Knowledge Base

Why don't I receive ChangeAlert email notifications every day?

Updated on August 21, 2026

Overview

By the end of this article you will understand why ChangeAlert emails do not arrive every day and be able to change your notification settings so that they do. The article explains the two notification types in the CodeGuard dashboard — Summary, the default, which sends an email only when web content files change, and Extended, which sends an email for any file change — and the Notification Filtering control that separates them. It also covers the Secure Inbox, where alerts are recorded regardless of the setting, and the steps for changing the notification type on the Settings tab for your website.

What is a ChangeAlert notification?

A ChangeAlert notification is an email from CodeGuard telling you that files on your website have changed. Whether an email is sent depends on the notification type selected in your CodeGuard dashboard. Alerts are recorded in your Secure Inbox inside the dashboard regardless of the notification type you choose.

Figure 1: Email Notifications panel in the CodeGuard dashboard with Notification type set to Summary

Why you may not receive an email every day

By default, ChangeAlert notifications use the Summary notification type. With this setting, an email is sent only when web content files change — for example PHP (PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor), HTML (HyperText Markup Language), CSS (Cascading Style Sheets), RB (Ruby), or similar web files.

If the only files changing on your website are cache files, temporary files, images, videos, or other media files, no ChangeAlert email is sent. Days on which only these file types change therefore produce no email.

Summary and Extended notification types compared

Notification type	Notification Filtering	An email is sent when
Summary (default)	Yes	Web content files change — for example PHP, HTML, CSS, or RB files
Extended	No	Any file on your website changes, regardless of file type

In both cases, alerts are recorded in your Secure Inbox inside the CodeGuard dashboard.

Prerequisites

A CodeGuard account with a website added
Sign-in credentials for that CodeGuard account

Steps to receive an email for every file change

Open the Settings tab for your website. Sign in to your CodeGuard dashboard and go to the Settings tab for the website you want to change.

Figure 2: CodeGuard dashboard with the Settings tab selected for a website

Select the Extended notification type and turn off filtering. Set the notification type to Extended, then change Notification Filtering to No.

Figure 3: Website settings page with notification type set to Extended and Notification Filtering set to No

How to verify the new setting is applied

Return to the Settings tab for your website and confirm the notification type shows Extended and Notification Filtering shows No. With these settings, you will receive an email notification when any file on your website changes, including cache, temporary, image, video, and other media files.

Troubleshooting

Issue: No ChangeAlert email arrives on some days.
Cause: The notification type is set to Summary, and only cache, temporary, image, video, or other media files changed on those days.
Solution: Change the notification type to Extended and set Notification Filtering to No, as described in the steps above.

Issue: You want to review changes on a day when no email arrived.
Cause: Alerts are recorded in the Secure Inbox even when no email is sent.
Solution: Sign in to your CodeGuard dashboard and open your Secure Inbox to review the recorded alerts.

Frequently asked questions

Why don't I get a ChangeAlert email every day?: By default, ChangeAlert notifications use the Summary notification type, which sends an email only when web content files change. If the only files that changed were cache, temporary, image, video, or other media files, no email is sent.
How do I get an email for every file change?: On the Settings tab for your website in the CodeGuard dashboard, set the notification type to Extended and change Notification Filtering to No.
What is the difference between the Summary and Extended notification types?: Summary, the default, sends an email only when web content files change. Extended sends an email when any file on your website changes, regardless of file type.
Where can I see changes when no email was sent?: Alerts are recorded in your Secure Inbox inside the CodeGuard dashboard regardless of the notification type you have selected.