Add your DNS records automatically
Let Mailsoftly write your authentication records for you, either with one approval at your DNS provider or with an API key you create and then delete.
Copying six DNS records into a provider panel is where most domain setups stall. Mailsoftly can write them for you instead, and there are two ways it does that: one approval at your DNS provider, or an API key you create, paste once and delete afterwards.
This guide covers both paths, what Mailsoftly does with your credentials, and the honest failure cases, because automatic setup is not available for every domain and it does not always finish the whole set.
Look for the automatic option first
Start the domain in Authenticate your sending domain as usual. On the records step, before the list of records, Mailsoftly shows two option cards: Automatic setup, marked Recommended, and Add manually. Automatic is selected on your first visit, and picking Add manually brings the record list and the Verify records button back. If neither card appears, there is no automatic path for your domain and the manual list is the whole job.
Which of the two automatic paths you get depends on who runs your DNS, and Mailsoftly picks it for you.
Approve once at your provider
Some DNS providers can install a whole set of records from an approval screen of their own. When yours is one of them, the automatic card reads One approval adds every record, and the button says Connect with your provider’s name. Press it and you leave Mailsoftly for your provider, sign in there, and get one screen listing exactly what will be added. Approve it and the records are written by the provider itself; you come back to Mailsoftly and verification starts right away.
The card says the part worth repeating: you sign in at your provider, not at Mailsoftly, your password is never shared with us, and nothing changes on your domain until you approve.
The approval screen installs the records your provider’s template covers. If that template is a version behind ours, a record or two can be left over. They show up in the fix list, and you add those by hand exactly as the wizard shows them.
Or hand Mailsoftly a key it uses once
GoDaddy, Hostinger and Wix have no approval screen of that kind, so Mailsoftly asks for an API key or token instead and writes the records through your provider’s own interface. The automatic card walks you through it in two numbered zones. The first opens the right page at your provider and shows you pictures of the exact dialogs you will see there, with the settings that matter called out, for example that a GoDaddy key has to be a Production key and that its secret is shown only once. The second is a short form: paste the key, and the secret or account id where your provider uses one, then press Add my records.
Under the form sits the answer to the question everyone has at this point: your credentials are used once to add these records and are never stored, and you can delete the key at your provider straight afterwards. There is no ongoing connection and nothing to disconnect later.
Create the key with the account that actually manages the domain. A key from a different account of the same provider is valid, so it passes the first check, and then Mailsoftly tells you the domain is not in that account. Sign in with the right account and create the key there.
Check what actually went in
Automatic setup ends where the manual path ends, on the same records list. Mailsoftly starts verifying immediately and emails you when the domain is done, so you can close the page. If some records could not be added, Mailsoftly says so rather than pretending it finished: the remaining ones appear in the fix list at the top of the records, named one by one with the exact change to make.
The records themselves are identical either way. Nothing about a domain set up automatically is different from one you typed in by hand, and nothing here changes anything else on your domain: your website, your mailboxes and any other service you authorize are untouched.
If Mailsoftly cannot use an automatic path for your domain at the moment you press it, the wizard tells you that automatic setup is not available right now and shows the manual list instead. Nothing is broken and nothing is half done; add the records yourself and press Verify records.
Automatic or by hand, the finish line is the same: six records in place, a verified domain, and a sender address to send from.
Frequently asked questions
Can Mailsoftly add DNS records for my domain automatically?
Yes, Mailsoftly can add DNS records for your domain automatically if your DNS provider supports it. Depending on your provider, you will either approve the changes directly at your provider or provide an API key for Mailsoftly to use once. If automatic setup is not available, you will be guided to add the records manually.
How does Mailsoftly handle my credentials during automatic DNS setup?
Mailsoftly uses your credentials only once to add the DNS records and never stores them. You can delete the API key at your provider immediately after setup, and there is no ongoing connection or need to disconnect anything later.
What happens if some DNS records are not added automatically?
If some DNS records cannot be added automatically, Mailsoftly will list the remaining records in a fix list for you to add manually. The guide provides the exact changes needed, and you can finish the setup by adding those records yourself and verifying them.
Ready to try it in your own account?
Free to start with your Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 account. No credit card required.
