Your email elsewhere: Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, or your own mail server

Do you want the email for your domain to arrive at Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, another mail provider, or your own mail server? Then you adjust the MX records of your domain and turn off delivery on our server. Your website simply stays with WebOké.

The fastest way: Quick setup in My WebOké

For Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, Proton Mail, and mailbox.org, you can set all records correctly with a single click.

1. In My WebOké, go to My Domains, click on your domain, and open the DNS tab.
2. Click the Email settings card under Quick setup for your mail provider.
3. You'll see which records will be placed. Existing MX and SPF records will be replaced, and Delivery on our server will be turned off for this domain.
4. Under What you still need to do yourself afterwards, read what you still need to arrange with the provider, such as verifying your domain there and enabling DKIM.
5. Click Set up records.

You'll find the same buttons in the Domain / Email health card on the domain page as well.

Setting it up yourself in DirectAdmin

Prefer to do it in DirectAdmin, or using a provider that's not listed under Quick setup? Then follow all the steps below, otherwise you'll miss mail.

1. Verify your domain with the provider. Microsoft and Google ask for a TXT record with a code. Add that in DNS Management and click verify at the provider.
2. Set up the MX records correctly. Go to Email Management › MX Records. Under MX Template, choose Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, or Zoho Mail and click SAVE below the template. With Microsoft 365, each domain has its own address, such as yourdomain-com.mail.protection.outlook.com. Check this and adjust it if needed using the pencil icon.
3. Turn off the checkbox. On the same page, under Options, uncheck Use this server to handle my email and click SAVE. If it stays on, mail from your own website (such as your contact form) and from other sites on the same server will never reach your new provider. The sender sometimes gets 550 Unknown user back.
4. Add to your SPF record. Keep include:webawere.nl in place, since your website sends mail via our servers. For Microsoft 365, for example, it becomes v=spf1 a mx include:webawere.nl include:spf.protection.outlook.com ~all. For Google, you use include:_spf.google.com. See Adding or changing the SPF record in DirectAdmin.
5. Turn on DKIM at the provider and add the records you get there. For Microsoft 365, these are two CNAME records (selector1._domainkey and selector2._domainkey), for Google a TXT record (google._domainkey). For Microsoft 365, you also create a CNAME record autodiscover pointing to autodiscover.outlook.com. (with the trailing dot), so Outlook automatically finds the correct settings.

Priority of MX records

The priority is a number in front of the mail server. The lower the number, the sooner that server is used. You type it in yourself, so any number works, including 0, 1, or 5.

• If your provider specifies one mail server, use the provider's number or 10. Google, for example, specifies one record: smtp.google.com. with priority 1.
• If your provider specifies multiple servers, copy the numbers exactly.
• Remove the old MX records that point to WebOké. Otherwise some of your mail will still arrive with us.

Your own mail server

Are you running your own mail server, for example at the office? Then set up your DNS as follows:

1. In DNS Management, create an A record mail pointing to the fixed IP address of your mail server. If you don't have a fixed IP address but a dynamic DNS name, create a CNAME record mail pointing to that name, with a trailing dot.
2. Under MX Records, point the MX to mail.yourdomain.com. and remove the MX records pointing to WebOké.
3. Uncheck Use this server to handle my email, or in My WebOké, set the Delivery toggle to External.
4. Add your mail server to your SPF record, for example v=spf1 a mx include:webawere.nl ~all.

Back to WebOké Mail

In My WebOké, click WebOké Mail under Quick setup. In DirectAdmin, choose Local Default under MX Template, turn the Use this server to handle my email checkbox back on, and remove the old provider's include from your SPF record.

Your mailboxes at WebOké will continue to exist if your mail arrives elsewhere, but no new mail will come in. DNS changes take some time: everything usually works within an hour, though sometimes it takes a few hours. See How long does a nameserver or DNS change take? Is your DNS hosted with another party? Then read Setting up DKIM when the DNS is hosted with another party.

See also in the guides: Setting up email quickly in the DNS, MX records: where does your email arrive?, and CNAME records and the trailing dot.

Detailed explanation with screenshots: Email with Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace, website with WebOké in the DirectAdmin guide.