How to allow Watchbill alert email
Published . Updated .
This guide explains where an alert address is set, which address wins, and how to let the mail through a filter that blocks new senders.
Put the address on the account when every client should share it. Put it on the client when that client has its own desk. Put it on the check only when that one target should not use the parent. Allow alerts@thewatchbill.com in the mailbox that receives the mail. If the down message is filtered, the recovery is not sent.
Where do you add an address?
Open Alerting, then Email. The address you save there is the account default. Leave it blank and the mail goes to the address on the account, the one you use to sign in.
A client can replace that default. Open the client, then Alerting, and save an alert email on that client. Checks on the client use it when the check itself has no address.
A check can replace the client. The check form has an alert email. A blank check uses the client, and a blank client uses the account.
The page names the set that is in effect. Inherited from the account means neither the client nor the check stored an address. Set on this client means the client stored one and the check did not. Set on this check means the check stored one.
Pro and Business can store two more addresses on the same set. Free and Starter keep one. Extra addresses saved earlier stay stored if you move to a smaller plan. They are not mailed until the plan includes them again.
What does the message look like?
A down message says the check is down, names the target, and includes the note you stored if you stored one. A recovery message says the check is back up. It is sent only after the down message for that outage was actually sent. A first confirmation that the check is up, with no open outage, does not send that recovery. A test from the Email card says it is a test and that no check changed.
The from address is alerts@thewatchbill.com. The visible name is The Watchbill. Pro and Business can set a reply-to address. The from address does not change.
Mail is sent through Resend on the thewatchbill.com domain. Resend's own domain docs describe the DNS a sender verifies so receivers can check the mail. You do not add those records on the client's domain. You allow the sender in the mailbox that should see the alert.
How do you allow the sender?
The click path lives in the mailbox product, not in The Watchbill. This pass did not open every host's current admin, so it does not name a Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace menu. Use the allow list, the safe-senders list, or the filter rule your host already documents, and match the sender below.
Allow the address alerts@thewatchbill.com. Also allow the domain thewatchbill.com if the host matches on the domain rather than the full address. Do not allow the whole internet, and do not turn off spam filtering for the mailbox.
If the mailbox is a shared desk, add the allow rule on that shared mailbox, not only on one person's inbox. A rule on one inbox does not help the person who is on call tomorrow.
Send a test from the Email card after the rule is saved. Pro and Business can send that test. Free and Starter still receive real down and recovery mail. They do not have the test button.
What if the test never arrives?
Check the spam folder and the quarantine before you change the address. A new from-address is a common reason a first message is held. After you release one message, later messages from the same address usually pass.
Confirm the address on the set that is in effect. A check address overrides the client. Editing the client does not change a check that already has its own address.
Confirm the check is not still on Checking. The Watchbill waits until two minutes agree before it calls a check up or down. The checking note is a different message, sent once while the check is still unconfirmed.
If the down message never went out, there is no recovery to wait for. Fix the filter, then the next real down and recovery pair will both be eligible.
A missing mail setting on the server does not count as a failed attempt. Three failed attempts stop that message. The account page does not show the provider's private error text.
A shared mailbox is the right default for a small shop. One person being away should not hide the down message. Write the address in the client's runbook next to the status link, and say which set is in effect so the next tech does not add a second address on the check by mistake. Two addresses that both page the same phone are noise. One address that reaches the desk is enough until the desk asks for another.
If you change the account address, clients and checks that inherit it follow the new address on the next message. A client or a check that stored its own address does not follow. Open that client or that check and clear the address if you want them to inherit again. Clearing is a blank field and a save, not a delete of the client.
How The Watchbill helps
Email is on every plan. The account address is the default. A client can set its own address, and a check can set its own. The screen says which of those three is in effect. A recovery is sent only after that outage's down message was sent. Plan details are on the pricing page.
Sources
- Resend, introduction to domains. Accessed October 10, 2026.