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How to troubleshoot your configuration
======================================

Most of the time, when CMFNotification does not work, it is caused by
an error in the configuration. Hopefully, there are ways to know what
is wrong. Hence, before cursing me and my family for three
generations, read this. It will save your time (and hopefully mine,
too).


First checks
============

If you do not receive any e-mail, first check:

- that you have followed the configuration steps;

- that there is at least one user who should have received an
  e-mail. Remember that if an user is not allowed to view an item,
  (s)he will not be notified;

- that this user has a valid e-mail address.

These verifications might seem obvious. They are. Always check the
obvious things first. You will find yourself much less comfortable
when checking such obvious things after two hours of long, complex and
vain debugging...


Use the log, Luke
=================

CMFNotification is very polite: it logs its errors and will tell you
what it does or why it could not do what you have asked it for.
CMFNotification logs in the "event log". It is a file; it is not the
"error_log" object that you can access through the web. If you do not
know where is this file, see `this FAQ`_. In this file, look for lines
like this one::

    2007-08-30T18:39:48 WARNING CMFNotification No mail template for item_creation' notification of plone-site/folder/document

If everything seems fine but you still do not receive any e-mail, go
to the ZMI, click on ``portal_notification`` and check the *Toggle
debug mode: log addresses* box. Then repeat the action which should
have sent an e-mail notification (but has not), and read the event log
of your Zope instance. CMFNotification will log the addresses that it
is going to send the notification to, and the message itself. If the
address list is empty, you may want to check users' access or your
rules. If this list is not empty, then:

- the e-mail has been correctly sent. Double-check the e-mail
  address. Perhaps the e-mail is "in the pipe"; wait a few minutes and
  check your inbox again. Check that the message has not been blocked
  by an anti-spam somewhere.

- the e-mail has not yet been sent. Check the mail queue of your SMTP
  server (or the queue of MaildropHost if you use this product).

.. _this FAQ: http://plone.org/documentation/faq/plone-logs


Use the Unsubscribe menu
========================

Go to the Unsubscribe menu in site setup to check who is subscribed to
what object in the site.

Asking for help
===============

If you cannot get your configuration working, feel free to ask for
help. See the `support page`_ to know more about the best ways to
receive help.

If you are positively, absolutely, completely sure (got it?) that
there is nothing wrong with your configuration and that there must be
a bug in CMFNotification, then `use the issue tracker`_. There might
be bugs in CMFNotification, but most of users' requests could actually
be solved by reading this page and double-checking everything.

.. _support page: http://plone.org/support
.. _use the issue tracker: http://plone.org/products/cmfnotification/issues
