Email Logs
Every email that Synapse sends on your behalf is recorded in the email log. This is your audit trail for delivery tracking -- you can see exactly when an email was queued, sent, delivered, opened, and clicked (or why it bounced or failed).
What You See in the Log
Each email log entry records the full lifecycle of a single email delivery. The log shows:
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Recipient | The email address the message was sent to |
| Subject | The rendered subject line (with variables resolved) |
| Status | Current delivery status (see below) |
| Template | Which email template was used |
| Queued at | When the email entered the send queue |
| Sent at | When the email was handed off to the email provider |
| Delivered at | When the recipient's mail server accepted the email |
Email Statuses
Every email moves through a series of statuses. Here is what each one means:
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Queued | The email is in the send queue, waiting to be processed. This is the initial state for every email. |
| Sent | The email has been handed off to the email provider. It is in transit. |
| Delivered | The recipient's mail server accepted the email. This does not guarantee the recipient read it -- it may be in their inbox, spam folder, or a filter. |
| Opened | The recipient opened the email. Synapse tracks this via a tracking pixel embedded in the HTML. |
| Clicked | The recipient clicked a link in the email. This confirms engagement beyond just opening. |
| Bounced | The email could not be delivered. This is a hard bounce (invalid address, domain does not exist). The contact is automatically unsubscribed to protect your sender reputation. |
| Complained | The recipient marked the email as spam. The contact is automatically unsubscribed and will not receive further emails. |
| Failed | Something went wrong during sending -- for example, a provider-side error or a template rendering failure. |
| Suppressed | The email was intentionally not sent. This happens when a template uses the required modifier on a variable that has no value, or when the recipient is on the provider's suppression list. See Variables for details on the required modifier. |
If you see many bounced emails for the same address, the contact's email may be invalid. Consider removing or updating that contact to protect your sender reputation.
Searching and Filtering
You can search email logs by recipient address or subject line. The search bar at the top of the Email Logs page matches partial text in both fields.
Common ways to narrow results:
- Search by recipient -- type an email address to find all emails sent to a specific contact
- Search by subject -- type a keyword from the subject line to find emails from a particular flow or campaign
Results are sorted by the most recently queued emails first, showing up to 200 entries per page.
Reading a Log Entry
Click on any log entry to see the full details:
- Rendered HTML -- the exact email content that was sent, with all variables filled in. This is useful for debugging template issues.
- Provider message ID -- the unique identifier from the email provider (the email provider). Use this if you need to look up delivery details directly with the provider.
- Timestamps -- the full timeline from queued to delivered, including first open and first click times when available.
- Error message -- if the email bounced or failed, this field explains why.
Open and click tracking depends on the recipient's email client. Some clients block tracking pixels or pre-fetch links, which can affect accuracy. See Understanding Metrics for more details on how tracking works.
Common Questions
Why does an email show "Sent" but not "Delivered"?
"Sent" means the email was handed off to the provider, but the recipient's mail server has not yet confirmed delivery. This can happen if the recipient's server is slow to respond, or if the provider has not sent the delivery webhook yet. Most emails move from Sent to Delivered within a few seconds.
Why was an email suppressed?
Suppression happens when a template uses a required modifier on a variable and the contact does not have a value for that field. Rather than sending an email with missing critical data, Synapse suppresses the send entirely. The system logs the reason, which you can see in the email log entry.
For example, if your template contains {the Reference Number from the trigger event, required} and the event doesn't include a Reference Number attribute, the email is suppressed.
Note that contacts with unsubscribed or complained status will not receive emails at all -- those sends are blocked before reaching the template stage and won't appear as "Suppressed" in the log.
How long are email logs retained?
Email log retention depends on your plan's data retention period. See Billing & Plans for retention limits by plan.