Cloud Email Trigger Inconsistent at Best

[markstorer]

Hello community. This is my first question here. I have only been using N8N for a few months but have been coding for many years. THANK YOU N8N FOR AN EXCELLENT PLATFORM!! J

Here is outline of my dilemma:

· I am working in Cloud.

· I have two different workflows.

· Both workflows work perfectly if I trigger them manually

· Workflow #1 is always triggered automatically using Credential #1 when it is active as expected

· Workflow #2 is never triggered automatically using Credential #2 when it is active

· Email is Smartermail and part of web hosting I use at ``internetmailserver.net``. Therefore I do not have access to the email server.

This is what I tried and failed: (to see if it was maybe an email/credential issue)

· Point Workflow #1 to Credential #2

· Point Workflow #2 to Credential #1

Here is the start of JSON for the Workflow #1 through Email Trigger (works):
{

"name": "Upload_PO",

"nodes": [

{

"parameters": {

"postProcessAction": "nothing",

"downloadAttachments": true,

"options": {}

},

"id": "44bb93be-6bba-4b71-87ec-139e81d12d5e",

"name": "Email Trigger (IMAP)",

"type": "n8n-nodes-base.emailReadImap",

"position": [

-2620,

900

],

"typeVersion": 2,

"credentials": {

"imap": {

"id": "vKMkG4ExvZhaVdvQ",

"name": "IMAP account 2"

}

}

},

Here is the start of JSON for the Workflow #1 through Email Trigger (does not trigger):
{

"name": "My workflow 2",

"nodes": [

{

"parameters": {

"postProcessAction": "nothing",

"downloadAttachments": true,

"options": {}

},

"type": "n8n-nodes-base.emailReadImap",

"typeVersion": 2,

"position": [

-580,

-120

],

"id": "47595994-bce9-4f70-8d86-e4e4caeca3f0",

"name": "Email Trigger (IMAP)",

"credentials": {

"imap": {

"id": "0HtFpofYZ8qialTs",

"name": "IMAP account 3"

}

}

},

(I am not sure why keys are in different order but it should not matter.)

I know I saw a link for instructions on how to upload the flow for debugging. I cannot find that again or I would upload here.

I am happy to try anything the community might suggest.

[Msquare_Automation]

Hi @markstorer

Welcome to Community

Could you check Executions to confirm the workflow was triggered and review previous runs for any errors. Next, manually trigger the Watch node to verify that Credential 2 is working.

[markstorer]

Yes. When I trigger the Workflow manually and mark an email as unread, it works perfectly.

Notice no automatic executions of Workflow 2 but Upload PO works fine.

[swoonunits]

@markstorer either

* Your workflow is not registering a listener on activation. It may appear “active” in n8n UI, but the IMAP listener might have failed silently on activation. Please check your logs.

* IMAP server restrictions over at SmarterMail

* the server may be limiting the number of concurrent IDLE connections

[markstorer]

Swoonunits,

Thank you for your feedback.

For: “Your workflow is not registering a listener on activation. It may appear “active” in n8n UI, but the IMAP listener might have failed silently on activation. Please check your logs.” Is there a way to check the logs on N8N Cloud?
I do not have access to the Smartermail server. I did deactivate my workflow that works fine to see if there was some restriction from N8N or the Smartermail host. I saw no difference.

[swoonunits]

@markstorer

Is there a way to check the logs on N8N Cloud?

not sure but probably best to contact n8n cloud support on the issue

[markstorer]

FYI. When I look at the SmarterMail User Connections using the Postmaster account, it shows the IMAP connection as active. It just doesn’t trigger N8N. I even set up a new mailbox, a new credential and a new flow just to see if it would monitor the inbox. No luck. The connection is active but it will not trigger N8N. Manual executions work perfectly. I may have to write my own email monitor and trigger the N8N flow with a web trigger or something. I just wish it would function like the flow that works.

[swoonunits]

@markstorer just fyi, behind the scenes the Email Trigger uses the node imap package GitHub - mscdex/node-imap: An IMAP client module for node.js. . check it out to find out how it connects to the email server