Adding SPF and DKIM Records to DNS Settings

Adding SPF and DKIM Records to DNS Settings

Email authentication allows organizations to retain the trustworthiness of the email's origin, when they send emails from Zoho CRM using their domain. In order to authenticate the emails, they need to validate the following authentication standards:
  1. Domain Verification
  2. DKIM (Domain Keys Identified Mail)
  3. SPF (Sender Policy Framework)
This authentication can be performed in Zoho CRM, post which the autogenerated SPF and DKIM records need to be added to the domain manager. Read more about authenticating emails. 

Adding SPF TXT record in domain manager

Sender Policy Framework or SPF is an extension to the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP). It allows the software to identify and reject forged email addresses in the SMTP Mail From (Return-Path). It lets the domain owner to specify their email sending policy, i.e. which email server they want to use to send mail from their domain name.

To add SPF TXT record in your domain manager
  1. Login to your DNS Manager account.
  2. Select the My Account from the menu and choose Domains.
  3. Expand Domains and click the Manage DNS button for the domain you want to verify.
    You will be redirected to the DNS Manager page and will be able to see information about existing DNS records. 

  4. Scroll down to the Records section and click Add button to add a DNS record.
  5. In Record Type, select TXT from the drop-down list.
  6. In Host, type @.
  7. In TXT Value, enter the record value generated from Zoho CRM (for example, v=spf1 include:transmail.net ~all).

  8. In TTL, enter 12 hours. 
  9. Click Finish.

Adding multiple SPF records

Having multiple SPF records can interrupt the SPF check which may cause validation failure. As a result, the emails may end up as Spam in the recipient servers.
To avoid this, you need to add the SPF record in the below format:
Remember to check if there are multiple SPF records. In that case, you would have to merge them like this and then verify.
Incorrect format: 
  1. v=spf1 include:abc.com ~all
  2. v=spf1 include:def.com ~all
  3. v=spf1 include:transmail.net ~all
Correct format:  v=spf1 include:abc.com include:def.com include:transmail.net ~all

Tools to check valid SPF records

You can use the below tools to check the validity of the SPF records.

 



Adding DKIM TXT records in your domain manager

Domain Keys or DKIM is an email authentication system (developed at Yahoo!) that is designed to verify the authenticity of the email sender and the integrity of the message (i.e., the message was not altered during transit). The DomainKeys specification has adopted aspects of Identified Internet Mail to create an enhanced protocol called Domain Keys Identified Mail.

To add DKIM TXT record in your domain manager
  1. Log into your DNS Manager account.
  2. Select the My Account from the menu and choose Domains.
  3. Expand Domains and click Manage DNS for the domain that you want to verify.
    You will be redirected to the DNS Manager page and will be able to see information about existing DNS records.  
  4. Scroll down to the Records section and click the Add button to add a DNS record.
  5. In Record Type, select TXT from the drop-down list.
  6. In Host type enter, <selector>._domainkey" (eg. 1522905413783._domainkey) " -->.
  7. In TXT, enter the TXT Record value generated in your Zoho CRM.
  8. Click Finish.

In Step 6, DO NOT add the domain name after the domain key in the DNS server because in most of the cases they automatically add your domain to the end.
Many DNS hosts only require you to enter 1522905413783._domainkey as the TXT record name instead of the full domain, because they automatically add your domain to the end. That is, your TXT record name will be 1522905413783._domainkey.yourdomain.com.yourdomain.com, instead of the intended 1522905413783._domainkey.yourdomain.com. 
To prevent error in verification, remember to check the TXT record and delete the domain name from the domain key. 

Managing DNS settings in other platforms

Adding TXT records in Big rock's DNS Server

To host your domain in the Big rock's DNS server
  1. Login to Big rock with the user name and password.
  2. Click on the domain name for which you want to edit TXT records.
  3. Click DNS management option to right of the page.
  4. Click Manage DNS.
  5. Click Domain name.
  6. Click DNS Management on the right bottom > Manage DNS.
  7. Click TXT record.
      
The domain name is already populated, so you don't have to enter the domain name again.

Adding TXT records in Namecheap DNS Server

To host your domain in the Namecheap's DNS server
  1. Sign into your Namecheap account.
  2. Select Domain List from the left sidebar and click Manage next to your domain.
  3. Select Advanced DNS tab at the top of the page.
  4. In the Host Records section, click the Add New Record button.

Adding TXT records in Shopify DNS Server

  1. From your Shopify admin, go to Online Store > Domains.
  2. In the Shopify-managed domains section, click the domain name you want to edit.
  3. Click DNS Settings.

  4. Edit the following DNS settings, if needed:
    1. Click Add custom record > select record type, and confirm the details.
    2. Click Actions > Edit and confirm the details, to change an existing record.
    3. Click Actions > Remove to delete a record.

Adding TXT records in Square space DNS Server 

  1. Open Advanced DNS Settings for the domain.
  2. Scroll down to Custom Records.
  3. In the Record field of a blank row, select TXT from the drop-down.
  4. In the Host field, enter the host name.
  5. Leave the Priority field blank.
  6. In the Data field, enter the TXT record value.
    TXT value is a combination of letters, numbers, and symbols.
  7. Click Add to save the record to your settings.

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