Add MX records to your domain to ensure your email works properly.

If you use Google Workspace (previously G Suite) with your Squarespace domain, you need to add MX records to send and receive email. In some cases, setting up Google Workspace adds these records automatically.

If you can't send or receive email, your domain might be missing these MX records. This guide explains how to add them to your domain.

Tip: If you can't send or receive email, it could also be due to:

• Your domain connection
• A suspended Google Workspace subscription
• Issues with spam

For a list of common Google Workspace error messages, review Troubleshooting Google Workspace.

Before you begin

• How you add MX records to a Squarespace domain will depend on where you purchased your Google Workspace subscription. If you purchased it directly through Google, you'll connect your domain on Google's end. If you purchased Google Workspace through your Squarespace site, you likely already had the records added automatically, but you can manually add and remove a preset of MX records to troubleshoot.

• If receiving and sending email through Google Workspace stopped working after adding new MX records, remove all of the MX and other email-related records for your domain, including the new records you just added. Then, re-add the new MX records to your DNS settings. 

• Like all other DNS records, any changes made to MX records can take up to 48 hours to process.
• If you haven't purchased your Google Workspace account or domain through us, contact Google or your domain provider for email-related issues.

Automatically connect to Google Workspace

If you purchased your Google Workspace subscription from Google directly, you can connect your domain on Google's end to add the correct MX records automatically:

1. Log into your Google Workspace account. You must have administrator priveleges on the account.
2. Go to Account > Domains > Manage Domains and click Add a domain.
3. Type your domain name, select Secondary domain, then click Add domain & start verification.
4. In the dropdown menu that appears, select Squarespace as your domain host. Click Continue, then Get started, and finally Sign in to Squarespace.
5. A window will open that prompts you to log into Squarespace if you aren't already. After logging in, you'll be prompted to approve the connection.
6. After the connection is approved, the records are added automatically.

Connection error message

If you receive an error message when trying to connect, this means there are already DNS records or forwarding rules on your domain related to mail (MX, DKIM, SPF) that you'll need to remove before the Google Workspace records can be applied.

To remove those records:

1. Open your domains dashboard.
2. Click the domain name. If you have multiple Squarespace domains, you'll manage their DNS records separately.
3. Click DNS in the side panel.
4. Find any records with the type MX, DKIM, or SPF. Click the red trash can icon and then click Delete when prompted to remove them.
5. Find any records in the Email forwarding section and use the same process to delete them.
6. Use the steps above to retry the automatic connection.

Manually add MX records to a Squarespace domain

If your Google Workspace account was purchased through Squarespace for a Squarespace domain, MX records should already be in your domain as part of your account setup. Follow these steps to check for these records, and if necessary, add them manually.

If you registered your domain through Squarespace or connected a third-party domain via Nameserver Connect, you can adjust your DNS settings in your domains dashboard. If your DNS settings aren’t accessible via Squarespace, follow our steps on adding MX records to a third-party domain instead.

Step 1 - Check for MX records

To check for Google Workspace MX records:

1. Open your domains dashboard.
2. Click the Squarespace domain you use for your Google Workspace account.
3. Click DNS.

In your settings, look for Google Workspace DNS records. Most likely, you'll have five records under Google Workspace that look similar to this:

Instead, you may have a single record under Google records that looks like this:

You should only have a set of five records or a single record, but not both. Depending on your set up, you may need to do one of the following:

• If you have one of these records types and it's set up correctly, you don't need to take action, and you can stop here.
• If you have one of these record types but there's an error, delete the records and re-add them using the Google Workspace MX preset option.
• If you don't have either record type, add them using the Google Workspace MX preset option.

Step 2 - Add missing MX records using the preset

If the MX records aren't present, you can add them manually. In the DNS Settings panel, select Google Workspace MX from the Add Preset dropdown menu. This adds the required records, so you don't need to type them in.

Add MX records to a third-party domain

If your Google Workspace account is connected to a third-party domain, ensure you add the correct MX records to your domain's DNS settings to complete your account setup. You should get instructions for this step by email after signing up. You can also find provider-specific steps in Google’s documentation.

Add an MX record to a subdomain

To use Google Workspace with a subdomain, add a single MX record to the subdomain.

1. Open your domains dashboard.
2. Click DNS, scroll to Custom records, then click Add record. 
3. In the Host field, enter the subdomain. For example, if your subdomain is subdomain.rootdomain.com, enter subdomain.
4. Select MX from the Type drop-down menu.
5. In the Priority field, enter 10.
6. In the Data field, enter smtp.google.com.

Wait 48 hours

New MX records may take up to 48 hours to fully process and send email to your address.

If you can’t send or receive mail after 48 hours, contact us.