Stop PLESK from using Local Handler for E-Mail (UPDATE)

August 6, 2012

A few months ago, I wrote an article explaining how to trick Parallels’ PLESK into sending an email to an external mail server even when the recipients address matched one of your vhost domains. That article was particularly helpful if you didn’t have a mail server set up and your email was getting lost.

A problem occurred for me during the PLESK 10.4.4 update, and it seemed as though PLESK reverted back to its old ways of destroying my life and dumping important emails to my company’s address. Low and behold, the fix was even simpler than before….

This article applies to you if:

• You have Parellel’s PLESK 10.4+
• You are using QMail or Postfix for your MTA
• You have a site on PLESK, i.e. mycompany.com, but you have a mail server somewhere else that handles emails sent to person@mycompany.com

Log into your PLESK panel, then find the domain that is the particular culprit.

Then, open that domain’s control panel, then visit Mail -> Change Settings

At that point, find the checkbox that says “Activate Mail Service on this domain” and uncheck it.

For good measure, go into your server and restart PLESK, your MTA, and Apache. Why not right?

THATS ALL THERE IS TO IT. Trust me, once I found out, I wanted to punch myself in the face.