Set up your email resource records.

This guide explains how to add MX, DKIM, DMARC, SPF or SRV records to a Squarespace-managed domain, or a third-party domain connected to a Squarespace website via Nameserver Connect. 

Tip: If your third-party domain is connected via DNS Connect, edit your DNS settings in your third-party domain provider account instead of following this guide.

Note: Our scope of support for DNS records is limited. We can help with showing you where to add records to your DNS settings. We can’t provide technical advice about DNS records or information about how DNS records work with other services. If you need more help, you can get peer-to-peer help in the Domains section of the Squarespace Forum or contact the service you're trying to connect, using our sample message.

Before you begin

To start editing your DNS records, you'll open your domains dashboard and click the domain name. If you have multiple Squarespace domains, you'll manage their DNS records separately.

MX records

An MX record tells servers where to route your email. In Squarespace, you’ll need to add MX records if you’re using a third-party custom email address with your Squarespace-managed domain. If you're having trouble adding specific records to your domain's settings, try our troubleshooting steps.

Squarespace automatically adds Google’s MX records to Squarespace-managed domains. If you have a third-party domain and you want to use Google Workspace (previously G Suite) with your Squarespace site, review Adding Google Workspace MX records instead of this guide. If your custom email address isn’t working, visit Troubleshooting Google Workspace for steps on how to resolve this issue.

Usually, you’ll enter multiple MX records for one domain. Your email provider should provide the priorities to enter for each record.

If you’re using a popular third-party email provider, save time by using our preset records instead. If you’re adding any other MX records, add the custom records manually in the Custom Records field.

Option 1 - Add third-party email preset records

You can add preset records for these email providers:

• Google Workspace
• Fastmail
• Proton Mail
• Neo
• Titan
• iCloud
• Zoho Mail

For more detailed steps, visit Accessing your Squarespace-managed domain's DNS settings

When adding presets for Google Workspace or Zoho Mail, keep these things in mind:

• If you signed up for a Google Workspace account through Squarespace, you don’t need to add the Google Workspace MX records — we do this for you automatically when you create your Google Workspace account. If you removed them, you can add them back with the preset.
• If you’re using Zoho Mail with your Squarespace domain, you’ll add the preset when you link the account.

Option 2 - Add custom records manually

1. Click DNS, and then click DNS Settings.
2. Scroll down to Custom Records.
3. Click Add record.
4. In the Type dropdown menu, select MX.
5. In the Host field, enter @ (If you’re adding records to a subdomain, enter the subdomain here instead).
6. In the Priority field, enter the priority number for your provider. You can enter any number from 0 through 255.
7. In the Data field, enter the mail server you’re directing to. This is usually a URL.
8. Click Save to add the record to your settings.

Repeat this process for all the MX records you need to add, changing the priority for each record as needed.

DKIM and SPF records

DKIM and SPF records are types of TXT records that authenticate your email account and prevent people from sending unauthorized emails from your account. If a third-party provider asks you to add a DKIM or SPF record to your Squarespace domain, you'll add it as a TXT or CNAME record. For many providers, DKIM is sufficient for their systems, but some may require an SPF record too.

You'll need a DKIM or SPF record from your provider to add to the Data field. SPF records start with v=spf1.

Squarespace supports DKIM and SPF records up to 2048 bits, so there's usually not a need to split them into multiple records. Other TXT records have a smaller limit of 255 characters.

To add a DKIM or SPF record:

1. Click DNS, and then click DNS Settings.
2. Scroll down to Custom Records.
3. Click Add record.
4. In the Type dropdown menu, select TXT or CNAME.
5. In the Host field, enter the host or name information from your provider. If no host or name information is listed, enter @ in this field.
6. In the Data field, enter the DKIM or SPF record from your provider.
7. Click Save to add the record to your settings.

Multiple SPF records

To add multiple SPF records to a Squarespace Domain, add them individually. Then, our system will automatically merge them into one. Here's an example of what the merged record will look like after you refresh: 

Note: If you’re seeing a “Custom records not saved” error message, delete your SPF records from your DNS settings before adding new SPF records.

DMARC

A DMARC record is a type of TXT record that verifies your domain when you send Email Campaigns or other marketing using your custom email address. By adding a DMARC record and allowing mail providers to verify your domain, you can help minimize how often your marketing emails get flagged as spam. When you create an email forwarding rule, a DMARC record is added for you automatically.

How you add the DMARC record depends on what service you use to send marketing emails:

• If you're sending Email Campaigns, create your sender details and your Squarespace domain will automatically verify. Should you have trouble verifying or accidentally delete the records, you can delete and recreate your sender details to verify.
• If you're sending marketing emails through a third-party service, contact the service provider for the records needed to verify your email address. Add the DMARC record in your DNS settings panel, noting these details:
  
  • In the Type dropdown menu, select TXT.
  • In the Host field, enter _dmarc without your domain at the end. Our system automatically adds your domain.

To add a DMARC record:

1. Click DNS, and then click DNS Settings.
2. Scroll down to Custom Records.
3. Click Add record.
4. In the Type dropdown menu, select TXT.
5. In the Host field, enter _dmarc.
6. In the Datafield, enter the TXT record value from your third-party service. This is a combination of letters, numbers, and symbols.
7. Click Save to add the record to your settings.

Merge DMARC records

You can only add one DMARC record to a Squarespace domain. If you use multiple third-party email services with different DMARC records, you can merge them into one. Follow these guidelines when merging DMARC records:

• Separate email addresses by commas.
• If the records have policy tags with different values, use the more secure value in the merged tag.

For detailed information about DMARC records and how to merge them, visit nslookup.io's documentation.

SRV records

An SRV record, or a Service Record, helps your domain connect to email or other services.

Step 1 - Get information from your provider

Get the following values from the service you're connecting, and copy them somewhere easily accessible. You'll need them for Step 2.

Value Type	Definition and Tips
Service	The service name of the SRV record Usually begins with an underscore, like _smtp or _sip
Protocol	The protocol that the service uses Usually begins with an underscore, like _tcp or _tls
Priority (optional)	Distinguishes order of priority for records of the same type Usually a number, like 10 If your provider didn’t assign a Priority, leave this blank
TTL (optional)	Controls how long the server caches a record before checking for an update Usually a number without commas that represents seconds, like 2000 or 43200, or a time, like 4 hours If your provider didn’t assign a TTL, leave this value at the default (4 hours)
Weight	The weight of the SRV record, which determines the target to contact first Should be a single-digit number, like 1 or 5
Port	The port number for the service Usually a number, like 80 or 5060
Target	The host providing the service Should be a URL, like server.test.com

Step 2 - Add SRV record

Create a custom record in your DNS settings using the values from Step 1:

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 to open the DNS Settings panel.
4. Scroll down to Custom Records, then click Add record.
5. In the Type dropdown menu, select SRV.
6. In the Host field, enter the Service and Protocol, separated by a period. For example: _service._protocol
7. In the Priority field, enter the Priority number, if you have one. If you don’t have a Priority, leave this blank.
8. In the TTL dropdown menu, select the TTL, if you have one. If you don't have a TTL, leave this at the default (4 hours).
9. In the Data field, enter the Weight, Port, and Target, with a single space between each one. For example: 1 100 target.test.com
10. Click Save to add the record to your settings.

CNAME records

Your email provider may request that you add a CNAME to your domain for verification or other special functions. For steps on adding a CNAME, visit DNS records for web hosting.

Troubleshooting

For help resolving DNS record issues, visit Troubleshooting issues with DNS records.