Send from your own domain via aishaa

In short: With Send via aishaa (recommended), aishaa sends email on behalf of your own address, for example support@yourcompany.com, without you needing a mail server. You add two DNS records once at your domain provider, aishaa checks them automatically, and then you activate the route and send yourself a test email. Receiving works through forwarding to your aishaa Mail address.

Where to find this

Go to Organisation > Channels > Mail, choose the Own domain or mail server card and then Send via aishaa (recommended). If email has already been set up, first click Change setup. The screen is called Send from your own domain.

Who: from the Organisation admin role. The sending route applies per organisation. Verification of the domain itself applies to your whole account: once a domain has been verified, every organisation in the account can activate an address on that domain without adding the DNS records again.

If you started these steps before and did not finish them, Organisation > Channels > Mail opens straight on this screen again, with the message Continuing your earlier setup for (domain). The address you entered earlier is already filled in.

The Send from your own domain screen under Organisation > Channels > Mail, with the three steps, the email address filled in, the table with the TXT record and the CNAME record (columns Record, Name (host), Value, Status), the Check now button and the block with the detected DNS provider.

What to know beforehand

The top of the screen sets expectations: setup usually takes 5 to 10 minutes, DNS changes sometimes need a few hours to come through, your current email keeps working as normal until you activate the new route yourself, and you can always switch back.

You need access to the DNS settings of your domain (at your registrar or hosting provider), or you need to know someone who manages them. The screen helps you in both cases.

The three steps on the screen:

1. Enter the email address you want to send from.
2. We generate two DNS records for you (a TXT record and a CNAME record). Add them at your domain provider (where you manage your domain).
3. Activate sending once both records are verified, then send yourself a test email.

A step gets a green tick as soon as it is completed.

Step 1: enter your email address

1. In Your email address (e.g. support@yourcompany.com), enter the address aishaa should send from.
2. Click Start verification.

aishaa now generates the two DNS records for the domain of that address and shows them in a table. The explanation that goes with it: These two records prove that aishaa may send email on behalf of your domain. They do not touch your existing email.

An address on the aishaa Mail domain does not need to be verified; it always works.

Step 2: add the two DNS records

The table has the columns Record, Name (host), Value and Status:

Each record shows two versions of the name: Short (only the part before your domain) and Full (including your domain). The screen explains: Some panels want the short name, others the full one. Use whichever your panel expects. Copy it, never type it. There is a copy button next to both the name and the value.

How to add the records:

1. Open the DNS management of your domain. If aishaa recognises your DNS provider, it shows Your DNS is hosted at (provider) with the button Open (provider), which takes you straight to the right management panel. There are provider-specific steps for TransIP, Cloudflare and GoDaddy; for other recognised providers (including Mijndomein, Hostnet, Antagonist, Versio, Yourhosting, Vimexx, Combell, Strato, one.com, IONOS, OVH and Namecheap) and for unrecognised providers there is a general list of steps under Step by step. If aishaa does not recognise your provider, you see We could not detect where your DNS is hosted. with the advice to add the records where you manage the domain.
2. Add a record of type TXT with the name and value from the TXT row. Paste the value as a single line.
3. Add a record of type CNAME with the name and value from the CNAME row. If you use Cloudflare, switch the proxy off (DNS only, grey cloud).
4. Save at your provider and wait. In aishaa, click Check now or let aishaa check automatically.

Statuses per record

Below the table, Last check: shows the date and time. If you click Check now while not everything is correct yet, you see Not verified yet. DNS changes can take up to an hour to propagate.

Automatic check

You do not need to keep the page open. The screen says: We check every minute while this page is open and every 10 minutes in the background. As soon as both records are verified you get an email. That email has the subject Your domain (domain) is verified and goes to the person who started the verification. If you have push notifications switched on, you also get a push message Domain verified. In both cases nothing has changed about your sending yet: you still need to activate the route yourself.

Not the one who manages your DNS?

Below the table is the block Not the one who manages your DNS? with the explanation Send the records and instructions to whoever manages your domain. This page stays available; you or they can continue later.

1. Click Send to your administrator.
2. Fill in Administrator’s email address and, if you like, a Personal note (optional).
3. Click Send instructions.

The administrator receives an email with both records (short and full name), the detected provider with a link to the management panel, your note and the explanation that nothing changes for the existing email until you activate the route in aishaa. After sending, the screen shows Instructions sent to (address) (date and time). aishaa keeps checking automatically and emails you as soon as the records are correct.

Step 3: activate sending and test

As soon as both records are Verified, the message Domain verified! You can activate sending now. appears. Below it is what activating means: Activating switches all outgoing email of this organisation to this route. Your mailbox is not affected. Emails sent this way are archived in aishaa and do not appear in your mailbox’s sent items. You can switch back at any time.

If you currently send via Outlook or Gmail, there is also a warning next to the activate button: Activating switches all mail of this address from (Outlook or Gmail) to sending through aishaa. Only do this if you want to switch; bulk messages do not need it.

1. Click Activate sending. You see Sending from your own address is active. and step 3 gets a tick. In the Current setup overview, Sending via now shows Own domain via aishaa.
2. The Send a test email block appears, with the explanation See the result in your own inbox: the email is sent from (address). Send to is set to your own email address by default.
3. Click Send test email. If it succeeds, you see Test email sent to (address). Check your inbox (and your spam folder). The test email has the subject Test email from aishaa via (address). If it fails, you see The test email could not be sent with the reason.

The test email block stays available in the Current setup overview as long as this route is active.

When you activate, aishaa automatically creates an endpoint for the address (with the name of your organisation as display name), a routing rule for email sent to that address and the sending method aishaa Mail. The endpoint becomes the default sender if the aishaa Mail address was the default until then.

The Send a test email block with the Send to field and the Send test email button, after sending from your own domain has been activated.

Verifying only for bulk messages

If you want to send a bulk message (one message to many customers) from an address on your own domain, that domain must be verified. Your normal mail does not need to be switched over for that. If you come to this screen from a bulk message (via the warning about the sender), the screen works differently:

• The explanation is: Verify the domain of this address so bulk messages can go out from it. Your normal mail keeps going the way it does now; nothing is switched over.
• Step 3 is: That is all: bulk messages can then go out from this address. There is nothing to activate.
• You add the two DNS records as described above.
• As soon as both records are verified, you see The domain is verified: bulk messages can go out from this address. Your normal mail keeps going the way it does now. There is then no button to activate.
• Back to the bulk message takes you back to your bulk message.

See Bulk messages: one message to many customers.

Receiving: setting up forwarding

This route only takes care of sending. To receive customer email, you forward your mailbox to your aishaa Mail address. For this, the bottom of the screen shows the Receiving: set up forwarding block with the address, a copy button and instructions for Microsoft 365, Gmail and other mailboxes. As soon as the first forwarded email arrives, the block reports that receiving works. See Your aishaa Mail address and forwarding.

Switching back

If you want to send in a different way again, go to Organisation > Channels > Mail, click Change setup and choose a different card. The DNS records can stay in place; the domain stays verified in case you want to switch back later.

Good to know

• You can only activate once both records have been verified. Sending itself is also refused as long as the sender’s domain has not been verified.
• The records do not touch your existing email: your current mail provider keeps sending and receiving as normal. Only what you send from aishaa goes through this route.
• Email that aishaa sends this way can be seen in aishaa on the ticket. It does not appear in the Sent Items folder of your mailbox.
• For a domain that has already been verified, you see the status Verified straight after Start verification and you can activate right away.
• The maximum message size via this route is 10 MB per email. See Sending limits and image optimisation.
• This option is only visible if it is available for your environment. If you do not see an intermediate choice after Own domain or mail server, contact the aishaa team via the aishaa support chat in aishaa (menu Chat, conversation aishaa support) or via support@aishaa.nl.

Related

• Email setup: the options at a glance
• Your aishaa Mail address and forwarding
• Send via your own SMTP server
• Advanced: endpoints, sending methods and routing rules
• Email not arriving or not being sent
• Bulk messages: one message to many customers