The quick answer
When a dunning procedure's Sending Schedule is Manual, every letter the dunning evaluation creates waits in Setup > Dunning > Dunning Email Sending Queue. Check Mark on the customer's row and click Send. When the send finishes, the row is gone from the queue. To confirm, open the customer: Communication > Messages has the email, and Dunning > Procedure Setup shows the send time in Last Email Sent. Sending doesn't change the customer's Dunning Level. Only a later evaluation does that.
The screenshots show sample data. Person and operating-company names are fictional. Use your own records and values when following the steps.
Before you start
This needs the Dunning Letters SuiteApp installed and set up: dunning templates, dunning level rules, and a dunning procedure with Sending Schedule set to Manual that's assigned to your customers. The customer dunning evaluation has to be running too. That means a copy of the bundled customer dunning workflow scheduler, pointed at a saved search of customers with a procedure, scheduled, and released. Setting all that up is its own job and isn't covered here.
The example is customer-level dunning, where the procedure applies to customers. Procedures that apply to invoices or invoice groups use the delivery fields on those records instead.
To send from the queue you need Dunning Manager permissions, or a role with equivalent dunning access, plus access to the customer's subsidiary. Configuring dunning generally takes Dunning Director permissions.
On the customer's Dunning subtab, Allow Letters to be Emailed has to be checked and there has to be someone to send to. With no dunning recipients set, the letter goes to the customer's own email. If Do not Send Letters to Customer Email is checked, it goes to the contacts on the Dunning Recipient subtab instead.
In the example, Brightwater Fabrication owes 3,740.00 on one invoice that was due 09/08/2026. On 09/21/2026 it's 13 days overdue, and the evaluation has put it at dunning level 1 under the Standard Collections procedure.
01. Check the overdue invoice and the customer
Open the invoice. INV-30418 is Open, dated 08/09/2026, with Due Date 09/08/2026 and Amount Due 3,740.00.
Click the customer name to open Brightwater Fabrication, then open the Financial subtab. Balance Information shows Overdue Balance 3,740.00 and Days Overdue 13.
Open the Dunning subtab and click Procedure Setup. Dunning Procedure is Standard Collections, Dunning Manager is Alex Morgan, Dunning Level is 1, and Last Email Sent is blank. You don't type the level. The scheduled evaluation set it using the procedure's level rules and its Determine Dunning Level By setting. A blank Last Email Sent means no letter has gone out yet.
02. Open the Dunning Email Sending Queue
Go to Setup > Dunning > Dunning Email Sending Queue.
The Filters at the top (Customer, Subsidiary, Dunning Procedure, Dunning Level, Apply To and four date fields) don't apply until you click Search. Leave them empty here. Under Pagination Options, Total Letters In Queue is 5 in this example. The Current Queue sublist has one letter per row. Brightwater Fabrication's row shows Recipient Brightwater Fabrication, Level 1, Dunning Procedure Standard Collections, Allow Email Yes and no Last Letter Sent. The other rows are other customers' letters, some at level 2 or 3.
View on each row opens that letter's detail if you want to check it before sending.
03. Mark the letter and send it
Check Mark on the Brightwater Fabrication row only and leave the others unmarked. Mark All would select every letter on the page. Click Send.
Don't click Remove unless you mean it. Remove takes the letter out of the queue and records it as Removed in the dunning evaluation results. That letter can't be sent or printed later.
Here the page reloaded without a confirmation message. Brightwater Fabrication's row is gone and Total Letters In Queue is 4. The other four letters are still waiting. Above a certain number of marked letters, NetSuite asks you to confirm and sends them in the background, so rows can take a while to leave. Click Search later to refresh the list.
04. Confirm the letter on the customer
Open Brightwater Fabrication again, for example from Recent Records, and go to Communication > Messages. There's a new row for the email: 09/21/2026 9:42 am, from Alex Morgan to Brightwater Fabrication, subject "Reminder: your account has an overdue invoice", with INV-30418.pdf attached. The sender is the customer's Dunning Manager. The invoice PDF is attached because the level 1 dunning template is set to attach invoice copies.
Open the Dunning subtab and click Procedure Setup. Last Email Sent now reads 09/21/2026 9:42:10 am. Dunning Level is still 1.
Check the result (example values)
- Before sending, the customer showed Overdue Balance 3,740.00, Days Overdue 13, Dunning Level 1 and a blank Last Email Sent.
- The queue showed 5 letters, with Brightwater Fabrication's at Level 1.
- After Send, the queue shows 4 letters and no Brightwater Fabrication row.
- The customer's Messages list the reminder email with INV-30418.pdf attached.
- Last Email Sent reads 09/21/2026 9:42:10 am, and Dunning Level is still 1.
These records show NetSuite processed the letter. They don't prove it reached the customer's mailbox. In a sandbox, what happens to outgoing email depends on the account's email settings, so check those before you test there.
A later dunning evaluation can move the customer to level 2 when the level 2 criteria are met. The Minimum Dunning Interval is one of the things it checks, and a new letter isn't sent while the level stays the same. Once your team trusts the setup, you can switch the procedure's Sending Schedule to Automatic. Eligible letters are then emailed during each evaluation without going through this queue, as long as delivery, recipient, interval and pause conditions allow. PDF letters are still produced manually from Setup > Dunning > Dunning PDF Printing Queue, whichever schedule the procedure uses.
Common questions
Why isn't an overdue customer in the Dunning Email Sending Queue?
A letter only shows up after a dunning evaluation has put the customer at a level. Check that the customer has a dunning procedure, that the procedure's Sending Schedule is Manual, that Allow Letters to be Emailed is checked and dunning isn't paused, and that the evaluation workflow has actually run. With Automatic, letters are emailed during the evaluation and never land in this queue.
What's the difference between Send and Remove?
Send emails the marked letters and takes them out of the queue. Remove takes them out without sending and records them as Removed. A removed letter can't be sent or printed later, so only use it when you mean to drop that letter.
Why is the Dunning Level still 1 after I sent the letter?
Sending doesn't change the level. The dunning evaluation sets it from the procedure's level rules. Sending updates Last Email Sent, and the level stays where it is until a later evaluation finds the customer meets the next level's criteria.
Who does the dunning email come from?
The customer's Dunning Manager, which is filled in from the procedure's Default Dunning Manager when the procedure is assigned. In the example that's Alex Morgan. The address the customer sees also depends on that employee's email and your account's email settings.
Does the message on the customer prove the customer got the email?
No. The row under Communication > Messages shows NetSuite recorded and sent the email. It doesn't show whether the customer's mail system accepted or delivered it. Check any bounce information your account has, or ask the customer.
Should the sending schedule be Manual or Automatic?
Manual puts every letter in the queue so someone reviews it before it goes out, which is a sensible way to start. Automatic emails eligible letters during each evaluation with no review step. Either way, the evaluation has to find the customer eligible first.