Clear Jira Mail Queue

[Deleted user]

I have a backlog of old emails in my JIRA queue that I would like to delete, hundreds. I have read that stopping the JIRA service and starting it again will clear this but the emails just seem to go back into the queue again when started.

[Patrick S]

I just spent way too much time fixing this on our JSD instance, so I'm publishing this answer on every article that seems related in case it saves others time.

This answer does involve some database manipulation (the email queue is stored in AO_4E8AE6_NOTIF_BATCH_QUEUE), which I know is frowned upon, but it was the only thing that worked after trying every other solution I found (clearing caches, changing ntp, trying safe mode, etc).

1. Take note of the emails that are failing to send. This will be obvious in the Mail Queue (Admin Cog → System → Mail Queue).
   

   1. 
      -- AO_4E8AE6_NOTIF_BATCH_QUEUE is where the mail queue is stored in the database
      -- This will return the matching emails in the database
      select
      -- Join the project key on the issue number to get something the issueKey <PROJ-325>
      distinct p.pkey + '-' + cast(i.issuenum as varchar) as issueKey
      -- AO_4E8AE6_NOTIF_BATCH_QUEUE is the table that stores the pending notifications. This is the email queue!
      from JIRAServiceDesk.jiraschema.AO_4E8AE6_NOTIF_BATCH_QUEUE as q 
       left join jiraschema.jiraissue i on i.id = q.ISSUE_ID
       left join jiraschema.project p on p.id = i.PROJECT

2. Stop the JIRA website
3. Delete all indexes

   1. rm {JIRA-HOME}/caches/indexes/* -f -R

4. Backup the records that are failing to send for safe-keeping in SQL server

   1. select q.*
      into JIRAServiceDesk.jiraschema.[AO_4E8AE6_NOTIF_BATCH_QUEUE-BACKUP_BEFORE_CLEARING_QUEUE]
      from JIRAServiceDesk.jiraschema.AO_4E8AE6_NOTIF_BATCH_QUEUE as q
      where q.SENT_TIME is null

5. Set the SENT_TIME on the stuck notifications so they don't try to send again.

   1. update JIRAServiceDesk.jiraschema.AO_4E8AE6_NOTIF_BATCH_QUEUE
      set SENT_TIME = 1526297477500 -- UNIX time that wasn't used on any other issues
      where sent_time is null

6. Start the Service Desk.
7. Confirm that the Mail Queue is empty in the  (Admin Cog → System → Mail Queue).
8. Run a Locked index to rebuild the ones we deleted (Admin Cog → System → Indexing → Lock JIRA and rebuild index)
9. Continue to monitor the Mail Queue as Customer Notifications should be sent out.

[Andy Brook [Plugin People]]

Do a user lookup by email of your incoming address. If a user has been created, this can happen. What mail handler are you using?

[Deleted user]

My mail queue is 1218 and growing. I've canged my SMTP detail to somethigng invalid so emails don't get sent

[Deleted user]

It actually looks like some sort of email loop as apposed to a back log of emails. I cleared all the emails from the inbox of the account that jira uses. Now it appears that there are 5-6 tickets that are in a loop of continuous emial notification/jira comments being added.

[codelab expert]

Stopping and starting the service don't delete the mail queue. Please go to your admin page where you configure the mail service. There you will find a button which will clear the mail queue.

[Sorin Sbarnea (Citrix)]

That's not true, you cannore remove the queue from the interface, the only way to remove it is to restart Jira. Flushin does SENT the emails NOW.

[Andy Brook [Plugin People]]

Actually, if you Disable the Outbound Mail (there is a button in the UI), doing a Mail Queue Flush will actually result in the clearing of the current Queue. Given the error queue can be deleted too, seems possible to do this through the UI?

[Naren]

If its still putting the outgoing emails in queure again then you must check with the SMTP server configration with JIRA or if there is a memory problem. You can check for the cause in the application server log file.

You may like to refer this below links -

https://confluence.atlassian.com/display/JIRAKB/Mail+Queue+Never+Flushed+Automatically

https://confluence.atlassian.com/display/JIRA041/Troubleshoot+Mail+Notification+Problems

[richie_gee]

Hi there,

You seems to be bumping into this issue as the documentation below:

https://confluence.atlassian.com/display/JIRAKB/Mail+Queue+Never+Flushed+Automatically

Try to see if the resolution helps.

Hope it helps, cheers :)