Domain settings

By default, Ochre sends and receives email from a subdomain of ours. To send from support@yourcompany.com and receive replies there, you set up a custom sending domain. It takes about ten minutes plus DNS propagation time.

Open Settings → Domains to start.

What you get with a custom domain

• Outbound from your address. Replies go out as support@yourcompany.com, not as a generic *.ochremail.com.
• Inbound to your address. Customers can write to support@yourcompany.com directly. Their replies route to the originating conversation, even months later.
• Better deliverability. Properly authenticated email lands in inboxes, not spam.

What you need

• DNS access for the domain (or someone who has it).
• Five minutes to add records.
• Up to 24 hours for DNS to propagate (usually under an hour).

The three records

When you add a domain in Settings → Domains, we generate three DNS records you copy into your DNS provider.

1. DKIM

A TXT record at a subdomain we generate. This is how receiving servers verify that mail signed as your domain actually came from us. Without DKIM, Gmail and Outlook will mark your mail as spam or reject it outright.

2. SPF

A TXT record at the apex (or a merge into your existing SPF record). This authorizes our sending IPs to send as your domain. If you already have an SPF record (most domains do for Google Workspace or Microsoft 365), you merge the include: directive into it. Do not publish two SPF records on the same hostname; the result is undefined and many providers will fail open.

3. MX

An MX record at a subdomain you choose, typically support.yourcompany.com. This is what tells the internet to deliver mail for that subdomain to us. We recommend a subdomain rather than the apex so you keep using your existing mail (Google Workspace, Microsoft 365) for everything else.

If you want mail to land at the apex (e.g. support@yourcompany.com directly), the MX needs to live on the apex and you cannot also use that domain for Google Workspace. Most teams use a forwarding alias instead: support@yourcompany.com forwards to support@help.yourcompany.com, which has an MX pointing to us.

Verification

Once you add the records, click Verify. We re-check every minute for 30 minutes. Most setups are green within 5 minutes. If after 30 minutes anything is still red:

• Re-check the record values; copy errors are common.
• Confirm you do not have a duplicate SPF record.
• Wait another hour; some DNS providers cache aggressively.

Multiple domains

You can add multiple sending domains. Each becomes available as a "from" address in your email channel settings. This is useful if you support multiple products or brands from one workspace.

For configuring which channel uses which domain, see email-channel and custom-domain-email.

Inbound from existing addresses

If you currently use Google Workspace for support@yourcompany.com and want to migrate, the cleanest path is:

1. Add a new subdomain (e.g. help.yourcompany.com) to Ochre.
2. Set up MX for that subdomain.
3. In Google Workspace, add a forward from support@yourcompany.com to support@help.yourcompany.com.
4. Once stable, remove the Google Workspace inbox.

This avoids any cutover gap. See inbound-email-receive for the full migration walkthrough.

Removing a domain

Go to Settings → Domains, click the domain, Remove. Future outbound mail falls back to our shared sending domain. Inbound mail to that subdomain stops being delivered (the MX lookup fails). Existing conversations stay intact.

Common mistakes

Adding two SPF records. Always merge into one. We try to detect this and warn you.

Pointing MX at the apex when you also use Google Workspace. Use a subdomain. The whole "support" of email-on-help-subdomain is what makes this painless.

Forgetting the DKIM record. Mail will still send but Gmail will junk it within hours.

What to do next

• Configure email-channel to pick which domain each channel uses.
• See custom-domain-email for advanced sending tips.
• Read inbound-email-receive for the receive-side details.