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A soft bounce refers to any email message that is returned or bounces back due to any temporary availability issue with a recipient’s mailbox or mail/domain server. It is a type of bounced email message that is visible or received only when the recipient is incapable of receiving the message.
Techopedia Explains Soft Bounce
A soft bounce is primarily a delivery error email message that is automatically sent to an email sender.
A soft bounce occurs in the following situations:
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The recipient’s mailbox is full and cannot receive more messages. The recipient must empty or make enough space in the mailbox.
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The recipients email server is offline or currently unreachable. The sender, in this case, must wait.
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The size of the email message is larger than base limits of the host’s or recipient’s email server/host/domain.
If an outgoing email encounters any of the above situations, the sender receives an auto-generated soft bounce message specifying the reasons why the message cannot be delivered at that time.
