diff --git a/nextcloud_mcp_server/search/context.py b/nextcloud_mcp_server/search/context.py
index e57c6602..d4219eea 100644
--- a/nextcloud_mcp_server/search/context.py
+++ b/nextcloud_mcp_server/search/context.py
@@ -834,6 +834,10 @@ async def _fetch_document_text(
             # Reconstruct full content via the shared helper so chunk offsets
             # match what the processor indexed (single source of truth).
             message = await nc_client.mail.get_message(int(doc_id))
+            # Empty payload (OCS data=null with a <400 meta) -> skip context
+            # expansion, mirroring the processor's index-time guard.
+            if not message:
+                return None
             return build_mail_content(message)
         else:
             logger.warning("Unsupported doc_type for context expansion: %s", doc_type)
diff --git a/nextcloud_mcp_server/vector/scanner.py b/nextcloud_mcp_server/vector/scanner.py
index b4b0eea9..0468dc98 100644
--- a/nextcloud_mcp_server/vector/scanner.py
+++ b/nextcloud_mcp_server/vector/scanner.py
@@ -1549,6 +1549,16 @@ async def scan_mail_messages(
                         needs_indexing = True
                     elif existing_metadata.get("modified_at", 0) < modified_at:
                         needs_indexing = True
+                    elif existing_metadata.get("status") == "failed":
+                        # A permanent processing failure — don't re-queue an
+                        # unchanged message that will just fail again; the
+                        # modified_at branch above retries once it changes
+                        # (mirrors the file scanner's failed-placeholder guard).
+                        logger.debug(
+                            "Skipping mail message %s: previous processing "
+                            "failed permanently",
+                            doc_id,
+                        )
                     elif existing_metadata.get("is_placeholder", False):
                         queued_at = existing_metadata.get("queued_at", 0)
                         placeholder_age = time.time() - queued_at
diff --git a/tests/unit/search/test_verification.py b/tests/unit/search/test_verification.py
index 9edbea24..5fbb4338 100644
--- a/tests/unit/search/test_verification.py
+++ b/tests/unit/search/test_verification.py
@@ -303,6 +303,22 @@ async def test_verify_mail_missing_mailbox_id_keeps(mocker):
     list_messages.assert_not_awaited()
 
 
+@pytest.mark.unit
+async def test_verify_mail_non_numeric_mailbox_id_keeps(mocker):
+    """A non-numeric mailbox_id in metadata is kept without a list call."""
+    list_messages = mocker.AsyncMock()
+    mail_client = SimpleNamespace(list_messages=list_messages)
+    client = SimpleNamespace(mail=mail_client, username="alice")
+
+    result = await _verify_mail_messages(
+        client,
+        [_make_result(42, doc_type="mail_message", metadata={"mailbox_id": "bad"})],
+        _sem(),
+    )
+    assert result == {"42"}
+    list_messages.assert_not_awaited()
+
+
 @pytest.mark.unit
 async def test_verify_mail_non_numeric_id_kept_when_mailbox_listed(mocker):
     """A malformed doc_id can't match the numeric listing, so it's kept."""