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✉️ Email Delivery

Documentation, reference material and tutorials for CRM-NG SMTP Email: setup guides for every mail service, troubleshooting, and one article per error message.

Error: Authorization grant invalid or expired (SendGrid)

Updated

By Duane GarnerChief Executive Officer (CEO)
Summarize: Claude ChatGPT View Markdown
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SendGrid does not accept the API key saved in the plugin. It is mistyped, deleted or from another account. Create a new key and save it.

This article is for sites using the SendGrid mailer where sending fails with "The provided authorization grant is invalid, expired, or revoked".

The error as you see it

The provided authorization grant is invalid, expired, or revoked

Shown by the SendGrid mailer, in the failed-send banner (as "Invalid SendGrid API key."), in Tools → Debug Events and in the Email Log. SendGrid returns it with HTTP status 401.

What this error means

The plugin sends each email to SendGrid with your API Key attached. SendGrid looked the key up and could not match it to a working key. It never got as far as checking your sender or recipients. SendGrid API keys do not expire on a schedule, so in practice "expired or revoked" means the key was deleted, or the plugin holds something that was never a valid key.

Common causes

  • The key was deleted in SendGrid, perhaps during a clean-up or by another team member.
  • Part of the key is missing. SendGrid keys are long and start with SG.; copying can drop characters or add a space.
  • The key belongs to a different SendGrid account or subuser than you think.
  • The key ID was saved instead of the key. SendGrid shows the full key only once, when it is created; the list afterwards shows only a short ID.
  • A constant in wp-config.php still holds an old key.

How to fix

  1. Sign in to SendGrid

    Go to https://app.sendgrid.com/ with the account that owns your sending domain.

  2. Open API keys

    Go to Settings → API Keys. If the key the site used is not listed, it was deleted.

  3. Create a new key

    Choose Create API Key, name it after your site, and pick Restricted Access with only Mail Send set to full access (that is all the plugin needs). Create it and copy the key immediately; SendGrid will not show it again.

  4. Save it in CRM-NG SMTP

    In CRM-NG SMTP → Settings → General, with SendGrid selected, use Remove API Key, paste the new key into API Key, and press Save Settings.

  5. Check for constants

    If the API Key field cannot be edited, the key is set with a CRMNG_SMTP_* constant in wp-config.php. Update it there.

  6. Delete the old key

    Back in Settings → API Keys, delete any key no longer in use.

  7. Send a test

    Go to CRM-NG SMTP → Tools → Email Test, fill in Send To and press Send Email.

Verify it worked

The test page shows "Test email sent successfully! Check your inbox to confirm delivery." In SendGrid, Activity Feed lists the test message.

Notes

  • If SendGrid now accepts the key but refuses to send with "not authorized to send", the key exists but lacks permission or the account is restricted: see Authenticated user not authorized to send.
  • Keep one key per site. Then deleting a key for one site never breaks another.
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