When reconnection is needed
Gmail and Outlook connections use OAuth, and that authorization can stop working — the grant can expire, or access can be revoked (for example if you removed the app from your Google or Microsoft account permissions, or changed the account's password). Custom SMTP connections don't use OAuth, but the same failure shows up as rejected credentials if the mailbox password changes.
When this happens, the app detects the authentication failure the next time it tries to send and explains it in plain language rather than just failing silently:
- Gmail/Outlook authentication has expired — the grant timed out.
- Gmail/Outlook access has been revoked — access was pulled from the provider side.
- Email server rejected your credentials — an SMTP username/password problem.
The Reconnect button
For Gmail and Outlook, the error alert includes a Reconnect Gmail or Reconnect Outlook button that jumps straight into the OAuth flow again — no need to re-enter connection details manually. For SMTP, you'll see an Update Credentials button instead, which takes you to the connection's settings to correct the username or password.
If you reconnect with a different account than the one the connection was originally set up with, the app catches the mismatch and lets you know so you can retry with the right account instead of silently swapping which mailbox sends your receipts.
Failed email jobs on the Jobs page also show a Fix Now shortcut that jumps straight to the reconnect flow and brings you back to the job afterward.
After reconnecting
Reconnecting fixes the credential, but it doesn't automatically restart work that stopped while the connection was broken:
- Paused schedules — if a daily-batched send failed repeatedly and paused itself, the schedule card on the Distribute page's Email tab stays paused (with the reason shown) until you click Resume.
- Failed jobs — a job that failed with an authentication error stays failed; its Fix Now shortcut on the Jobs page jumps to the reconnect flow and back, and then you use the job's Retry button to run it again.
- Receipts still in Pending email simply send normally the next time you start a send — nothing extra needed for those.
Still failing?
If reconnecting doesn't resolve it, or you're on Custom SMTP and updating credentials doesn't fix the error, see the Troubleshooting section of Email Setup for authentication and connection-timeout checks.
Related
- Email Setup — connect a provider from scratch and general troubleshooting
- The Distribute Hub — where you send and monitor emails once the connection is fixed