Skip to main content
— Setup walkthrough

Track email delivery status

Alva Digital Downloads logs every delivery email it sends in the EmailLog table and surfaces it on the order detail page in the admin. Each entry records the subject, recipient, send timestamp, and the provider response — Postmark message ID on success, or an error code when a send fails.

Where to view delivery status

The email log lives on each order, not as a global feed. Open the order to see every email Alva attempted.

1. Open the order in the Alva admin

In the Alva admin, click Orders, then click the order number you want to inspect.

2. Scroll to the Email history section

Below the customer and product cards, find the Email history card. The badge on the right shows the total count, e.g. 2 emails sent.

Screenshot needed

Order detail page with the Email history card visible. Show the section heading, the count badge, and the chevron to expand. No real customer data visible.

The Email history card on the order detail page.

3. Expand to see each entry

Click the chevron on the card. Each row shows the send timestamp, recipient, status badge (green for success, red for failed, amber for pending or bounced), and the email type — Download link, Manual resend, or License key delivery.

4. Inspect the provider response

The Postmark message ID, error code, and error message are stored in metadata on the log row — forward those values to support if a send needs investigating.

Screenshot needed

A single email log row expanded, showing timestamp, recipient, status badge, type badge, and the metadata block with provider message ID. No real customer data visible.

An expanded log row showing the Postmark response.

What the status values mean

  • SUCCESS — Postmark accepted the email and it is en route to the recipient inbox. This is the normal terminal state.
  • PENDING — Alva created the log row but is still awaiting a provider response, or a fallback retry is in flight.
  • BOUNCED — Postmark rejected the recipient. Covers hard bounces and suppression-list hits (Postmark error 406 InactiveRecipientsError). Alva does not retry these.
  • FAILED — A non-recoverable error occurred (network failure, provider 5xx, or an internal exception in email.ts). The error message is captured in the metadata.
  • COMPLAINT — The recipient marked the message as spam after delivery.

Re-sending failed emails

If a row shows FAILED after a transient provider issue, trigger a fresh send from the same order page — the Resend a download email to a customer walkthrough covers the steps. BOUNCED rows usually need a corrected email address before resending will help.

Why is my email not in the log?

If Shop.isEmailEnabled is off, Alva skips the send entirely and writes no log entry. Custom-domain sends are also skipped if the paid plan that provisioned the domain has lapsed, since getFromEmail() blocks the send when the subscription check fails. Re-enable email under Settings → Email, or restore the plan, then resend.

FAQ

How long does Alva Digital Downloads keep email logs?

Email logs are retained indefinitely on the order. Purchases placed before September 20, 2025 predate email logging and show no entries.

Does the log update when a customer opens or clicks the email?

No. The log records the send result only. Open and click events are not tracked, so a SUCCESS status confirms delivery to the inbox provider but not that the customer read the email.

Why does the log show two entries for one order?

Each send creates its own entry. A manual resend, a Flow-triggered resend, or a fallback to the backup provider each add a new row so you can audit every attempt separately.

See also

Was this helpful?

Still stuck? Email us.

Last updated 2026-05-06