Stop texting numbers carriers already rejected

The Failed Number Directory is not your DNC list. The DNC list is people your workspace must not text, mostly because they opted out or you added them. What counts as that opt-out is the Opt-outs & DNC guide. FND is a shared record of numbers carriers reported as undeliverable. When it blocks a number, it also adds an Auto-Blocked row to your DNC list, marks matching contacts unsubscribed, and keeps that number out of campaigns, one-to-one sends, and imports.

It is on by default under Compliance, Settings. Only owners and admins can change it, and the change saves on its own. Turn it on before a large import or blast if someone switched it off. That is when it prevents the most wasted sends.

Which failures count

A failed or undelivered text with a carrier error code can add the number. Most codes count after one failure. Codes 1, 16, and 99 need two, so a one-off glitch is less likely to block a good line. Problems on your side do not count: running out of credits, rate limits, daily limits, network errors, and similar. The directory is shared across Statxt. A number that failed for another business is blocked for you too while FND is on.

On your DNC list those rows show Auto-Blocked, reason Bounced, added by System. Export Auto-Blocked downloads just those rows, which is the file you want when you are cleaning the source list in a CRM so the same dead numbers do not come back on the next import.

You can see it without opening the directory

Text Blaster reports exclusions, for example a count of DNC and a count of FND. A one-to-one text to a blocked number is refused. Campaign recipients are skipped as blocked by the directory. The import summary has an FND Excluded count. Validate phones in Contacts skips FND numbers so you do not spend credits checking them.

A big FND count after a send usually means the list is old or purchased. It is a data problem, not a copy problem.

The block ends, or a text from them ends it

Phones get reassigned. If someone texts you from a blocked number, Statxt clears it from the directory, removes the Auto-Blocked DNC entry, and reactivates matching contacts. People who opted out stay opted out. Otherwise the block ends 90 days after the number's most recent failure. Deleting the Auto-Blocked row from your DNC list does not clear the directory. Sends can stay blocked while FND is on.

Turn FND off and sends and imports stop checking the directory. Numbers already on your DNC list as Auto-Blocked stay there until you remove them or the number texts you.

The click-by-click version lives in the Failed Number Directory guide.