If you're not receiving notifications when you expect them, there are several possible causes. Work through these troubleshooting steps to identify and fix the issue.

1. Check Your Email Spam/Junk Folder

The most common reason for missing notifications is email filtering.

How to fix:

  • Check your Spam, Junk, or Promotions folder for emails with [Change] in the subject
  • Look for emails from the Changeflow domain
  • Mark any Changeflow emails as "Not Spam" or "Not Junk"
  • Add the Changeflow sending address to your contacts or safe senders list
  • Check your email provider's filtering rules

For Gmail: Check the Promotions and Spam tabs For Outlook: Check Junk Email folder and add to Safe Senders For Apple Mail: Check Junk folder and add to VIP or Contacts

2. Check Your Email Filter Rules

You or your organization may have created rules that are filtering Changeflow notifications.

How to fix:

  • Review your email filters/rules for anything matching [Change] or the Changeflow domain
  • Check if corporate email policies are blocking or quarantining notifications
  • Look in folders where you may have set up filters to move notifications
  • Temporarily disable filters to test if notifications arrive in your inbox

See our guide on managing email notifications for details on filter setup.

3. Verify the Source is Active and Running

The source might be paused, disabled, or encountering errors.

How to fix:

  • Log in to your Changeflow account
  • Go to your Sources page
  • Check the status of the source - look for:
    • "Paused" status - Resume the source
    • "Error" status - See My Source Has Errored guide
    • Last check time - Verify it's checking on schedule
  • If the source appears inactive, click into it and save/update to reactivate

4. Check Your Notification Settings

Your notification preferences might be configured to not send emails.

How to fix:

  • Go to your Changeflow account settings
  • Review notification preferences for the specific source
  • Ensure email notifications are enabled (not just in-app notifications)
  • Check if you've set "notify on" conditions that aren't being met
  • Verify your email address is correct in your account settings

5. Verify the Source URL is Still Accessible

The page you're monitoring might have moved, been deleted, or become restricted.

How to fix:

  • Visit the source URL directly in your browser
  • Check if the page loads correctly
  • Look for:
    • 404 Not Found errors
    • Login/paywall requirements
    • Redirect to a different URL
    • Changes to site structure
  • If the URL has changed, update your source with the new URL

6. Review Your Source Prompt

Your prompt might be too restrictive, filtering out all changes.

How to fix:

  • Review your "What's important to you?" prompt
  • Check if you're using very specific filters that might exclude actual changes
  • Test with a broader prompt temporarily: All new content
  • Look at the source's change history to see if changes were detected but filtered out

Example of too restrictive:

  • Prompt: New blog posts about Python machine learning in the healthcare sector
  • Reality: The blog only posts about JavaScript and finance
  • Fix: Broaden to New blog posts about machine learning or All new blog posts

7. Check the Frequency Schedule

The source might not be checking when you expect it to.

How to fix:

  • Review your check frequency setting
  • If set to "Daily at 9am", notifications only come once per day at that time
  • If set to "Weekly on Monday", you'll only get notifications once per week
  • Check your account's timezone setting - "9am" is in your account timezone
  • Verify your plan allows your desired frequency:
    • Free accounts: Daily minimum
    • Paid accounts: Hourly minimum
    • Enterprise: Every 10 minutes minimum

8. Consider Whether Changes Actually Occurred

The page you're monitoring might simply not have changed.

How to fix:

  • Visit the source URL and check if there's actually new content since the last check
  • Review the source's change history in Changeflow to see past notifications
  • Consider if the page updates less frequently than your check frequency
  • Some pages only update weekly or monthly - adjust expectations accordingly

9. Check for Email Delivery Issues

There might be temporary email delivery problems.

How to fix:

  • Check if you're receiving other emails normally (not just Changeflow)
  • Look for email service status issues with your email provider
  • Verify your inbox isn't full (some providers stop delivering when at quota)
  • Try adding an alternative email address to your Changeflow account
  • Check with your IT department if corporate email is having issues

10. Verify Source Hasn't Exceeded Rate Limits

High-frequency checking or many sources might hit rate limits.

How to fix:

  • Check your plan limits in account settings
  • Verify you're not exceeding check limits for your plan tier
  • Distribute check times across the day instead of all at once
  • Contact support if you need higher limits

Testing Your Setup

To verify notifications are working:

  1. Create a test source:

    • Monitor a page you control or a frequently updated news site
    • Set frequency to hourly
    • Use a simple prompt: All new content

  2. Wait for a check cycle:

    • Allow at least one check cycle to complete
    • Check your email (including spam) for notification

  3. Review source history:

    • Look at the source detail page in Changeflow
    • Check if changes are being detected even if not notified
    • This helps isolate whether it's a detection or delivery issue

Still Not Receiving Notifications?

If you've tried all these steps:

  1. Check Changeflow status page for any known service issues
  2. Contact support with details:
    • Which source is affected
    • When you expected a notification
    • What you've already tried
    • Screenshot of the source settings
  3. Try alternative notification methods:
    • Slack/Teams integration
    • RSS feed output
    • API access for custom integrations

Prevention Tips

To avoid missing notifications in the future:

  • Whitelist Changeflow in your email from day one
  • Set up email filters proactively so notifications go to a dedicated folder
  • Test new sources with known-changing pages before monitoring critical sources
  • Check sources periodically in the Changeflow dashboard, don't rely only on email
  • Keep email address updated if you change email providers
  • Monitor your spam folder occasionally to catch any false positives