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Email DNS setup checklist

An email DNS setup checklist: find the authoritative DNS provider, add MX and ownership TXT records, then SPF, DKIM and DMARC only for domains that send.

A clear four-step setup

Keep your registrar and DNS provider. We show the exact records your domain needs, then make the rest of the workflow simple.

Authentication is the foundation

TXT proves control. MX directs incoming mail. SPF, DKIM and DMARC give receivers evidence that your messages are legitimate.

1. Find the authoritative DNS provider

Records only work when they are added where the domain's DNS is actually served. Look up the NS records: if they point to Cloudflare, edit the zone in Cloudflare, even if the domain is registered at GoDaddy or Namecheap. Editing an inactive panel at the registrar changes nothing in public DNS.

Before editing, note the current MX and TXT records so you can undo a change.

Which provider is authoritative?

dig +short NS example.com

2. Receiving: MX and ownership

MX records decide where all incoming mail for the domain is delivered. Publish exactly the set your receiving provider gives you and remove the rest, because senders can deliver to any host in the MX set. Providers usually also ask for a TXT record to prove you control the domain.

For a Free Domain Mail catch-all inbox those are the only two records: a TXT record at _maildock-verify with the maildock-verify=… value shown in the app, and an MX record at the root pointing to mx.freedomainmail.com with priority 10. Every address at the domain then receives mail, kept for 30 days. It is free, for as many domains as you own.

Free Domain Mail receiving records

Type  Name / Host        Value                                 Priority
TXT   _maildock-verify   maildock-verify=… (shown in the app)  —
MX    @                  mx.freedomainmail.com                 10

3. Sending: SPF, DKIM and DMARC

Only needed if the domain sends mail through a service such as Google Workspace, Microsoft 365 or Amazon SES. Keep one SPF TXT record at the root that lists every sender (within the 10-lookup limit), publish each service's DKIM selector records exactly as shown, and add a DMARC record at _dmarc starting with p=none. The email authentication overview explains each record.

4. Host field formatting

Most setup failures are formatting errors in the Host or Name field rather than wrong values.

Use @ (or leave Host empty, depending on the panel) for the root domain.
If the panel appends the domain, enter _maildock-verify, not _maildock-verify.example.com, or the name becomes _maildock-verify.example.com.example.com.
Do not put the ownership TXT record at @; it belongs at _maildock-verify.
Paste values without extra spaces or quotes unless the panel asks for quotes.

5. Wait for TTL, then test

Resolvers keep old answers until their TTL expires, often between five minutes and an hour, and nameserver changes can take a day or more. Check the public answers with the DNS checker and compare resolvers with the propagation checker. Finally, send a real message from an outside account to a new address at the domain and confirm it arrives.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need to move my domain to change email DNS?

No. Keep the registrar and edit records at whichever provider is authoritative for the domain.

Can two providers receive mail for one domain?

Not reliably. All MX records share the domain's incoming mail, so mixing providers splits it. Use a separate domain or subdomain instead.

Does changing MX affect my website?

No. Websites use A, AAAA and CNAME records. Leave those unchanged.

Why does a check still show the old record?

The previous TTL has not expired yet, or the change was made at a non-authoritative provider. Check NS first.

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Free Domain Mail only receives email — it never sends or forwards mail on your behalf. Public temporary addresses are deleted after 10 minutes; custom-domain mail is kept for 30 days. Attachments are never stored, only their name, size and type.

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