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Start hereSet up your email

Set up your email

From a domain you own to a working you@yourdomain.com in about 3 minutes of clicking. Most domains can send email 5 to 10 minutes after setup, depending on your DNS provider. Everything here happens in the dashboard. Still choosing between mailboxes, aliases, forwarding and a full office suite? Read the custom domain email setup guide first.

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Open Get started at the top of the dashboard sidebar for your setup checklist: verify your domain, create a mailbox, then send and receive a message. Progress updates as you complete these steps. Imports, mail apps, the AI assistant, and developer tools are optional; account security can be configured at any time. Connection settings being ready does not mean a mail app is connected. The Get started ring shows your setup progress. Once the three steps are complete, Get started leaves the sidebar. For members, it leaves once they have mailbox access. Open Docs and help → Setup checklist to return to the page and its optional tools. You can also open the setup checklist directly.

What you need

A Shipmail account and a domain. If you already own the domain, you also need a login for wherever its DNS is managed, which is usually the registrar you bought it from. Nothing moves. Your website, nameservers and other records stay where they are.

The five steps

  1. Add your domain

    Open Domains in the dashboard, click Add domain and enter the name, for example example.com. Shipmail detects your DNS provider and shows the records it needs.

  2. Publish the DNS records

    If your provider supports automatic setup, click Configure automatically, approve the change at your provider, and you are done with this step. Otherwise add these four records by hand:

    TypeHostValueWhat it does
    MX@10 mx1.shipmail.toRoutes incoming mail to Shipmail.
    TXT@v=spf1 include:spf.shipmail.to -allAuthorizes Shipmail to send for your domain.
    TXTshipmail._domainkeyv=DKIM1; k=rsa; p=…Signs outgoing mail. The value is unique to your domain and shown in the dashboard.
    TXT_dmarcv=DMARC1; p=rejectTells receivers to reject mail that fails the checks above.

    Where to paste the records depends on the provider. DNS setup by provider has the exact screens for Cloudflare, Namecheap, GoDaddy, Squarespace and others.

  3. Wait for verification

    Shipmail rechecks every 30 seconds and ticks each record as it propagates. Most providers take minutes. A few take up to 48 hours. You do not need to keep the page open. When all four pass, the domain shows Finishing setup for a few minutes while Shipmail completes its final checks, and you get an email when it is ready.

  4. Create your first mailbox

    Open Mailboxes, click Create mailbox, type the part before the @, pick the domain and set a password of at least 8 characters with an uppercase letter, a lowercase letter and a number. The optional display name is what recipients see next to your address.

    Aliases, storage and the rest of the mailbox settings are on Create mailboxes.

  5. Read and send

    The web inbox is at shipmail.to. Sign in with your account, or sign straight into one mailbox with its address and password at shipmail.to/login. To use an app instead, add the mailbox as an IMAP account:

    Incoming (IMAP)mx1.shipmail.to, port 993, SSL/TLS
    Outgoing (SMTP)mx1.shipmail.to, port 465, SSL/TLS
    UsernameYour full email address

    Step-by-step screens for Apple Mail, Outlook and Thunderbird are in Email clients. Send yourself a test message from another account to confirm both directions work.

Where to go next

Add more addresses without more mailboxesAliases, forwarding and a catch-all, and when each one is the right tool.Share hello@ with a teammateGive several people one inbox with assignment and private notes.Bring your old email alongImport mail from Gmail, Workspace or any IMAP provider into the new mailbox.Send from your codeThe same setup through the API, in curl, TypeScript or Python.

Frequently asked questions

What if I have never touched DNS before?

DNS settings live at whoever you bought your domain from. Log in there, look for a DNS or Zone Editor section, and copy the values from the Shipmail dashboard into new records. The dashboard also links to step-by-step instructions for the most common registrars.

How long does DNS propagation take?

Most DNS changes propagate within a few minutes. Shipmail rechecks your records every 30 seconds and marks each one as verified as soon as it propagates. Some providers cache records for longer, so occasionally it can take up to 48 hours.

Do I need to transfer my domain to Shipmail?

No. Keep your domain at your current registrar. You only update DNS records to point email to Shipmail. Your website, nameservers, and other DNS records are unaffected.

What if I already have MX records for another email provider?

Remove the existing MX records before adding the Shipmail MX record. Multiple MX records pointing to different providers cause unreliable delivery. Keep the old service active because DNS caches can still route mail there while Shipmail verifies the domain. Then create the matching mailboxes, import historical mail, test delivery, and run a catch-up import before you close the old service.

Can I use a subdomain instead of my main domain?

Yes. Add the subdomain (for example mail.yourcompany.com) as a domain in Shipmail. DNS records go on the subdomain. This is useful if you want to keep your main domain's email with another provider.

Can I use multiple domains on one account?

Yes. Every plan supports up to 50 custom domains in one organization without a per-domain fee. The plan limit is on total mailboxes: 2 on Solo, 4 on Pro, 12 on Team, and 13 to 300 on Scale. Past 300 mailboxes, email hi@shipmail.to.

Do I need a separate domain for each project?

No. You can run several mailboxes on one domain (hello@example.com and support@example.com) without setting up DNS again. Add a new domain only when you want a different address at the root.

What happens if the DNS records are wrong?

Verification fails and email is not routed to Shipmail. The dashboard shows which records are missing or misconfigured. Fix them at your registrar and Shipmail rechecks automatically.