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Add SPF and DKIM records for Zoho Mail (2026)

6 min read

What you’ll have at the end

One SPF record for your domain that includes Zoho Mail, and a DKIM key for Zoho Mail added at your domain provider, with both sent for verification in Zoho. Zoho's help says SPF and DKIM are recommended to validate the emails sent from your domain, and help prevent others from sending email that pretends to come from it. The guide ends at the wait for your provider's DNS changes to take effect.

Before you start

You’ll need

  • A Zoho Mail account with your domain already added and verified
  • A sign-in to Zoho Mail as an administrator or super administrator
  • A sign-in to the company you bought the domain from (your domain provider), with access to its DNS settings

What it costs. SPF and DKIM are settings in your existing Zoho Mail account. Zoho's SPF and DKIM help pages don't mention a separate charge.

This guide follows on from setting up Zoho Mail on your own domain. Your domain should already be added and verified in Zoho.

You need to sign in to Zoho Mail as an administrator or super administrator. You also need a sign-in to your domain provider, where you'll add the records. Please keep both open in separate tabs.

Zoho's help says there should be only a single SPF record for a domain. Zoho says that with multiple SPF records, the SPF check may fail and emails may end up as spam. Step 5 checks for an existing one before you add anything.

Steps

  1. 1. Open the Zoho Mail Admin Console

    Sign in to Zoho Mail as an administrator or super administrator, and open the Admin Console.

  2. 2. Open your domain

    Select Domains in the left pane. Zoho lists all the domains in your organisation. Please choose the domain you're setting up.

  3. 3. Open the Email Configuration tab

    Click the Email Configuration tab. Zoho says this shows the configuration status of your domain's records, such as MX, SPF and DKIM. Please keep this tab open.

  4. 4. Open your domain's DNS records

    In a new tab, sign in to your domain provider and open the DNS records (DNS Manager) for your domain. Every provider's screens are different.

  5. 5. Look for an existing SPF record

    Look through your TXT records for any whose value starts with v=spf1. That is an SPF record. Please note whether you find none, one, or more than one.

  6. 6. Add or edit the SPF record

    If you didn't find an SPF record, add a new TXT record: - For the Host or Name, type @ (or leave it blank, if your provider asks for that). - For the Value, type the SPF value from Zoho's help: v=spf1 include:zohomail.com -all - If your Zoho Admin Console shows a different SPF value for your domain, please use that one instead.

    If you found an SPF record, please edit that record. Don't add a second one. - If another service also sends email as your domain (such as your website or a newsletter tool), keep its entries and add include:zohomail.com just before the ending (the part that reads ~all or -all). Zoho's help gives this example: v=spf1 include:abc.com include:def.com include:zohomail.com ~all - Zoho says ~all is a soft fail, for a domain that also uses other email servers to send email. - If only Zoho Mail sends email for your domain, Zoho's help asks you to remove the other SPF entries. You can change the record's value to Zoho's value above. - If you're not sure whether another service sends email as your domain, please keep its entries and add Zoho's, as in the first point. - If you found more than one SPF record, please put all their entries into one record in the same way, and delete the others.

  7. 7. Save the SPF record

    Save the record in your provider's DNS settings.

  8. 8. Click Verify SPF Record

    Go back to the Zoho tab. In Email Configuration, select SPF and click Verify SPF Record. Zoho's SPF help says it might take up to 12 to 24 hours for DNS changes to take effect, based on the TTL set. If verification doesn't pass yet, please carry on with DKIM and try again later.

  9. 9. Select DKIM

    In the Email Configuration tab, select DKIM.

  10. 10. Click Add

    Click Add to add a new selector for your domain.

  11. 11. Name the selector

    Type a name for the selector. Zoho's help uses zoho as its example, and the rest of this guide does too. If you choose another name, please use it wherever this guide says zoho.

  12. 12. Choose the key length

    Choose 1024 bits or 2048 bits. Zoho's help offers both and doesn't say which to choose.

  13. 13. Click Add

    Click Add. Zoho adds the selector and shows a TXT record next to it.

  14. 14. Copy the TXT value

    Copy the whole text in the TXT value field. Zoho's help shows it starting with v=DKIM1. Please copy all of it, with nothing left off the end.

  15. 15. Add the DKIM TXT record

    In your domain provider's tab, add a new TXT record: - For the Name or Host, type zoho._domainkey.example.com, with your own domain in place of example.com. - Zoho says some providers, such as GoDaddy, Wix, Squarespace and Namecheap, add your domain automatically. With those, type only zoho._domainkey. - For the Value, paste the entire text you copied from Zoho.

    Please save the record.

  16. 16. Click Verify

    Go back to Zoho and click Verify next to the selector. When verification passes, Zoho offers to enable DKIM immediately or later. Zoho says that once you enable it, DKIM signatures are added to all emails from your domain.

    If verification doesn't pass straight away, please wait and click Verify again later. Zoho's DKIM help says it might take up to 12 to 24 hours for DNS changes to take effect, based on the TTL set. This guide ends here, at the wait.

If something looks different

  • Zoho's help for some providers says the SPF and DKIM values can also be copied from Zoho's domain setup page. If you see them there, you can copy them from that page instead.
  • If DKIM verification still doesn't pass after the wait, please check the record's name at step 15, and that the value you pasted is complete. Zoho's DKIM help says that if DKIM validation fails, the receiving server may reject the email or treat it as spam.
  • If you'd like to set up DMARC as well, that is a separate, later task. Zoho's DMARC help says SPF and DKIM need to be configured before you publish a DMARC policy, and recommends rolling it out in phases, from None to Quarantine and finally to Reject. In the Admin Console, it is under Email Configuration, then DMARC.

Related guides

Sources

Alongrail isn't affiliated with Zoho.