Dovecot Not Receiving Mail: Complete 2026 Troubleshooting Guide

Written By Tej Pratap Shukla

Approved By Anuraag Singh

Modified On January 18th, 2026

Reading Time 6 Min Read

Dovecot not receiving mail is a common complaint, but in most cases, the Dovecot environment is not a real problem.

But how? As per my research, Dovecot does not deliver emails; it only retrieves and displays them, while Postfix (or another MTA) handles actual mail delivery. When users see an empty inbox, the root cause is:

Misconfiguration
Permission issue
Mailbox format mismatch
Delivery failure on the Postfix side

Whatever the reasons, learning fixes are important. But do you know how the mail workflow works? If not, then first let me explain the same in the next section.

How Mail Flow Works?

Before troubleshooting, always clarify the mail flow:

#Stage 1. The external sender sends an email
#Stage 2. The email reaches your mail server
#Stage 3. Postfix (or another MTA) accepts the mail
#Stage 4. The MTA delivers the message to a mailbox format (Maildir or mbox)
#Stage 5. Dovecot reads that mailbox and shows it to the user via IMAP/POP3

If mail is not appearing in Dovecot, the problem could be at any of these stages, which leads to IMAP authentication failed or the service not working error. Next, I’ll make the fixes to resolve it.

Dovecot Not Receiving Mail – Step-by-Step Fixes

Recently, I also faced this issue where my Dovecot was not working properly, and I was unable to send or receive my emails with my clients and team. After a thorough R&D, I got nine troubleshooting tricks, which helped me to resolve this problem in minutes.

So, in the sections below, I’ll share each method with proper step-by-step instructions:

#Method 1. Verify Dovecot is Running

The first thing to check is whether Dovecot is active. For the same:

Run this command:

systemctl status dovecot

Expected result: Active
If it is stopped, start it with:

systemctl start dovecot

To ensure it starts automatically after reboot:

systemctl enable dovecot

Next, check if Dovecot is listening on IMAP and POP3 ports:

ss -lntup | egrep ':(143|993|110|995)\s'

Expected:

Port 143 (IMAP)
Port 993 (IMAPS)
Port 110 (POP3)
Port 995 (POP3S)

If nothing appears, Dovecot is not properly configured or running. For the same, you don’t want to remove IMAP account, instead move to the next fix.

#Method 2. Check Mail Delivery

If Dovecot is running but mail is still not appearing, move to Postfix:

Check Postfix status:

systemctl status postfix

Then inspect the mail logs:

tail -f /var/log/mail.log

or on some systems:

tail -f /var/log/maillog

Look for lines like:

status=sent (delivered to mailbox)
mailbox full
permission denied
No such user
cannot open the mailbox

If you see errors like:

status=bounced (unknown user)

It means Postfix is not recognizing the user, so Dovecot will never receive the mail.

#Method 3. Verify Mailbox Format

Dovecot must match the mailbox format used by Postfix. To validate the same:

Open the Dovecot configuration file:

nano /etc/dovecot/conf.d/10-mail.conf

Look for this line:

mail_location = maildir:/var/mail/vhosts/%d/%n

mail_location = mbox:/var/mail/%u

If Postfix is delivering to Maildir but Dovecot is configured for mbox (or vice versa), users will see empty inboxes.

To check where Postfix delivers mail, inspect:

postconf mail_spool_directory

postconf virtual_mailbox_base

Both services must match; otherwise Dovecot is unable to run at any cost.

#Method 4. Check File and Directory Permissions

One of the most common issues I encounter is incorrect permissions. So, always check:

Mailbox ownership:

ls -ld /var/mail/

ls -ld /var/mail/vhosts/

Typical correct permissions:

drwx------ vmail vmail /var/mail/vhosts

If ownership is wrong, fix it:

chown -R vmail:vmail /var/mail

chmod -R 700 /var/mail

#Method 5. Verify Dovecot Authentication

If users can connect but see no mail, authentication might be misconfigured, and sometimes shows an IMAP server timeout error:

Test login manually using telnet:

telnet localhost 143

Then:

a login [email protected] password

If authentication fails, check:

nano /etc/dovecot/conf.d/10-auth.conf

Ensure this line is correct:

disable_plaintext_auth = no

Verify passdb and userdb settings.

#Method 6. Check Dovecot Logs

Dovecot has its own logs, which you have to review:

tail -f /var/log/dovecot.log

journalctl -u dovecot -f

#Method 7. Check Namespace Configuration

In some setups, I find that Dovecot namespaces are misconfigured.

Open:

nano /etc/dovecot/conf.d/10-mail.conf

Verify:

namespace inbox {

  inbox = yes

}

If this is missing or incorrect, Dovecot may not recognize the Inbox properly.

#Method 8. Test Mail Delivery Manually

To confirm whether Postfix is delivering mail correctly, send a test mail directly to the server:

echo "Test email body" | mail -s "Test Subject" [email protected]

Then check if a new file appears in the Maildir:

ls /var/mail/vhosts/example.com/user/new/

If no file appears, the problem is with Postfix; otherwise, Dovecot has an issue.

#Method 9. Restart Services After Fixes

After making changes, always restart both services:

systemctl restart postfix

systemctl restart dovecot

Then test again using an email client or telnet.

Always Have a Backup to Ensure Data Continuity

In such scenarios, relying only on Dovecot troubleshooting may not be practical, especially when there is pressure to retrieve emails quickly. This is where I consider using the SysTools IMAP Backup Software as a recovery and access option. The key advantage to take backup via this tool is that you can access data even if the IMAP service is unstable or temporarily down.

Download Now Purchase Now

Instead of depending entirely on a working Dovecot service, this email backup wizard connects using available credentials and allows you to download mailbox data into formats such as PST, EML, MSG, or PDF for offline access. Additionally, it offers all the possible advanced features, including:

Date filter for specific email data export
Delta backup to save only newly received emails, instead of a complete backup
The Resume option helps to run the procedure where you stopped
The Retry Failed Items feature ensures a complete export

Not only these, but there are numerous enterprise-grade features offered by this solution, which you can try for free, and ensure data continuity even when Dovecot is not working.

Author’s Verdict

As per our discussion, one thing is clear: “Dovecot not receiving mail” is rarely a Dovecot problem alone. It is usually a mismatch between:

Postfix and Dovecot
Permission issues
Mailbox format problems

Following the methods we discussed will help you to resolve the issue, i.e. Dovecot not working properly.