Cloud snail-mail service Docmail enters third day stuck in the outbox

UPDATED Docmail, a service used by more than 30,000 UK businesses and public sector organizations, has been offline for several days, prompting concern among users. Operated by CFH Docmail Ltd, the cloud-based hybrid mail service allows users to send physical letters without running their own print rooms or making trips to the post office. In other words, it handles the printing and postage of business communications. However, Docmail has been unavailable since the start of business on September 2, according to its status page. It initially warned that the service was "experiencing slower than usual processing times," before saying soon afterward: "Docmail is currently unavailable while we carry out essential maintenance. Our technical team is working to complete the maintenance and restore full service as quickly as possible. We apologise for any inconvenience caused and will provide a further update once the system is available again." Throughout the rest of the day, techies continued to deploy "required updates," and the service remained unavailable as work took place to "ensure the service can be brought back online safely and reliably." A further update on September 3 said Docmail was still "temporarily unavailable while our teams continue to work to restore the service." The company thanked customers for their patience and apologized for the "disruption." At the end of the day, it admitted: "We do not yet have a confirmed restoration time. Work remains ongoing as a priority." By Friday - day three of disruption - the service remained unavailable, with techies still toiling to restore it and promising further updates when more information became available. Our attention was drawn to the Docmail debacle by Reg readers concerned about the length of the outage and the lack of a restoration time. We contacted CFH Docmail for details of the disruption's cause and when it expects the service to be restored. CFH says many of its more than 30,000 business and public sector customers operate in UK healthcare. It claims that more than 75 percent of medical practices use Docmail for bulk mail and individual patient mailings, such as appointment reminders. Customers also include NHS Trusts such as Croydon Health Services, while dental practices, pharmacies, opticians, and medical research networks also rely on the service, as do some local authorities and businesses. While the service remains offline, important communications such as health appointment reminders and letters from local councils may go unsent. (R) Updated at 12.59 UTC on September 4, 2026, to add: Following publication of this article, a spokesperson at CFH Docmail Ltd, told us: "We have been made aware of an issue impacting an isolated server, used by only one client. Out of an abundance of caution and in line with our security protocols we took the decision to take Docmail offline. This proactive step is why the system has been temporarily unavailable. "Our internal team has been working closely to investigate what happened and to ensure that when all systems are switched back on, it will be entirely safe to do so. "This process does take time, and we are acting on the advice of external consultants to ensure we are taking the right precautions. While Docmail is ready to be reinstated, we are waiting completion of the external review before doing so. We apologise for the disruption this has caused to our customers and are working to restore service in the quickest but safest way possible."