The short answer: if the domain already has mailboxes, it already has an SPF record, and a domain can only have one. When you verify the domain for SMTP Relay, do not create a second SPF TXT: add what the Email Center asks for to the record that is already there. The DKIM CNAMEs have their own names and live alongside what is there. And if a DMARC record already exists, you keep that one.
Why two SPF records break everything
When a server receives an e-mail from you, it looks for the domain TXT record that starts with v=spf1. If it finds two, the SPF rules say it must return an error, and the result counts as a failure for every e-mail on the domain, from the mailboxes and from the relay. It is one of the mistakes that sends the most mail to spam without anyone understanding why.
Merging the two into one
| 1 |
Look at the existing SPF. In the cPanel zone editor (if your DNS is with us) or in the panel of whoever manages your DNS, find the TXT record that starts with v=spf1.
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| 2 |
Look at what the Email Center asks for in the list of records for the domain.
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| 3 |
Add the new part to the existing record (usually an include:), before the closing ~all or -all. Do not remove what was there: it is what authorises your mailboxes.
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| 4 |
Save and ask for the verification in the Email Center. DNS can take a few hours.
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The shape is this, with the real names in place of the words in capitals:
Before: v=spf1 WHAT_WAS_THERE ~all
After: v=spf1 WHAT_WAS_THERE WHAT_THE_EMAIL_CENTER_ASKS_FOR ~all
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SPF has a lookup limit. Each include: makes the receiving server fetch another record, and the standard allows only ten. An SPF that has piled up many services (the website, the relay, a newsletter tool, an old billing tool) can go over the limit and fail. Remove what you no longer use. The SPF walkthrough is in creating your SPF record.
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DKIM and DMARC
| Record |
What to do |
| DKIM (three CNAMEs) |
Add them exactly as the Email Center shows them. They have their own names, so they do not replace the DKIM of your mailboxes: both sign, each one its own e-mails. Do not delete what is already there. |
| DMARC (TXT at _dmarc) |
There can only be one of these too. If one exists, keep it. If not, use the one the Email Center suggests. See creating your DMARC record. |
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After verifying, confirm with a real e-mail. Send a test through the relay to a Gmail or Outlook mailbox and look at the header: SPF, DKIM and DMARC should say «pass». How to read it is in reading an e-mail header.
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Not sure how to merge the records? Open a ticket with the domain name and we will look at the DNS with you.
Open a support ticket
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