Setting Up Email with MX Records

MX records, short for Mail Exchange, are what direct the emails sent to your domain name to the proper mail server. These records are usually provided by your email provider, but sometimes you will need to add the proper MX records and A records before your email will function.

If your email provider gives you MX records to configure, follow the steps below to add them to your DNS.

How to Add MX Records to DNS

1. Log in to your domain registrar account.
2. Navigate to your domains list.
3. Click on the domain name you want to add the MX record to.
4. Click on Manage DNS Records.
5. In the drop-down menu under Type, select MX.
6. Host is generally left blank, but if your email provider has specified that you need to add something here, please do so. Note that the @ sign is typically a substitute for blank (bare domain).
7. Fill in the Answer field. This is generally the mail server that will handle your email.
8. Fill in the TTL and Priority fields. By default, these will be set to 300 and 10 respectively. If you are not sure what to enter here, you can generally leave them alone.
9. Click Add Record after creating each record your email provider gave you.

Note: If you have multiple MX records, they cannot all have the same priority. Use different priority values (e.g., 10, 20, 30) to establish failover order.

Once the records are created, the domain should successfully point to the email server within a few hours.

Common MX Records by Provider

Google Workspace

Microsoft 365

Zoho Mail