Set up your email domain

In your admin, click Settings in the sidebar, then Email. The page opens on Before you can send, a short checklist with a count such as "0 of 3 done": Connect your email domain, Choose where replies go and Add your postal address.

Each unfinished line has a link (Set it up or Add it, and Check it once your domain is added) that jumps to its section further down the page. The lines tick themselves off as you go.

Under Email domain, type the address into Address to send from and click Set up. Use a subdomain of a domain you own, such as mail.yourschool.com: a short word in front of your main web address.

Knola only accepts a subdomain. If you type your main domain, it asks you to add one in front, because sending from a subdomain keeps your website and everyday inbox safe if a send ever lands badly. Your emails then come from hello@ on that address, for example [email protected].

Knola now shows a card for your domain with a progress line (Domain added, then "Add 6 records · 0 of 6", then Verified) and the status Waiting for your records.

To prove the address is yours, six small entries called DNS records need adding wherever your domain is managed. That is usually the company you bought the domain from, and Knola works out which company it is for you. You have up to three ways to add them:

• One click: if your DNS provider supports it, you approve the records on its own site. Cloudflare does.
• Let Knola add them: on Cloudflare you can paste a key instead, and Knola adds all six at once.
• Copy them yourself: works with every provider.

When a quicker way exists, a switch above the records offers it next to I’ll copy them myself. On Cloudflare it reads Add with Cloudflare.

Choose Add with Cloudflare (or your provider’s name), read the Approve them in Cloudflare card and click the button. Your provider’s site opens in the same tab. Sign in if it asks, check the domain, and approve.

You approve it on your provider’s own page, so Knola never sees your password or gets into your account, and nothing else on your domain changes. You land back on Settings ▸ Email with the note Back from Cloudflare. Checking your records now. and the records start ticking off.

If your DNS is at Cloudflare and you would rather not sign in there from this page, click Rather use an API token? under the one-click card. (If one-click isn’t offered, choose Add them for me instead.) The Let Knola add them for you card takes about a minute:

• Click Open Cloudflare. Cloudflare opens with the two permissions the key needs already ticked: read your domains and edit DNS. You can limit it to just your domain.
• In Cloudflare, press "Continue to summary", then "Create Token", and copy the token it shows you.
• Back in Knola, paste it under Paste it here and click Add the records.

Knola adds all six records and tells you how many it added, for example "Added 6 records". The key is used once and thrown away: Knola never saves it, and you can delete it in Cloudflare afterwards.

Choose I’ll copy them myself. The card is titled for your provider, such as Add these records at Cloudflare, and says where to go there (for Cloudflare, "DNS → Records → Add record"). Use Open Cloudflare to go straight to that screen. If Knola guessed the wrong company, click Somewhere else? and pick yours under My DNS is at.

Add each record as a new entry at your provider:

• Signature 1 of 3, Signature 2 of 3 and Signature 3 of 3: prove your emails are really from you.
• Bounce handling: sends delivery reports back, so bad addresses stop being mailed.
• Sending permission: lets Knola’s mail servers send for this address.
• Inbox policy: tells inboxes what to do with mail that fails the checks.

Every record has a Type (CNAME, MX or TXT: the kind of record you pick from your provider’s list), a Name (where it goes) and a Value (what it says). Bounce handling also has a Priority. Click any box to copy it; it shows Copied. Type the Name exactly as shown, because most providers add the rest of your domain for you. On a wide screen, Show full values lays each one out in separate boxes.

Someone else looks after your domain? Click Send to whoever manages your DNS, then Copy message or Open in email to send them every record with instructions. Download zone file gives you a file that some providers can import in one go.

The card checks every few seconds and ticks each record off as it appears, so you can watch it fill in or leave and come back. Verification usually finishes within an hour of adding the records, and occasionally takes up to 48 hours. Check now checks straight away.

Each record shows where it stands: Found, Not yet, Needs a fix or Couldn’t check. A record that needs a fix says exactly what to change, for example a Name saved with your domain on the end twice. Where a value is wrong, the right one sits beside the message, ready to copy. The status line follows along: "2 of 6 in place", then All records in place, confirming while the final confirmation comes through.

Already have an inbox policy on your main domain? Knola spots it and the Inbox policy row reads "Covered by the DMARC policy on yourschool.com. Nothing to add here." Knola never adds a second one, so a policy you set stays in charge.

Once it passes, the card reads Sending from [email protected] with Verified and the date, and a button for your next step.

Scroll to Sender. You can fill this in while your domain is still verifying.

• Replies go to (Required): the inbox you actually read. Your emails come from an address with no inbox, so this is how you hear back. The "Use" link with your sign-in address under the field fills it in for you. It can’t be an address on your new email domain, or a Knola address.
• From name: the name inboxes show. Leave it empty to use your school’s name. Use a name, not an email address.

Both save when you click out of the field. When you set Replies go to, Knola sends a short note to that address, so a typo shows up as a note that never arrives.

Under Footer, type your address into Postal address (Required). US and Canadian law ask for one in every marketing email, and inbox providers trust mail that has one. A street address, a PO box or a mailbox at a mail-forwarding service all count, so if you work from home a virtual mailbox is the usual answer.

It saves when you click out of the box, and a preview shows how the footer of every email will read. Once your domain is verified and both sender details are in, the checklist at the top becomes one line: Ready to send. with the address your emails come from and where replies go.

Keep the six records for as long as you send. Inboxes check them on every email, so Knola checks them again every day. If any go missing, for example after you move your domain to a new provider or tidy up old records, the card shows Needs attention and names the records to put back. Broadcasts can’t go out and flow emails wait until they pass again.

Re-add the records exactly as shown and click Check now. Knola also picks up the fix on its next daily check, so sending starts again by itself.

To stop sending from this domain or switch to another, use Remove this email domain at the bottom of the card: click Remove, then Yes, remove. Broadcasts and flows stop until you connect a domain again.