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Help article

Using your own domain.

Connect a domain you own from My account: prove it is yours, publish the DNS records, wait for the review, and set up mailboxes on it. With what each DNS record does, in plain language.

What you need

  • A plan that includes your own domain. The pricing page says so on the plans that do, and how many domains each allows. Not every plan includes it, and the shop may not offer one at the moment.
  • An account that the paid order belongs to: sign in to My account before or after buying.
  • Access to the domain's DNS settings, at the registrar or DNS host where the domain is managed. You add the records yourself; we never change your DNS.

Connect your domain

  1. In My account, find Use my own domain, enter the domain and choose Connect domain.
  2. Add the ownership record shown there, a TXT record, at your DNS host. Copy the name and the value exactly; if your DNS host adds the domain by itself, use the shorter name shown beside it.
  3. Choose Verify. If the record is not visible yet, the page says so: wait a little and try again.
  4. Add the DNS records listed next. Each one shows whether it is in place, and the page checks again by itself for a few minutes; after that, choose Check again.
  5. Wait for the review. When the domain shows Live, set up mailboxes on it under My mailboxes by choosing it in the domain list.

What each DNS record does

DNS is the public directory that tells the rest of the internet where a domain's services are. Mail needs a few entries in it. The exact names and values for your domain are on the account page; this is what they are for.

  • Ownership (TXT): a value only you were given. Publishing it proves the domain is yours. It is only needed until the domain is verified.
  • MX: where mail for your domain is delivered. Until it points here, mail sent to your addresses does not arrive in these mailboxes.
  • SPF (TXT): which servers may send mail for your domain, so other providers do not treat your messages as forged.
  • DKIM (TXT): a public key. Outgoing mail is signed, and receivers use the key to check that a message really came from your domain and was not changed on the way.
  • DMARC (TXT): what receivers should do with mail that fails those checks. It is a suggestion and optional.
  • Auto-configuration and discovery (CNAME, SRV): optional records that let mail apps find the server settings from the address alone.

A record marked Conflict means something else is already published under that name, often left over from a previous mail provider; the page shows what it found. A domain can have only one SPF record, so merge the value into the existing one rather than adding a second.

How long it takes

  • The ownership value works for 7 days. If you have not verified by then, choose Get a new value and replace the record in your DNS.
  • DNS changes are not instant: a new record usually shows within minutes, but it can take hours, depending on your DNS host.
  • Verify and Check again can only be used a limited number of times in a row. If the page asks you to wait, it says for how long.
  • Setting the domain up on the mail service after verification usually takes a moment.
  • The review: we normally review a newly connected domain before mailboxes can be set up on it. There is no fixed time for it. You can publish the remaining records while you wait.

Mailboxes on your domain

  • Only your own orders whose plan includes your own domain can set up mailboxes on it, for as long as the domain is live.
  • Mailboxes on your domain use the seats or mailboxes of the plan you bought, like mailboxes on our domains.
  • Whoever you give such an order's redeem code to can set up a mailbox on your domain with it. Share the code only with people you want on the domain.
  • A new mailbox on your own domain starts with a cautious daily sending limit. If you need more, write to support@abnormalhq.com.
  • You can give a domain up in My account until its ownership is verified. After that, write to us to have it removed. We may suspend a domain that is misused: its mailboxes then cannot sign in or send, though mail is still received.

When your plan ends

Your domain follows your plans that include it. While one of them is running the domain is active; a one-time plan never ends. Once the last has lapsed, the domain goes through the same stages as a subscription's mailboxes.

  1. Grace period, 7 days: everything works as usual, including setting up new mailboxes.
  2. Suspended, the next 30 days: no new mailboxes, and the existing ones cannot be signed in to or send. Mail is still received and kept, and everything comes back when you renew.
  3. After those 30 days: the mailboxes stay disabled. Nothing is deleted automatically, but the mailboxes and then the domain may be removed, after which mail to them is refused.

The DNS records are yours and are never changed from our side. If you are leaving, point the domain's MX record to your new provider before the plan ends, so no mail is delivered to mailboxes you can no longer open. See also Renewals, the grace period and retention.