Your Gmail account has been rate limited: what it means and what to do

A red banner saying Your Gmail account has been rate limited means Google is temporarily limiting how much email your connected Gmail or Google Workspace mailbox can send or sync. It applies to inboxes connected with Gmail quick setup.

What happens while the banner shows#

The banner shows when Google limits how much the mailbox can send, how much Commslayer can read from it, or both. When only sending is limited, new customer email keeps arriving in Commslayer and only your replies wait. The pause can last up to 12 hours, and it often happens again after it ends.

Replies you send during the pause are not lost and are not marked as failed. They go out by themselves when the pause ends, so don't send them again.

Waiting replies go out over the few minutes after the pause ends.

Why it happens#

• Email volume: Gmail quick setup is capped at around 1,500 emails per day. The cap is set by Google, not by Commslayer
• Other apps on the same mailbox: another helpdesk or any other app with access to Gmail uses the same Google allowance
• Marketing or CSAT emails from the same address: they add to the volume Google sees from that mailbox
• A temporary problem on Google's side: the banner can appear even if you are nowhere near a sending limit

What to do now#

1. Wait for the pause to end. Your waiting replies send by themselves
2. Check which apps have access to the mailbox and remove the ones you don't use (steps below)
3. If you send marketing emails from the same address, move them to a different address
4. If CSAT surveys go out by email from this inbox, turn them off for a few days to see whether the banner stops

Check which apps have access to Gmail#

1. Sign in to Google with the mailbox that is connected to Commslayer, or ask your Google Workspace admin to do this check
2. Open Google's third-party connections page and click View connections
3. Filter by Access to Gmail
4. Remove access for anything unused, duplicated or unknown. Keep Commslayer

How to avoid it#

Move the inbox to Standard setup. Replies then go out through our email provider instead of Google, with no sending limits. Your inbox, conversation history and address stay the same.

To move, contact support from the chat inside the app and our team enables the switch on your account. Then go to Settings → Inboxes, click Manage on the inbox and click Switch to Postmark. Don't delete the inbox or create a new one.

After you switch, add the two DNS records and set up email forwarding yourself. You'll need access to your domain's DNS settings. The steps are the same as steps 2 and 3 in Standard email setup for Gmail / Google Workspace.

This is worth doing if you send close to 1,500 emails a day, or if support, marketing and CSAT emails all leave from the same address.

Still seeing the banner?#

Contact support from the chat inside the app.