How do I set up email with my own domain?

Before you start: what to save

You need the login for the account where your domain is registered, someone allowed to change its settings, and a list of the addresses you want, such as info@, billing@, and one for each person. Save a copy of the domain’s current DNS records, as a screenshot or the registrar’s export, and keep it with the registrar login. If anything goes wrong during the switch, that copy is how you put things back. If you already pay for Microsoft 365, check whether your plan includes business email before you sign up again. Microsoft sets its plans and prices and changes them, so check its pricing page.

How Microsoft checks that you own the domain

If your registrar supports a feature called Domain Connect, you sign in to the registrar, confirm, and the settings are added for you. Otherwise Microsoft gives you a TXT record, a short line of text, to paste into your domain’s settings, and you then select Verify. You need an administrator role to add a domain. Proving ownership doesn’t move your email or change your website.

The setup wizard goes straight on to the mail settings. You can skip them and add them later, which is the safer order if anyone already gets mail on this domain. If the registrar offers to delete your existing mail records automatically, say no for now.

Timing the switch

Most of the calendar time is waiting, not working. Microsoft says DNS changes can take from a few minutes to 72 hours to take effect. In our experience, it pays to prove you own the domain a few days before the switch and to give mailbox setup its own day. The MX record moves everyone’s incoming mail at once, so change it early on a quiet day, not on a Friday afternoon or before a deadline. Microsoft also describes a pilot that moves only a few addresses first, using forwarding from your old provider, but it’s technical and meant for very few people. Plan on switching everyone together, with the saved copy as your way back.

The mail settings

Microsoft gives you a short list of settings to add to your domain. The four that matter most: the MX record routes incoming mail, SPF lists who may send mail for you, DKIM signs your outgoing mail, and DMARC says what to do with mail that fails those checks. Copy the exact values from the admin center. Some are specific to your account, so don’t type them from memory or from a blog post. Keep to one SPF record, because two cause delivery problems. Start DMARC with a light policy and tighten it gradually, which Microsoft recommends for domains already in use.

After the switch

For a day or two, some mail may still land at the old provider. Check the old inbox for a few days, and remove the old provider’s MX record once Microsoft is receiving mail, so mail isn’t split between two places. In our experience, connecting your own phone and Outlook first catches setup problems before they reach everyone else. Old messages don’t move on their own; migrating them is a separate job. Keep the old service until everyone has moved, old messages included.

Protecting the accounts, and other options

A hijacked email account can be used to reset the passwords on many other accounts. Turn on multi-factor sign-in for every account, starting with the administrators. Keep at least two administrators, and make the second one a person you trust, not a shared password. Write down who the administrators are and where the domain is registered, in the same place as your renewal dates.

Microsoft 365 isn’t the only way to get email on your own domain. This guide uses it because it’s the platform we use and support. Google Workspace does the same job, and most of the steps above carry over with different values. Some registrars, website platforms, and hosting plans include email too. Whichever you choose, compare what’s included beyond email, whether it supports multi-factor sign-in, who owns the account, and what it costs per person, from the provider’s own pricing page. This guide covers email only. Your website is a separate service that uses the same domain, and it isn’t affected as long as you leave its settings alone.