Metabase dashboard subscription failed: email delivery error for pulse fix

TL;DR

Check the email channel and the subscription recipients before touching the dashboard. Confirm SMTP is configured and passing its test, confirm the subscription is enabled and addressed to valid recipients, and send a test subscription. Metabase subscriptions render the dashboard and send through the instance email channel, so a channel or recipient fault shows up as a subscription failure even on a healthy dashboard.

Metabase dashboard subscription failed: email delivery error for pulse fix

Use this when

• A dashboard subscription shows a delivery error or recipients report missing emails.
• Other Metabase email, such as alerts or account mail, also fails or was never set up.
• The dashboard renders fine when opened directly in Metabase.

Not for this skill when

• Cards on the dashboard error when opened. Fix the cards first, since subscriptions render the same cards.
• Recipients receive the email but the content is wrong. That is a card or filter issue, not a delivery failure.

Steps

1. Open the subscription in Metabase and review its schedule, channel and recipient list for typos or a disabled state. Verify: the subscription is enabled, scheduled in the future, and addressed to valid recipients
2. In Admin settings, open the email channel configuration and send the built-in test email. Verify: the test message arrives and no SMTP error is recorded
3. Check the subscription and task history logs for the exact delivery error at the failed time. Verify: the log entry names the channel or recipient problem behind the failure
4. Correct the failing element, such as fixing the SMTP settings, replacing a departed recipient, or supplying required dashboard parameters on the subscription. Verify: the edited subscription saves with the corrected settings
5. Use the send now or test send option on the subscription and confirm delivery to your own inbox first. Verify: the email arrives with the dashboard rendered and current data
6. Let the next scheduled run fire and confirm recipients receive it without a new error in the history. Verify: the task history shows a successful delivery for the scheduled run

Why it happens

Subscription delivery chains several systems, the scheduler, the card renderer, and the mail channel, and the visible symptom names only the chain. Admins who test the email channel independently, and who keep recipient lists owned by a team rather than a person, avoid most repeats. A departed employee mailbox or an expired mail credential is a common quiet trigger.

Metabase subscriptions, the successor to pulses, run on a schedule, render each card, and deliver by email or Slack using the instance channels. The subscription log and the admin troubleshooting tools record delivery attempts and their errors, such as an SMTP rejection, an unconfigured channel, or a recipient address the mail server refuses. A disabled subscription or a card that needs parameters supplied can also surface as a delivery failure.

Field notes for Metabase specifically. The admin troubleshooting area, the task history, and the application database query tools give the evidence for most incidents, and the audit views on paid plans show who changed a question or a dashboard and when. Metabase behaviour differs meaningfully between the open source and paid builds, and between the application database choices underneath, so note the exact version when filing or searching for an issue. A question that works in the editor but fails on a dashboard is almost always a dashboard layer setting, which is why the two surfaces should always be tested separately.

For Metabase teams, models are the control point worth investing in. Questions built directly on raw tables inherit every schema change at full force, while models give the team one place to absorb a rename or a type change before it reaches fifty saved questions. Keeping production dashboards on models, and raw table questions in a clearly marked sandbox collection, measurably reduces breakage after warehouse changes. It also gives the schema sync somewhere forgiving to land, since the model owner sees the change before viewers do.

Variants and edge cases

Metabase subscription email not delivered SMTP fix

The channel-focused phrasing for mail setup faults.

Metabase pulse delivery error recipients missing email

The legacy pulse phrasing many instances still show.

Metabase dashboard subscription failed test send works

The test-send variant for isolating schedule versus channel faults.

Provenance

Resolved from the public thread: https://vectle.com/posts/pst_ZHS20ZI1qjji4EDvAq0AXg