Emails

Verify an email

Verify a single email. If a verification request takes longer than the timeout, you may retry this request for up to 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, further requests will count against your usage. The verification result will be returned when it is available.

When a test key is used, a random sample response will be returned.

Parameters

Parameter	Required	Description
`email`	Yes	The email you want verified.
`smtp`	No	`true` or `false`. The SMTP step takes up the majority of the API’s response time. If you would like to speed up your response times, you can disable this step. However, this will significantly decrease verification accuracy. Default: `true`
`accept_all`	No	`true` or `false`. Whether or not an accept-all check is performed. Heavily impacts API’s response time. Default: `false`
`api_key`	No	Your API key.
`access_token`	No	Your access token.
`timeout`	No	Optional timeout to wait for response (in seconds). Min: 2, Max: 10. Default: 5
`captcha_response`	No	The response string from your captcha provider. Only applicable when using a public API key with a captcha.

Response

The list of all attributes returned for each email verification. For additional details about each state and reason, click here.

Attribute	Type	Description
`accept_all`	Boolean	Whether the mail server used to verify indicates that all addresses are deliverable regardless of whether or not the email is valid.
`did_you_mean`	String	A suggested correction for a common misspelling.
`disposable`	Boolean	Whether this email is hosted on a disposable or temporary email service.
`domain`	String	The domain of the email. (e.g. The domain for john.smith@gmail.com would be `gmail.com`)
`duration`	Float	The length of time (in seconds) spent verifying this email.
`email`	String	The email that was verified.
`first_name`	String	The possible first name of the user.
`free`	Boolean	Whether the email is hosted by a free email provider.
`full_name`	String	The possible full name of the user.
`gender`	String	The possible gender of the user.
`last_name`	String	The possible last name of the user.
`mailbox_full`	Boolean	The mailbox is currently full and emails may not be delivered.
`mx_record`	String	The address of the mail server used to verify the email.
`no_reply`	Boolean	An address that indicates it should not be replied to.
`reason`	String	The reason for the associated `state`.
`role`	Boolean	Whether the email is considered a role address. (e.g. `support`, `info`, etc.)
`score`	Integer	The score of the verified email.
`smtp_provider`	String	The SMTP provider of the verified email’s domain.
`state`	String	The state of the verified email. (e.g. `deliverable`, `undeliverable`, `risky`, `unknown`)
`tag`	String	The tag part of the verified email. (e.g. The tag for john.smith+example@gmail.com would be `example`)
`user`	String	The user part of the verified email. (e.g. The user for john.smith@gmail.com would be `john.smith`)

The above command returns JSON structured like this:

{
  "accept_all": null,
  "did_you_mean": null,
  "disposable": false,
  "domain": "gmail.com",
  "duration": 0.493,
  "email": "john.smith@gmail.com",
  "first_name": "John",
  "free": true,
  "full_name": "John Smith",
  "gender": "male",
  "last_name": "Smith",
  "mailbox_full": false,
  "mx_record": "aspmx.l.google.com",
  "no_reply": false,
  "reason": "accepted_email",
  "role": false,
  "score": 100,
  "smtp_provider": "google",
  "state": "deliverable",
  "tag": null,
  "user": "john.smith"
}

If a verification is taking too long, a 249 status code will be returned:

Verify a batch of emails

Verify a batch of emails. The emails should be sent as a parameter emails and should be separated by commas. Up to 50,000 emails can be sent per batch. For enterprise accounts, larger batches may be requested by contacting support.

Data can be encoded as application/x-www-form-urlencoded, multipart/form-data, or application/json.

Please ensure that all parameters are sent in the HTTP request body, not in the query string portion of the URL.

If a URL is specified, the results will be sent to it via HTTP POST upon batch completion. The body will be JSON data, identical to the output from the batch status (GET /v1/batch) endpoint below. The endpoint should return an HTTP 200 status. If any other status code is returned, the results will continue to be sent hourly until a 200 status code is returned, or until 3 days have passed since the batch finished verifying.

When a test key is used, a successful batch creation response will be returned along with an example batch id. Additionally, it is possible to simulate certain API responses when using a test key by utilizing the simulate parameter.

Parameters

Parameter	Required	Description
`emails`	Yes	A comma separated list of emails.
`url`	No	A URL that will receive the batch results via HTTP POST.
`api_key`	No	Your API key.
`access_token`	No	Your access token.
`response_fields`	No	A comma separated list of fields to include in the response. If nothing is specified, all fields will be returned. Valid fields are `accept_all`, `did_you_mean`, `disposable`, `domain`, `email`, `first_name`, `free`, `full_name`, `gender`, `last_name`, `mailbox_full`, `mx_record`, `no_reply`, `reason`, `role`, `score`, `smtp_provider`, `state`, `tag`, and `user`.
`retries`	No	Defaults to true. Retries increase accuracy by automatically retrying verification when our system receives certain responses from mail servers. To speed up verification, you can disable this by setting retries to `false`; however, doing so may increase the number of unknown responses.
`simulate`	No	Used to simulate certain responses from the API while using a test key. Valid options are `generic_error`, `insufficient_credits_error`, `payment_error`, and `card_error`.

Response

Attribute	Type	Description
`message`	String	A message about your batch.
`id`	String	The unique ID of the batch.

curl -X POST "https://api.emailable.com/v1/batch" \
-d "emails=tim@smith.com,john@smith.com" \
-d "url=http://example.com/callback" \
-d "api_key=YOUR_API_KEY"

emails = ['tim@smith.com', 'john@smith.com']
callback = 'http://example.com/callback'
batch = Emailable::Batch.new(emails)
batch.verify(url: callback)

const emails = ['tim@smith.com', 'john@smith.com'];
const callback = 'http://example.com/callback';

emailable.batches.verify(emails, { url: callback })
  .then((response) => {
    // asynchronously called
  });

The above command returns JSON structured like this:

Get the status of a batch

GET requests to the batch endpoint will get the current status of the batch verification job specified in the id parameter.

When a credit card transaction is necessary to obtain enough credits to verify a batch, billing related messages will be returned if there is an error. These will be sent with a 402 response code.

When a test key is used, a random sample response will be returned for each email in the batch. Additionally, it is possible to simulate certain API responses when using a test key by utilizing the simulate parameter.

Parameters

Parameter	Required	Description
`id`	Yes	The id of the batch.
`api_key`	No	Your API key.
`access_token`	No	Your access token.
`partial`	No	A boolean value indicating whether to include partial results when a batch is still verifying. This option is only available for batches with up to 1,000 emails. Defaults to `false`.
`simulate`	No	Used to simulate certain responses from the API while using a test key. Valid options are `generic_error`, `importing`, `verifying`, and `paused`.

Response

By default, all fields will be returned for each email in the response. It is possible to limit the fields that are returned by specifying the response_fields parameter on batch creation. See the batch creation parameters for details.

Depending on the size of your batch, the batch status endpoint will operate in one of two ways.

Up to 1,000 emails

The response will include an emails key that will be an array containing responses for each email in the batch.

After 30 days, the response will no longer return the emails key and their individual verification results. Only the aggregate counts for the batch will be returned.

Over 1,000 emails

The response will include a download_file key. This will be a URL to a ZIP compressed CSV file that contains all of the responses for each email in the batch.

After 5 days, the response will no longer return the download_file key. Only the aggregate counts for the batch will be returned.

Attribute	Type	Description
`message`	String	A message about your batch.
`processed`	Integer	The number of emails that have been verified in the batch.
`total`	Integer	The total number of emails in your batch.
`emails`	Array	An array containing responses for each email in the batch. This field will only be returned for batches up to 1,000 emails. (See single email verification for more information on the response fields.)
`download_file`	String	A URL for a ZIP compressed CSV file containing responses for each email in the batch. This field will only be returned for batches over 1,000 emails.
`id`	String	The unique ID of the batch.
`reason_counts`	Hash	A hash with one key per possible `reason` attribute. The values are integers representing the number of emails with that reason.
`total_counts`	Hash	A hash with one key per possible `state` attribute. The values are integers representing the number of emails with that state. In addition to the `state` keys, `total_counts` also contains keys `processed` and `total`, with values indicating the number of emails in the batch.

If your batch is incomplete, a message will be returned, as well as the batch’s progress if it is processing:

If you choose to include partial results, you will get emails and counts in your response, even if the batch is still processing (keep an eye on total_counts.processed and total_counts.total for progress):

{
  "message": "Your batch is being processed.",
  "emails": [
    {
      "accept_all": false,
      "did_you_mean": null,
      "disposable": false,
      "domain": "gmail.com",
      "email": "john.smith@gmail.com",
      "first_name": "John",
      "free": true,
      "full_name": "John Smith",
      "gender": "male",
      "last_name": "Smith",
      "mailbox_full": false,
      "mx_record": "aspmx.l.google.com",
      "no_reply": false,
      "reason": "accepted_email",
      "role": false,
      "score": 95,
      "smtp_provider": "google",
      "state": "deliverable",
      "tag": null,
      "user": "john.smith"
    }
  ],
  "id": "5cf6dd30093f96d2ac34bb0a",
  "reason_counts": {
    "accepted_email": 1,
    "invalid_domain": 0,
    "invalid_email": 0,
    "invalid_smtp": 0,
    "low_deliverability": 0,
    "low_quality": 0,
    "no_connect": 0,
    "rejected_email": 0,
    "timeout": 0,
    "unavailable_smtp": 0,
    "unexpected_error": 0
  },
  "total_counts": {
    "deliverable": 1,
    "processed": 1,
    "risky": 0,
    "total": 2,
    "undeliverable": 0,
    "unknown": 0,
    "duplicate": 0
  }
}

When the batch completes, it will be indicated in the message field, and the results will be returned.

Up to 1,000 emails:

{
  "emails": [
    {
      "accept_all": false,
      "did_you_mean": null,
      "disposable": false,
      "domain": "gmail.com",
      "email": "john.smith@gmail.com",
      "first_name": "John",
      "free": true,
      "full_name": "John Smith",
      "gender": "male",
      "last_name": "Smith",
      "mailbox_full": false,
      "mx_record": "aspmx.l.google.com",
      "no_reply": false,
      "reason": "accepted_email",
      "role": false,
      "score": 95,
      "smtp_provider": "google",
      "state": "deliverable",
      "tag": null,
      "user": "john.smith"
    },
    {
      "accept_all": false,
      "did_you_mean": null,
      "disposable": false,
      "domain": "smith.com",
      "email": "tim@smith.com",
      "first_name": "Tim",
      "free": false,
      "full_name": "Tim",
      "gender": "male",
      "last_name": null,
      "mailbox_full": false,
      "mx_record": "mx1.smith.com",
      "no_reply": false,
      "reason": "accepted_email",
      "role": false,
      "score": 100,
      "smtp_provider": null,
      "state": "deliverable",
      "tag": null,
      "user": "tim"
    }
  ],
  "id": "5cf6dd30093f96d2ac34bb0a",
  "message": "Batch verification completed.",
  "reason_counts": {
    "accepted_email": 2,
    "invalid_domain": 0,
    "invalid_email": 0,
    "invalid_smtp": 0,
    "low_deliverability": 0,
    "low_quality": 0,
    "no_connect": 0,
    "rejected_email": 0,
    "timeout": 0,
    "unavailable_smtp": 0,
    "unexpected_error": 0
  },
  "total_counts": {
    "deliverable": 2,
    "processed": 2,
    "risky": 0,
    "total": 2,
    "undeliverable": 0,
    "unknown": 0,
    "duplicate": 0
  }
}

More than 1,000 emails:

{
  "id": "5cf6dd30093f96d2ac34bb0a",
  "download_file": "https://app.emailable-cdn.com/downloads/6284ee8ee1b8323ee12c201c/5cf6dd30093f96d2ac34bb0a.csv?X-Amz-Expires=3600&X-Amz-Date=20220518T130252Z&X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=AKIA5FIXD2WWI62KKBML/20220518/us-east-1/s3/aws4_request&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Signature=7e38682a949082d7cc7e8e2bdc09973e0fdedd858de23061447af1a32ee65779",
  "message": "Batch verification completed.",
  "reason_counts": {
    "accepted_email": 20000,
    "invalid_domain": 0,
    "invalid_email": 0,
    "invalid_smtp": 0,
    "low_deliverability": 0,
    "low_quality": 0,
    "no_connect": 0,
    "rejected_email": 0,
    "timeout": 0,
    "unavailable_smtp": 0,
    "unexpected_error": 0
  },
  "total_counts": {
    "deliverable": 20000,
    "processed": 20000,
    "risky": 0,
    "total": 20000,
    "undeliverable": 0,
    "unknown": 0,
    "duplicate": 0
  }
}

Test email addresses

There are several email addresses that can be used to return specific attributes when using a test API key. These will only work with the verify endpoint, not the batch endpoint.

Email	Response
deliverable@example.com	`state` will be `deliverable`
undeliverable@example.com	`state` will be `undeliverable`
risky@example.com	`state` will be `risky`
unknown@example.com	`state` will be `unknown`
role@example.com	`role` will be `true`
free@example.com	`free` will be `true`
accept-all@example.com	`accept_all` will be `true`
disposable@example.com	`disposable` will be `true`
slow@example.com	returns a `249` status code

Emails

Verify an email

Parameters

Response

Verify a batch of emails

Parameters

Response

Get the status of a batch

Parameters

Response

Up to 1,000 emails

Over 1,000 emails

Test email addresses

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Verify an email

Parameters

Response

Verify a batch of emails

Parameters

Response

Get the status of a batch

Parameters

Response

Up to 1,000 emails

Over 1,000 emails

Test email addresses

Was this page helpful?

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