PREVIEW

Email not working

Skill: email-repair · Risk: high · Steps: 15

Diagnoses and repairs email client issues including account configuration, authentication/credential failures, index corruption, database errors, SMTP/IMAP connectivity failures, and permission problems.

What it does, step by step

Step 1. Reads the email account’s server settings and compares them against known-good provider values. read-only · check_mail_account_config

Step 2. Asks which email provider the affected account uses when no configuration is found. asks the user, conditional · wait_for_user_ack

Step 3. Asks for the outgoing mail server address when the provider is a company or unlisted service. asks the user, conditional · request_user_input

Step 4. Tests whether the outgoing mail server can be reached and responds properly. read-only · check_smtp_connectivity

Step 5. Checks whether the mail server’s security certificate has genuinely expired. read-only · check_certificate_expiry

Step 6. Checks whether the email client is frozen or overusing system resources. read-only · get_top_consumers

Step 7. Checks and, if needed, fixes file permission problems affecting Apple Mail. read-only, conditional · check_mail_permissions

Step 8. Asks the user to describe the exact symptom to decide which repair to run. asks the user, conditional · wait_for_user_ack

Step 9. Checks whether outdated saved login credentials might be causing sign-in failures. deletes data, asks permission, preview first, conditional · get_cached_credentials_count, repair_keychain, purge_cached_credentials

Step 11. Rebuilds the mail index to fix slowness, wrong counts, or missing messages. deletes data, asks permission, preview first, conditional · rebuild_mail_index

Step 12. Repairs the Outlook data file to fix crashing or corruption issues. deletes data, asks permission, preview first, conditional · repair_outlook_database

Step 13. Asks whether email works now after the first repair attempt. asks the user, conditional · wait_for_user_ack

Step 14. Resets the email client’s preferences as a last-resort fix, keeping accounts intact. deletes data, asks permission, preview first, conditional · reset_app_preferences

Step 15. Asks whether email works now after resetting preferences, and prepares for escalation if not. asks the user, conditional · wait_for_user_ack

Step 16. Summarizes what was done, the results, and any recommendation to escalate to IT. no tools

Tools it may use

check_mail_account_config, check_smtp_connectivity, check_certificate_expiry, get_top_consumers, check_mail_permissions, get_cached_credentials_count, repair_keychain, purge_cached_credentials, rebuild_mail_index, repair_outlook_database, reset_app_preferences, wait_for_user_ack, request_user_input