SPF (Sender Policy Framework) helps recipient email providers recognize the emails you send through Dubsado as legitimate, which reduces the chance of them landing in spam. Once you connect an email address to Dubsado, Dubsado automatically checks your SPF record and tells you whether anything needs your attention.

An SPF record lives at your domain host and authenticates outgoing emails sent from your custom domain email address. Having one on file helps your recipients' email hosts recognize mail sent through Dubsado as legitimate, which reduces the chance of it landing in spam. SPF and DKIM both play a role in email deliverability. See improve email deliverability with DKIM and SPF records for how they work together.

Navigate to Messages ➔ Settings or Settings ➔ Emails. Both take you to the same page. Scroll to the Email Deliverability section, then the SPF subsection.

Dubsado checks your SPF record automatically as soon as the page loads. If you make changes to your DNS settings afterward, click Verify to re-check your record.

Dubsado shows one of several statuses depending on what it finds when it checks your domain's DNS records.

You may see one of two success messages, and both mean there's nothing more for you to do:

If Dubsado can't find an SPF record for your domain, you'll see: "We could not find an SPF record on your domain. Please reach out to your email host to learn more about creating a TXT record in your DNS settings." This means you'll need to create an SPF record with your domain host. See your SPF record could not be verified for step-by-step guidance.

If Dubsado finds an SPF record but there's an error in it, you'll see a message describing the problem. The two most common issues are having multiple SPF records on your domain, or a typo or unrecognized term within the record, though a few other error variants can appear depending on what Dubsado finds. For help resolving these, see invalid SPF records.

What you see when setting up SPF depends on how your email account is connected.

If you connected your email through custom SMTP and your SPF record isn't fully verified, Dubsado shows you the exact DNS record to add:

Copy each field into your domain host's DNS settings, then return to Dubsado and click Verify.

Unlike SMTP connections, Dubsado doesn't show DNS record fields for Google or Microsoft connections. You'll see a status message and a Verify button instead. Whether you need to do anything depends on the kind of address you connected:

A custom domain keeps showing the "could not find an SPF record" warning until you add that record, since Google and Microsoft don't add SPF to your custom domain's DNS for you. If you already have an SPF record on your domain, merge this value into it rather than creating a second one.

No. You can only have one SPF record per domain. Having more than one can cause errors or prevent your emails from being delivered. If you already have an SPF record and need to add Dubsado as an authorized sender, merge multiple SPF records into one instead of creating a second.

An A record is easier to maintain than IP addresses, since IP addresses change from time to time.

If your SPF record includes Dubsado IP addresses, replace the IP addresses with a:spf.dubsado.com. Your record should then read:

v=spf1 a:spf.dubsado.com ~all

A custom domain, like yourdomain.com, needs a host. Your email host is the provider for your custom email address at that domain, such as hello@yourdomain.com. Your domain host and email host might be the same company, or they might be different. For example, your domain could be hosted through Cloudflare while your email runs through Google.

Your email host provides the SPF value you need, which you then add to the DNS settings at your domain host. If you need help, start by reaching out to your domain host's support team.

Yes. If you move your domain to a new host, you'll need to repeat the SPF setup process with the new host.

Setting up SPF reduces the chance of your emails landing in spam, but it can't guarantee inbox placement, since spam filters change frequently. See prevent emails from going to spam for more tips on keeping your emails out of spam folders.

Dubsado isn't able to provide support for setup questions specific to your domain host. Contact your domain host directly for assistance.