Sending emails

To be able to send emails from Plain using your support email address, you will need to add a couple of DNS records to your domain.

While setting up your email, you will see DNS settings that need to be configured for your domain:

The first record is the “DKIM”. It is part of the available mechanisms that exist to authenticate emails: verifying that you’re the actual sender of the email.

The second record sets the return path for emails sent from Plain using your domain. Return paths are used if an email bounces (fails to reach an inbox).

Both of them make sure that your emails reach your users’ email inboxes and do not end up in the spam folder.

Adding these to your DNS records varies slightly among different providers. Here is how to do so for some common hosting providers:

DNSimple

1. Go to https://dnsimple.com/dashboard.
2. Click on the domain you need to update. If your support address is [e-mail] you must pick example.com.
3. On the left menu, click on “DNS”.
4. Under “DNS records” click “Manage”.
5. Click “Add record” Choose TXT. Add the following:
   • Name: paste “Hostname”
   • Type: TXT
   • Content: paste “Value”
6. Click “Add record” to save.
7. Click “Add record” again. Choose “CNAME” Add the following:
   • Name: paste “Hostname”
   • Type: CNAME
   • Content: paste “Value”
8. Click “Add record” to save.

Remember that in some cases, changes to DNS records may take some time to propagate. For modern providers this should be less than 10 minutes, but in extreme scenarios it may take 24-48 hours.