Connecting your mailbox
Step by step to email on your own domain with Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace — and the one option at Microsoft you must never choose.
Pro plan
For a domain bought through 10mShop, the platform runs the domain's DNS: the records that tell the internet where your shop is and where email for the domain goes. You cannot edit them yourself, so the Connect your mailbox section under Settings → Custom domain writes the mail records for you.
The mailbox itself stays with Microsoft or Google: you need a subscription with email there, and that is where you read and send your email. The platform never hosts mailboxes and never sees a password.
At one point Microsoft offers to set up your domain for you by moving its nameservers to Microsoft. Never choose that. The nameservers are what puts your shop on your domain: with Microsoft's, your shop would no longer be reachable at it. At Microsoft, always choose "Add your own DNS records". If you picked the other option, go "Back".
Before you start
- The domain was bought through 10mShop and is live: only then does the section appear below the domain settings. For a domain from another provider, add the records Microsoft or Google lists at that provider instead; there, too, the nameservers stay where they are.
- You have a subscription that includes a mailbox: Microsoft 365 Business Basic, Standard or Premium, or any Google Workspace plan. Microsoft 365 Apps for business has no mailbox. Another provider? Contact support with its list of records, and we set them for you.
- You can sign in as an administrator to the Microsoft 365 admin center or the Google Admin console.
- Keep 10mShop and the admin center open in two tabs side by side: you copy values from one into the other.
- Microsoft names "Vercel" as your domain's DNS hosting provider. That is right: the platform keeps your domain's DNS at Vercel, and the section is how records get there. You need no Vercel account.
Microsoft 365
Microsoft works in two rounds: first it checks a code to make sure the domain is yours, and only then does it name the mail server your domain gets. The section takes the code first and the mail server second.
Add the domain at Microsoft
In the Microsoft 365 admin center, open "Settings" → "Domains" (behind
"Show all" when the menu is short) and choose "+ Add domain". Enter your
domain, for example example.com, and choose "Use this domain".
Choose the TXT record
Microsoft asks you to verify that you own the domain. Choose the first option, "Add a TXT record to the domain's DNS records", and "Continue". Not the MX record and not the text file: the section writes a TXT record.
Copy the code
Microsoft shows a TXT record. Copy only its value, which starts with MS=, for
example MS=ms12345678. Its name and TTL need nothing from you. Leave this
page open.
Enter the code in 10mShop
In the Connect your mailbox section, choose Microsoft 365 and paste the value into Verification code from Microsoft. Leave MX record from Microsoft empty, since Microsoft has not named it yet, and press Connect mailbox. The section now says it is waiting for Microsoft's mail server.
Let Microsoft verify
Back at Microsoft, choose "Verify". If Microsoft does not find the record yet, wait a few minutes and try again: the record is written at once, but it takes a moment until it can be seen everywhere.
Add your own DNS records
Microsoft now asks "How do you want to connect your domain?". Choose "Add your own DNS records" and "Continue". Not "Set up my online services for me": its description says it updates your domain's nameservers to point to Microsoft, and that is the option from the warning above. "Skip and do this later" leaves your email unconnected.
Copy the mail server
On "Add DNS records", leave "Exchange and Exchange Online Protection" ticked.
Under the MX record, copy the address in the column "Points to address or
value". It is usually your domain with dashes instead of dots, followed by
.mail.protection.outlook.com: example-com.mail.protection.outlook.com for
example.com. Some domains get one that ends in .mx.microsoft instead; copy
whichever Microsoft shows. Leave both boxes under "Advanced options" unticked:
Intune is not needed for email, and the platform does not write DKIM. Do not
press "Continue" yet.
Enter the mail server in 10mShop
Paste the address into MX record from Microsoft and press Set MX record. The section also writes the other records Microsoft lists, the CNAME for autodiscover and the TXT for SPF, so there is nothing to add by hand. As soon as the records can be seen, the section says that your mailbox receives email on this domain. It checks by itself; Check again checks at once.
Finish at Microsoft
Wait a minute, then choose "Continue" at Microsoft. It checks the records and ends with "Domain setup is complete"; choose "Done". If Microsoft still misses a record, wait a few minutes and let it check again.
Give your users an address on the domain
Email only reaches a user who has the address. In the admin center, open "Users" → "Active users", choose the user and, on the "Account" tab, choose "Manage username and email". Enter the part before the @, choose your domain under "Domains" and choose "Done". The username is also the sign-in name: from then on you sign in to Microsoft with the new address. If Microsoft refuses the change at first, wait a while: setting up a new domain can take Microsoft up to four hours.
Google Workspace
Google's mail server is the same for every domain, so the section writes it right away, together with Google's code.
Start verifying the domain
Google asks you to verify the domain when you sign up for Google Workspace. Later you find it in the Google Admin console under "Account" → "Domains" → "Manage domains", with "Verify domain". If Google asks who hosts your domain, it is Vercel; when Vercel is not on the list, any entry will do, since the section adds the record for you.
Copy the code
In the section for the TXT record, copy the value. It starts with
google-site-verification=; copy all of it.
Enter the code in 10mShop
In Connect your mailbox, choose Google Workspace, paste the value into
Verification code (optional) and press Connect mailbox. The section
writes it together with Google's mail server, smtp.google.com, and the SPF
record Google asks for.
Confirm at Google
Back at Google, tick that you have added the record and choose "Confirm". If Google does not find the record yet, wait a few minutes and try again.
Activate Gmail
Once the domain is verified, choose "Activate Gmail". The mail server Google wants is already set, so you only follow its steps. Google says it can take up to 72 hours until mail arrives; usually it is much sooner.
Your shop's emails and customer replies
A mailbox changes nothing about your shop's own emails: order and shipping
confirmations keep going out from shop@mail.<your-domain>, as described in
Sending from your own domain, and both work
side by side. Customers who reply to them write to the shop email under
Settings → Address: enter your new address there to have those replies
land in your new mailbox.