When an Instantly sending account drops into an error state, the fix usually happens at the email provider. Filter Email Accounts by Has errors, open the account and read its exact error, repair that cause at Google, Microsoft, your DNS host or your billing page, then delete the account and add it back through Add or Buy Accounts → Connect existing. That delete-and-re-add sequence is the reconnect method Instantly currently documents. Instantly does not say what survives it, so record the account's campaigns, tags and limits before you delete anything.
Evidence and disclosure (checked October 16, 2026): This guide follows Instantly's current disconnected-account article, Email Accounts dashboard guide, connection overview and developer documentation, plus the Google and Microsoft admin documentation linked in each step. We did not reproduce these errors in a private Instantly workspace, and we have not tested whether history or settings survive a delete and re-add. OutboundXYZ has an affiliate relationship with Instantly; it did not shape these steps.
Is it the account or the campaign?
A disconnected account and an idle campaign look similar from the campaign view. The account status tells you which layer failed.
| What you see | Where the fault sits | Start here |
|---|---|---|
| Account shows Connection error, Sending error or Has errors | The mailbox connection or the provider | This guide |
| Account shows Paused with no error | Expired trial or Outbound plan, or a manual pause | Billing, then Unpause selected |
| Accounts are Active but a campaign sends nothing | Schedule, limits, leads or sender assignment | Our campaign-not-sending diagnosis |
| Instantly logs Email sent but recipients see nothing | Delivery, not the connection | Bounce details and the deliverability readiness test |
Before you start
- Instantly access that lets you delete and add email accounts in the affected workspace.
- A way to sign in as each mailbox user. Google and Microsoft OAuth reconnects happen one mailbox at a time, through that user's own sign-in.
- For Google Workspace, an admin who can open Security → API controls. For Microsoft 365, an admin who can edit a user's email apps; for Microsoft 365 sold through GoDaddy, access to that GoDaddy account.
- DNS access for the sending domain if the error points at DNS.
Do not put mailbox passwords, app passwords or tokens into support tickets, shared sheets or screenshots.
Step 1: Find every affected account and read the error
Open Email Accounts and use the Status filter. Instantly's dashboard guide lists separate filters for Connection error, Soft bounce error, Sending error, Has errors and Paused, plus DFY/Pre-warmed accounts for mailboxes bought from Instantly. Start with Has errors, then open each account to read its reason. Click Test domain setup in the same dashboard to check MX, SPF, DKIM and DMARC for the domains involved.
Through the API, the account status reads -1 (Connection Error), -2 (Soft Bounce Error), -3 (Sending Error), 2 (Paused) or 3 (a maintenance pause Instantly says resumes automatically), and status_message can hold the provider's raw response. Copy the error text before changing anything; it is your evidence if you need support.
Step 2: Match the error to its cause
| Error in Instantly | Usual cause | Fix first | Then |
|---|---|---|---|
| Can't Create New Access Token | Mailbox password changed, token expired, or the provider revoked Instantly's access | Confirm the user can sign in and the app is still allowed (Step 3) | Delete and reconnect |
| SMTP is disabled (Microsoft/Outlook) | Authenticated SMTP is off for the mailbox or the tenant | Enable it, then wait one hour as Instantly instructs | Delete and reconnect through Microsoft |
| DNS error | Missing or wrong MX, SPF, DKIM or DMARC | Correct the records | Delete and reconnect |
| Daily user sending limit exceeded | Provider sending cap reached, or a spam-related restriction | Lower volume and revise copy; Instantly expects recovery in 24–48 hours | Usually no reconnect |
| Paused with no error | Trial or Outbound plan expired | Subscribe | Unpause selected; no reconnect |
| DFY, AirMail or pre-warmed account in error | Subscription canceled, or a connection Instantly manages | Check Email Accounts & Domains | Reorder if canceled; contact support if still broken after 24 hours |
A sending-limit error is not a broken connection. Google says a Workspace user who hits a Gmail sending limit can't send new messages for up to 24 hours, so reconnecting does not reset it. Instantly's suggested 30 campaign plus 10 warmup emails per account per day is its planning figure, not a safety guarantee.
For accounts bought from Instantly, its article says active DFY, AirMail or pre-warmed accounts are reconnected automatically. Canceled ones are reordered through Add New → Instantly Airmail or DFY Google, then Existing domains. Don't try to connect them as outside accounts.
Step 3: Repair the cause at the provider
Google Workspace accounts connected with OAuth
Three provider-side events commonly end a working connection.
- A password change. Google's OAuth documentation says a refresh token stops working when the user changes their password and the token includes Gmail scopes. Expect to reconnect after any password reset, including one an admin forces.
- App access removed or narrowed. If an admin removed Instantly OAuth Email v1 under Security → Access and data control → API controls → Manage App Access, changed its access, or moved the user into an organizational unit the policy doesn't cover, reconnecting shows This app is blocked. Instantly's blocked-app guide checks user, app, organizational unit and Trusted access in that order. Google adds that restricting a requested service makes tokens fail with
admin_policy_enforced. - A suspended user. Google says Gmail is unavailable to a suspended user. Restore the user before trying to reconnect.
Our Google Workspace OAuth setup guide covers the full admin approval if the app has to be configured again.
Personal Gmail and other app-password accounts
Personal Gmail on Instantly's Option 2: App password method, and many IMAP/SMTP accounts, break when the password behind them changes. Google says it revokes app passwords on a Google Account password change, and app passwords need 2-Step Verification. Create a new one, then reconnect. Instantly requires working IMAP as well as SMTP, because it uses IMAP for reply detection and warmup.
Microsoft 365 and Outlook
Instantly's Microsoft SMTP article asks you to check two boxes per user:
- In the Microsoft 365 admin center, go to Users → Active users, select the user, then Mail → Manage email apps.
- Make sure IMAP and Authenticated SMTP are checked, then select Save changes.
Microsoft's SMTP AUTH documentation adds tenant-level traps: an org-wide Turn off SMTP AUTH protocol for your organization setting, a per-mailbox setting that overrides it, and security defaults, which disable SMTP AUTH entirely. An admin can check one mailbox with Get-CASMailbox -Identity <mailbox> | Format-List SmtpClientAuthenticationDisabled (False means enabled; blank means the org setting applies). For Microsoft 365 bought through GoDaddy, Instantly says the SMTP Authentication toggle is in GoDaddy's Email and Office user settings under Advanced Settings.
Microsoft's refresh-token documentation also says an admin password reset in the Microsoft 365 or Entra admin center, or an admin revoking a user's tokens, revokes tokens issued to apps, so a security clean-up on a client tenant can disconnect a whole batch. Our Instantly Microsoft 365 and Outlook setup guide covers the first-time connection.
DNS errors
Run Test domain setup, correct whatever fails, and reconnect. Instantly notes that missing records can cause bounces and disconnects, and a missing MX record blocks replies. Confirm the public records with our SPF, DKIM and DMARC checkers; SPF, DKIM and DMARC explained covers what each record should contain.
Step 4: Record the account's setup before you delete it
Instantly's fix for token, DNS and SMTP errors is to delete the account and add it back. Its help center does not state whether campaign assignments, tags, per-account limits, warmup settings or history carry over to the re-added account. Treat them as lost until you see them again, and record:
- Campaigns: every campaign whose Accounts to use includes the mailbox. API users can call the account-campaign mapping endpoint, "Get campaigns associated with an email".
- Tags: a campaign that selects senders by tag only picks the account up again once the tag is back on it.
- Account settings: daily campaign limit, campaign slow ramp, warmup on or off, sender name, signature and custom tracking domain.
- An export: select the accounts, open the three-dot menu and choose Download CSV.
When you restore settings with Edit Accounts, Instantly's bulk-settings article warns that any field left empty, except Sender Name, gets the default value on every selected account. Fill in every field you care about before saving.
Step 5: Delete and reconnect
- In Email Accounts, click the three dots next to the account, select Delete and confirm.
- Wait a few minutes. Instantly says the removal needs time to process. For a Microsoft account after an SMTP change, wait the full hour Instantly specifies.
- Click Add or Buy Accounts → Connect existing and choose the provider:
- Google Workspace: Google → Option 1: OAuth → Login, then select the mailbox. Use Use another account or an incognito window if the chooser shows the wrong user.
- Microsoft: choose Microsoft (Instantly's walkthrough labels it Office 365 / Outlook), click Yes, the SMTP has been enabled, sign in as the mailbox user, and tick Consent on behalf of your organization if it appears.
- IMAP/SMTP or Gmail app password: add a single account or use Bulk Import from CSV.
- Reassign the account to its campaigns and restore the settings you recorded.
If Instantly reports Account already exists in another workspace, the address is still attached to another workspace, often an expired one; each account can belong to only one. Instantly's removal guide covers an API move within a workspace group, or removal by support if you have a paid workspace.
Reconnecting many accounts at once
Instantly says Microsoft 365 accounts, including GoDaddy-sold ones, cannot be imported by CSV, and each Google Workspace OAuth account connects individually. IMAP/SMTP and Gmail app-password accounts can go back in through the CSV import. A tenant-wide Microsoft change that breaks 40 mailboxes therefore means one admin fix, the one-hour wait, then 40 separate sign-ins. Schedule that window and reconnect senders on live campaigns first.
What happens to campaigns and warmup in the meantime
Instantly warns that account errors can pause campaigns. Its campaign-error guide treats a disconnected sender as unavailable, and a campaign with no available assigned sender shows an error. Campaigns with other healthy senders keep only their capacity. After reconnecting, resume any errored campaign and allow the 10–15 minutes Instantly says changes take.
Don't assume warmup continued either. Instantly's warmup troubleshooting guide sends outside accounts with stalled warmup to the same error filter and DNS test. A red flame is different: warmup was disabled because the account bounced warmup emails, and it needs a DNS check and a reactivation code, not another reconnect.
Step 6: Confirm the account is really back
- The account shows Active and no longer appears under Has errors after a refresh.
- It is assigned to the intended campaigns, and its sent count on the Email Accounts dashboard moves once a campaign schedule opens.
- The warmup flame is green, blue or orange (active), not grey (paused) or red (disabled). Warmup analytics should show warmup emails sent and received; Instantly says newly enabled warmup starts after the next 12:00 AM UTC.
- The campaign's Analytics → Activity shows new Email sent entries from that mailbox.
An active status proves Instantly can authenticate. It does not prove inbox placement.
Stop it happening again
Most disconnects here start with a deliberate change: a password reset, an app-access edit, a user moved between organizational units, or a Microsoft SMTP or security-defaults change. Agree with whoever runs the mail tenant, often a client's IT team, that those changes trigger a check of the affected Instantly accounts. On Microsoft, enabling Authenticated SMTP explicitly per sending mailbox protects it from a later org-wide toggle, though not from security defaults.
Then make errors visible fast. Instantly's webhook and Slack webhook integrations include an Email account error event (account_error in the developer docs); Instantly says both need the Hyper Growth plan or above. Otherwise, check Has errors daily or poll account status through the API.
At agency scale this becomes routine maintenance. In a May 2023 Instantly walkthrough, with more than 100 sending inboxes available, Jan mentioned in passing that quite a few were in error and being fixed as he recorded. In an August 2024 tour of his agency's automations, he described a nightly inbox check: a disconnected inbox triggered a Slack message, an automatic reconnection attempt and a task for a team member to confirm or fix it by hand. That ran on Smartlead, not Instantly, and is dated context, not a product test. What transfers is the routine: detect overnight, alert a channel, give one person the fix.
If disconnects keep coming from one reseller or provider, compare options in our mailbox providers for agencies guide. For the platform decision itself, see our Instantly review.
Frequently asked questions
Why does my Instantly account keep disconnecting?
Usually a repeating provider event: password rotation, admin changes to app access or SMTP AUTH, failing DNS records, or a sending restriction. Compare error dates with the tenant's admin changes before reconnecting again.
Is there a reconnect button in Instantly?
Instantly's current help article documents deleting the account and connecting it again, not a one-click reconnect for outside accounts. Some third-party guides describe a reconnect button; if your dashboard shows one, try it first, then use the documented method.
Will deleting and re-adding an account reset its warmup or campaign assignments?
Instantly does not document what carries over, and we have not tested it. Record assignments, tags, limits and warmup settings first, check them afterwards, and ask Instantly support if an account's history matters.
How long should I wait before reconnecting a Microsoft account?
One hour after enabling SMTP and removing the account, according to Instantly, so Microsoft can update and issue new tokens.
Does turning on 2-Step Verification disconnect an Instantly account?
Instantly does not list it as a cause, and Google requires 2-Step Verification for app passwords. For Google accounts the documented break is a password change, which revokes app passwords and invalidates OAuth refresh tokens that include Gmail scopes.
