Since yesterday our Email Trigger (IMAP) doesn’t return any emails anymore in any workflow. Both the actual trigger AND when triggered manually via Execute workflow/step. We did upgrade to 2.4.x on Tuesday (on n8n cloud), but I’m not sure it’s connected to the update. Problem is persistent in both latest stable and latest beta version. Already restarted our n8n instance multiple times. Tested with multiple (verified) credentials. Force Reconnect / Fetch Only New Emails turned on/off don’t make any difference.
Please share your workflow
Share the output returned by the last node
No output, it just keeps listening (Excecuting node when executed manually).
I think you should set Force Reconnect Every Minute to 5. It defaults to 60 when you add it, which is why switching it on looked like it did nothing.
2.40 rewrote the IMAP trigger, and it no longer reads unread mail that’s already in the mailbox when it connects. It only reacts when the server announces a new message, plus a rescan after every reconnect, so Execute step now waits for a fresh email. Each forced reconnect rescans for unread mail it hasn’t handled yet, which catches everything even if those announcements aren’t getting through. Keep Fetch Only New Emails on, or each rescan returns all your unread mail again.
Unfortunately that’s not the (full) solution. Even when new mail arrives while a manual execution is running/listening, nothing happens. I don’t think that’s the expected behaviour of the rewritten node version, but maybe I’m not understanding it correctly.
@T_S2 You’re right, a fresh unread email arriving in INBOX while the node is listening should trigger it.
Your screenshot shows Simple format. In that single-node test workflow, change Format to Resolved, stop and restart listening, then send one new plain-text email and leave it unread. In 2.40.6, Simple skips a message if its fetched HEADER is missing; Resolved fetches and parses the full message instead. If Resolved works, that narrows this to the Simple processing path.
If it still hangs, which email provider/IMAP host are these accounts using? Send help@n8n.io the instance URL, workflow ID, version 2.40.6 and exact test time with timezone so they can check the Cloud-side IMAP logs. Include this thread so the reconnect and restart attempts aren’t repeated.
Since it broke right after the 2.4.x upgrade AND affects both manual and automatic executions, this looks like a platform-side regression rather than your config - config does not rot overnight. Two things that have rescued IMAP triggers for people on Cloud recently:
1. Re-save the credentials: open the IMAP credential, re-enter the password, save. The credential handling changed in some upgrades and triggers fail silently with stale credentials even while other nodes pass their tests.
2. Check the last-seen UID watermark: after upgrades the watermark state can reset, so the trigger ‘succeeds’ with zero new emails. Deleting and recreating just the trigger node (not the whole workflow) resets that state.
If neither works, report it with your instance name so n8n staff can check the backend - this pattern affecting multiple customers after an upgrade is exactly their queue.
Since this is blocking production workflows: if you need it working today and want a second pair of eyes, I do n8n troubleshooting and production support as fixed-price gigs, and IMAP/email pipelines are a big part of my work. A debug session is usually 30-60 minutes. DM me if useful - otherwise I hope the credential re-save does it.
