Quickbooks is unable to send emails due to network connection failure

Good morning, @gary5077. 

Thanks for coming to the Community with your question about sending emails through your QuickBooks Desktop account. 

QuickBooks requires recipients to be separated by a comma and a space, rather then a semicolon. This may be way you were able to send the email until after deleting the semicolon plus the other name. 

I recommend trying this method to see if it works for you. 

I hope this helps. Feel free to come back if you have any other questions or concerns. Have a splendid day! 

I did try that and still had the same problem. 

Hi there, ga

I appreciate all your efforts in trying to fix the issue and sharing with us the result. Let me guide you in the right direction to get back on track.

Since you're still having an error after trying those troubleshooting steps, I suggest reaching out to our Customer Support team. They have tools such as screen-sharing (remote access) that can check your account why you're unable to send emails in QuickBooks Desktop.

Here's how to reach them:

1. Open QuickBooks.
2. Go to Help, then select QuickBooks Desktop Help.
3. Select Contact Us.
4. Give a brief description of your issue, then select Let's talk, and then choose a way to connect. Phone support may be limited due to volume.

You can check out these recommended articles for more details:

• Set up an email service.
• Error: Could not connect to the email server.
• Update to the latest release of QuickBooks Desktop.

That's it. Let me know how it goes or if you have any additional questions in sending emails. I'll be happy to help you out.

Finally, I just discovered the solution too....I deleted the second email in the To line that was separated by a semicolon....it used to work that way in old versions I think. Anyway, I just added the persons email to the CC section and it sent. Nice to know that you can put more than one person in the "To" field separated by a comma and a space.  Problem solved. However, it should not send up a "network connection error".....

Great to hear it's working, @glaciator.

I'm here to ensure that you won't encounter the "network connection error". Some of the possible reasons for connection error are the following:

• Windows firewall and other internet settings are blocking the QuickBooks file to access the required ports.
• The Network Descriptor (ND) file is missing or corrupted.
• The hosting computer is in standby or hibernation mode. This may interrupt your connection due to which you cannot access the company files.
• Your server connection is interrupted.
• QuickBooks installation files are corrupted.
• Multiple QuickBooks database service windows are in use.
• Your QuickBooks company files are damage

To get that resolved, you can download and run our QuickBooks Desktop (QBDT) Tool Hub. This tool help fix problems and errors in QBDT. Let me guide you how:

1. Close QuickBooks.
2. Download the QuickBooks Tool Hub. Then, save it on your Desktop.
3. Open the file you downloaded (QuickBooksToolHub.exe). Follow the on-screen steps to install and agree to the terms and conditions.
4. When the install finishes, double-click the icon on your Windows desktop to open the tool hub.
5. From the launchpad, click Network Issues.

This process will take 2-3 minutes to complete. Once done, restart your computer and try sending an email in QBDT again. 

For details about the tool, check out this article: Fix common problems and errors with the QuickBooks Desktop Tool Hub.

Additionally, here's our help content with topics and articles about QBDT. Just choose a title that'll fit your concern.

Don't hesitate to reply to me anytime if you have follow-up questions or concerns with emailing transactions. I'll be happy to answer them for you. Take care and be safe.

Thank You 

There are some reasons why this error occurs. Let me provide some of these and help you further.

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1. Right-click the QuickBooks icon, then select Properties.
   Select the Compatibility tab.
   Deselect Run this program as Administrator. But if this option is grayed out, click on Show Settings for All Users.
   Select Okay.
   Exit, then restart QuickBooks.
   Second, you need to ensure that your email preference is set correctly in QuickBooks. Kindly follow these steps:

   Click on Edit from the menu tab.
   Choose Preferences.
   Click on Send Forms from the left panel.
   Select on the My Preferences tab.
   Toggle the options in the Send e-mail using box, then select QuickBooks E-mail.
   Click on OK.
   Close QuickBooks and all other programs.
   Restart Windows.
   Restart QuickBooks.

You may also read this article for more information: Error: QuickBooks is Unable to Send Your Email to Outlook.

Always know that you can get back to us if you have any other concerns.

I just ran into this issue after 2 days of emailing invoices normally. If there were more than one email address, it was getting rejected.  I assumed maybe the person was no longer working for the company... until I ran into the issue again. 

I just recently switched from using our comcast.net email address to using Outlook, I'm still learning about Outlook so Google helped a bit, so did this post. I wasn't using semicolons but commas with spaces in between. Removing the space helped & I am at the moment able to send batch invoices with no issue. Hoping it stays this way! LOL

I don't have a solution yet but I encounter this every month when I send bills.  It sends 9 or 10 emails and then it pops up with the message - Quickbooks is unable to send emails due to network connection failure.   It probably will let you send more the next day but I send all my bills the same day so I click on save the attachment after clicking to send it - then manually mail it.   What a colossal PITA.

With one customer, I get the email cannot be sent because of network connection failure. For different customers, the QB sends the invoices via webmail just fine. Why the difference?

I'll help ensure you'll be able to email your other customer, @samuelpmagill.

We can check your email settings to ensure that all your customers can receive an email from you. 

To start, make sure to update your QuickBooks so you'll have the latest features and fixes.

1. Proceed to the Update to the Latest Release page.
2. Make sure your product is selected. If not, go to the Change link and select your QuickBooks product.
3. Click the Update button to download the update file.
4. Choose Setup Automatic Updates to learn how to set QuickBooks to automatically download and install the latest updates.

Then Check the settings in the web mail preferences:

1. From the QuickBooks Edit menu, choose Preferences.
2. On the left pane, click Send Forms.
3. Under My Preferences, select the email account you are using, then click Edit.
4. In the Edit Email Info screen go to the SMTP Server Details section and set the server name and port to your email provider settings. Refer to Set up your email service in QuickBooks Desktop for a list of SMTP Server and Ports.

You can also review this link for more information: Fix Error: Could not connect to the email server.

If issue persist, I'd recommend you contact QuickBooks Desktop support. This way, they can further check the root cause of your concern and find a fix. 

You can always reach out to me if you need anything else about sending your emails to customer. I'm here for you. Have a good one.

Hi - Thanks for trying. Nothing you sent addressed the issue. For one customer, my webmail set up for QB works fine - in fact for multiple customers. But, for another one, suddenly it does not and I get the network connection failure error.

I spend a lot of time with Desktop support. In the end, they said I had to subscribe to support and pay about $550. Or, they said, I could participate in this community. Another wild goose chase!

Other ideas?

Sam

This is not the impression we want you to experience when sending an email to your customer, samuelpmagill.

I appreciate you following the instructions in this thread and getting in touch with our one of our support representatives. Aside from checking the settings in the webmail preferences, we can send a test email from QuickBooks. If you still see an error, toggle your preferences. Here's how: 

1. Go to the Edit menu and then select Preferences.
2. Tap Send Forms from the menu. Then go to the My Preferences tab.
3. Select QuickBooks E-mail or Webmail, and then OK. This toggles your preference off.
4. Repeat the steps. Go back to the My Preferences tab and choose Outlook. Then OK.
5. Close QuickBooks and all other open programs.
6. Restart your computer.

Open QuickBooks and send a test email or transaction. Additionally, QuickBooks runs online services in the background using Internet Explorer. There might be a need to reset your email preferences. I'll demonstrate how:

1. Close QuickBooks. Then, open Internet Explorer.
2. Tap Tools then the Settings menu and then Internet options.
3. Choose the Programs tab. Then hit Set Programs.
4. Click Set your default programs. Then select the email service you want to use.
5. Hit Apply and then OK.
6. Close Internet Explorer.

If you still see an error, you may want to reach out to Microsoft directly or an IT professional for help fixing Microsoft Outlook. Here's an article you can refer to for more details about fixing errors when unable to connect to the email server.

Feel free to read these resources to review your email service and if you see error messages about Outlook in QuickBooks Desktop: 

• Connect your email to QuickBooks Desktop
• How to fix "Error: QuickBooks is unable to send your email to Outlook"

Don't hesitate to reply to me anytime if you have follow-up questions or concerns with emailing transactions. I'll be happy to answer them for you. Take care and be safe.

Thanks. Just one question - you do realize that my email setuup works fine for some clients, but not another one. So far, only one. So, is that related to my email preferences, etc or something possibly about the client?

Sam

By the way, I am using webmail, not Outlook.

It was the syntax change that fixed it for us across the board. We had over 1000 customers in our CRM in QB that we needed to update the main email for, our billers like to have multiple emails as the options for who gets the invoice, then depending on the specific invoice they select the appropriate email address from the 'To' drop down menu within the 'Send Forms' box. However, we would get the network connection error which is incredibly unhelpful as someone trying to solve the problem I immediatly think oh there is an issue with the connection to the email server... WRONG, it's due the way we enter multiple emails in our CRM, we had to replace every semicolon and space that was separating email addresses in the 'Main Email' field with a single comma and no space. That fixed it for us but it was a pain to figure out and no notice from QB about the syntax change is not cool.

Now I realize this may not help you in your specific case since your invoice emails seem to be working for every customer except one, this indicates an issue with that single customer's address and not your own email settings/connection.

If I were you I would try these things:

1. Is the email address your sending to even valid? Test this by sending them an email outside of QB from your regular mail client. Try to use the email account that QB uses for sending your invoices.

2. Check spelling and syntax. I would check in your QB CRM that the customer 'Main Email' addresses are separated by a single comma and no spaces.

I hope this helps...

It was the syntax change that fixed it for us across the board. We had over 1000 customers in our CRM in QB that we needed to update the main email for, our billers like to have multiple emails as the options for who gets the invoice, then depending on the specific invoice they select the appropriate email address from the 'To' drop down menu within the 'Send Forms' box. However, we would get the network connection error which is incredibly unhelpful as someone trying to solve the problem I immediatly think oh there is an issue with the connection to the email server... WRONG, it's due the way we enter multiple emails in our CRM, we had to replace every semicolon and space that was separating email addresses in the 'Main Email' field with a single comma and no space. That fixed it for us but it was a pain to figure out and no notice from QB about the syntax change is not cool.

Now I realize this may not help you in your specific case since your invoice emails seem to be working for every customer except one, this indicates an issue with that single customer's address and not your own email settings/connection.

If I were you I would try these things:

1. Is the email address your sending to even valid? Test this by sending them an email outside of QB from your regular mail client. Try to use the email account that QB uses for sending your invoices.

2. Check spelling and syntax. I would check in your QB CRM that the customer 'Main Email' addresses are separated by a single comma and no spaces.

I hope this helps...

Mine started doing this after QB forgot my email info. I had previously had mine setup manually, but used the auto setup with google this time ( which was laborious) After setting it up it would only send 3-7 emails and then give the network connection failure message. 

After fiddling around a bit, I decided to just set it up again manually, saying "others" on pulldown menu when it asks what email provider. The outgoing SMTP server for Gmail is smtp.gmail.com then I clicked the box at bottom SSL/TLS and entered 465.  It works fine again. If you have a different provider you can look up the SMTP server info for them individually. 

If you need more info on how I did this, feel free to ask. Hope that helps someone with the same problem!

Our client is using QB 2023 Accountant Desktop.  Webmail has been successfully configured to use Gmail with enhanced security.  Both the Intuit and Gmail security logins have been entered successfully.  She is intermittently receiving the "unable to send emails due to network connection failure" error.  Sometimes the form gets sent with a second attempt, sometimes it does not send at all, regardless of the attempts.  The intermittent nature of this error suggests it's something on the Intuit side.  Please advise.

We have just started having the same issue about 2 days ago.  It will send a few emails and then we get the error.  Try again later it might work. It might not. We are connected to gmail using the advanced security option.

Please advise a fix.

Other than a different version of QuickBooks we are experiencing the exact same thing as @fouber1 above.

We started getting the error a few days ago.

We are also getting the same error.  Started yesterday for me.  It was sometimes sending after several attempts yesterday, but today will not send at all.  Please advise on a fix.  Thank you!

Started having the same issue yesterday, was intermittent, but today will not send email at all. Please advise a fix.  

Same issue here. No rhyme or reason why it will & wont send emails. One day it's fine, the next it gets the network error. All emails are to 1 recipient. Worked this morning & then didn't in the afternoon. Awful