Help Center › Branding & Emails

Send emails from your own domain (SPF and DKIM)

By default, emails go out from the site's own address. Set up your domain as the sender and the emails show your name and address instead. This takes three DNS records and about ten minutes, plus the time DNS needs to update.

Before you start

• You own a domain and can edit its DNS records (at your domain registrar, your DNS host, or cPanel's Zone Editor).
• This site sends email through its web host. So the host must be able to send mail for your domain. On shared hosting such as HostGator, that works best when the domain is on the same hosting account (an addon domain, or the main domain).

Step 1: Enter your sender

In Settings > Workspace > Customize > Custom Branded Email, type the name people should see and the address, for example Acme Studio and mail@acme.com, and press Save. Use an address on a domain you own. Until the domain is verified, emails keep going out from the default address.

Step 2: Prove you own the domain

After saving, the page shows a TXT record to add. It looks like this:

Some DNS hosts want the full name, _simplshare.acme.com. Add the record, wait a few minutes, then press Verify domain. This step stops anyone from sending as a domain they do not control.

Step 3: SPF

SPF is a TXT record on your domain itself (host @ or blank). A domain may only have one SPF record, so if you already have one, add to it instead of creating a second.

v=spf1 +a +mx ip4:YOUR.SERVER.IP ~all

Replace YOUR.SERVER.IP with the IP address of the server this site runs on. Your hosting control panel shows it.

If you already send email from this domain through another service (Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, a newsletter tool), keep its include: entry in the same record, for example v=spf1 include:_spf.google.com ip4:YOUR.SERVER.IP ~all.

Step 4: DKIM

DKIM is a TXT record named selector._domainkey that holds a public key. The matching private key stays on the server and signs the mail.

If your host uses cPanel (HostGator and many others)

1. Log in to cPanel and open Email Deliverability.
2. Find your domain. If it shows a problem with DKIM or SPF, press Manage, then Repair (or copy the suggested records).
3. If your domain's DNS is on the same account, cPanel adds the records for you. If your DNS is somewhere else, copy the records it shows into your DNS host. The DKIM record is usually named default._domainkey.

If your mail host is another service

Follow that service's own DKIM instructions and add the record they give you. Then make sure this site is allowed in your SPF record (step 3).

Step 5: DMARC (recommended)

DMARC tells receivers what to do when a message fails the checks, and lets you receive reports. It is optional here. A cautious starting record, host _dmarc:

v=DMARC1; p=none; rua=mailto:mail@acme.com

Once you are happy with the reports you can tighten p=none to p=quarantine.

Step 6: Verify and test

1. Press Verify domain (or Check again) on the settings page. Green ticks show the records we found: ownership, SPF, DKIM and DMARC.
2. Share a file with your own email address from a different mailbox, and open the message.
3. View the original message headers. Look for spf=pass and dkim=pass. A service like mail-tester.com can also score a test message.

Troubleshooting

Replies always go to the person who shared the file, whichever sender address is used.