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Campaigns come from an address on your domain, such as news@yourcompany.com. Before Upshift can send from it, Gmail, Outlook, and other providers need proof that you own the domain. You add that proof as DNS records where your domain is managed. You will create the address in Upshift, add the DNS records, then verify them.
Upshift’s records use their own host names, such as twenty-bounce.yourcompany.com and unsubscribe.yourcompany.com. They do not change the records your day-to-day email relies on, so you can use your main domain. The only exception is DMARC, which applies to the whole domain. Upshift suggests it only when you do not already have one.

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Before you start

Before you start, make sure you have:
  • Access to your DNS provider: the company where you manage your domain records, such as Cloudflare, GoDaddy, or Namecheap. This is not always the company you bought the domain from.
  • The Workspace settings permission in Upshift.

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Part 1: Create the address in Upshift

The sending domain comes from an email channel. If you already set up a shared inbox in Upshift, the domain is already there. Skip to Part 2.
  1. Go to Settings → Communication.
  2. Click Add email channel.
  1. In Source Email Address, enter the address you want to use, for example news@yourcompany.com. Upshift uses the part after @ as the sending domain.
  2. In Display Name, enter the name people see in their inbox, for example Acme Newsletter.
  3. Click Save.
Upshift opens the channel. Scroll to Sending domain. It lists the DNS records you need, with a copy button next to each value.
A domain can only be verified in one Upshift workspace. Upshift tells you if it is already being used elsewhere.

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Part 2: Understand the records

Add every record Upshift shows. Gmail, Yahoo, and Outlook reject bulk email that is not authenticated.
If your domain already has a DMARC record, keep it. Do not add another one: providers treat two DMARC records as if you had none.

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Part 3: Add the records at your DNS provider

For each record, add a new entry at your DNS provider and copy these values from Upshift:
  • Type: CNAME, MX or TXT.
  • Name: sometimes called Host.
  • Value: sometimes called Target, Points to, Content, or Answer.
For the MX record, Upshift shows the priority before the value, such as 10 feedback-smtp.eu-central-1.amazonses.com. Most providers have a separate Priority field. Put 10 there and the rest in the value.
Many providers add your domain to the end of Name automatically. If yours does, enter only the part before your domain. For twenty-bounce.yourcompany.com, enter twenty-bounce. Otherwise the record becomes twenty-bounce.yourcompany.com.yourcompany.com and will not verify.
Follow your provider’s instructions, using the values from Upshift: If your provider is not listed, look for DNS, DNS records, Zone editor, or Advanced DNS in your domain settings.

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Part 4: Verify

Upshift checks your records every hour. To check now, click Check verification in Sending domain. DNS changes usually work within an hour, but some providers take up to 48 hours. The domain moves from Pending to Verified when Upshift finds the authentication records. The Unsubscribe link also needs to show Verified before you can send campaigns. The DMARC policy row always shows Not set. That is expected: Upshift suggests the record but does not check it.

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Troubleshooting

Open your DNS provider and compare each Name with the value in Upshift. The usual problem is that the provider added your domain a second time, as described in Part 3. Also check that you added the records where your DNS is actually hosted. Records in your registrar’s panel do nothing if your name servers point somewhere else.
Set every CNAME to DNS only. With the orange cloud on, Cloudflare returns its own servers instead of the value Upshift gave you.
Upshift stops checking a failed domain. Fix the records, then click Check verification.
Your DNS provider did not answer when Upshift checked. Upshift keeps checking every hour, so this usually fixes itself.
Put 10 in Priority and only the host name in the value, such as feedback-smtp.eu-central-1.amazonses.com. Do not put 10 in the value.
Next, read the best practices, then send your first campaign.