thoughts on “Fix Incoming Emails Not Working Issue in SharePoint Migration

  • This does fix the issue. Thank you!

    Reply
  • This script helped me when we moved content DB from Prod to DR during Disaster recovery exercise.

    Reply
  • My problem is when incoming email service running on app servers not working but running on front-end servers it is working. By the way SMTP installed on all servers. Where is the problem?

    Reply
    • This is the issue… here too. I believe the problem lies somewhere in the fact that the domain is not associated with the application servers. So when the mail is sent it goes to the WFEs which aren’t prepared for Incoming Email unless they are setup with custom roles, and not front-end or front-end w/ distributed cache.

      Reply
  • Very Helpful, 15,000 webs, 790 Site Collections all refreshed within an hour after upgrading from 2010 to 2013.

    Reply
  • Been searching for a solution to this problem for 2 days now…. thanks!

    Reply

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