# How to clear pending and blocked email queue entries

## Problem

When browsing to Utilities > Email Queue in the operator panel there are large number of pending and/or blocked emails in the queue which require manually retrying.

## Cause

The cron failed to send the emails 5 times and manual intervention is now required to send the email.

## Resolution

 Firstly, we recommend to subscribe to cron errors so that you're alerted as soon as an email fails to send. [Find out more](Configuring+The+Cron).


> Please take a [database backup](Backup+And+Restore#Backup) before running the below queries.

#### Retry sending pending and blocked emails

Pending emails would be scheduled to send automatically within the next 24 hours, but you can send them immediately:

```
UPDATE `email_queue` SET `attempt_at` = null;
```

To retry the blocked emails, you can reset the attempts to 0 and it will try 5 more times:

```
UPDATE `email_queue` SET `attempts` = 0 WHERE `attempts` >= 5;
```

#### Permanently delete blocked emails

To delete the blocked emails, you can run the following query:

```
DELETE FROM `email_queue` WHERE `attempts` > 4;
```