Quick Answer
SPARK notification problems are usually caused by one of three things: the SPARK feature or Email channel being turned off for the user's Group, a required placeholder tag being removed from a customized email template, or an email image that is not publicly reachable.
What This Article Helps With
This article covers common SPARK notification delivery and display problems: missing personalization in an email, a broken email layout, images that do not display, and users not receiving SPARK emails at all.
What You Might See
- A SPARK email is missing the recipient's name, Content title, or description.
- A customized SPARK email displays a broken or misaligned layout, particularly in Outlook.
- Images in a SPARK email do not display.
- A user does not receive SPARK email notifications at all.
How to Fix It
Personalization is missing from an email:
- Open the affected template from Group Details > SPARK Notifications > Modify Welcome Email or Modify Notification Email.
- Confirm the placeholder tags (
[Assignee],[Content-Name],[Content-Description],[Target-Image]) are still present and unaltered. - Re-add any missing placeholder tag exactly as it appears in the default template.
- Save the template and send a test email to confirm personalization now resolves correctly.
The email layout is broken, particularly in Outlook:
- Open the template in Code View.
- Replace floating
<div>-based layout with table-based layout, and remove any external CSS or<style>blocks, keeping only inline styles. - Save the template and preview it using the "eye" icon.
- Send a test email to Outlook (desktop or web) to confirm the layout now displays correctly.
Images in the email are not displaying:
- Confirm the image is hosted at a publicly reachable URL.
- Add alt text to the image and keep the file size conservative.
- Save the template and send a test email to confirm the image now displays.
A user is not receiving SPARK emails at all:
- Go to Administration Portal > Groups and open the affected user's Group.
- Confirm Features > SPARK is toggled on and that Email is selected under SPARK Notifications.
- Confirm the Admin Email Notification Toggle is enabled.
- Confirm the affected user's own Email Notification Toggle is enabled, if it is visible to them.
- Verify the fix by confirming the user receives both the in-app notification and the corresponding email within the delivery window the next time SPARK triggers for them.
Common Questions
Why does this happen?
Most SPARK delivery issues come from a placeholder tag being altered in a customized template, a layout that uses HTML Outlook cannot render, an image that isn't publicly reachable, or a channel/toggle being turned off somewhere in the Group or user settings.
What should I check first?
If the issue is about content or layout in the email itself, check the template's placeholder tags and HTML first. If the issue is that a user receives no SPARK email at all, check the Group's SPARK and Email settings and the Admin and User email toggles first.
Will this affect existing users?
A template change (such as fixing a placeholder tag or layout) affects all future emails sent from that template to any Group using it. A Group or user-level toggle change affects only future notifications for users in that Group, or for that specific user.
Who should I contact if this does not fix the problem?
Log a support ticket using the link below.