What's in it for you
You have the option to make Showpad send out the Share emails using your user's email address as the sender instead of the default Showpad email address.
By default, sharing emails are sent from the general email addresses sharing@showpad.com or meetings@showpad.com. The email includes a "reply-to" header containing your user's email address.
When the recipient replies to the email, the response will be addressed directly to the user, the original sender.
Showpad uses the Sendgrid service for outgoing mail. To setup the user's email address as a sender, it's necessary to authenticate Sendgrid as a legitimate sender for your domain so that receiving servers such as ISPs and corporate email servers do not treat the email as inbound spam.
Note: The time span of the changes to the DNS settings can take up to 24h to fully populate. That's the maximum time needed for all servers to know the changed record.
Key features
- Send out emails using the user's email address
- Share emails are less classified as spam when using your company's address
You need this to succeed
- Administrator access on Showpad's Online Platform
- Details about your email environment
- Contact your IT department if you do not have access to these settings
Do this step by step
Go to the Online Platform, Settings, Sender domains, and click DNS configuration for the domain you want to verify.
We recommend adding the Sendgrid SPF, DKIM and MX records to your DNS settings:
- SPF and SenderID allow a domain owner to add a file or record on the server that the recipient server cross-checks. This option is easier to implement, but some sources view it as the less secure one. When you add the SPF record to your domain, that will allow receiving email servers like Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo, and others, to verify the identity of your emails for the SenderID authentication. The SPF record needs to be added as TXT record. Add Sendgrid's server information to explicitly give Sendgrid servers permission to send on your behalf.
Host:
showpad.{HOSTNAME}
Example:
showpad.showpad.com
Values:
v=spf1 include:sendgrid.net ~all - DKIM and DomainKeys embed information within the email, making it harder to forge, but they can also be harder to implement for senders and receivers. By adding DNS records to your domain, you can explicitly allow Sendgrid to send on your behalf and digitally 'sign' messages sent through Sendgrid. The DKIM record allows Sendgrid to digitally 'sign' your emails for your domain. Without this record, Sendgrid still adds this to your emails, but it's signed for the Sendgrid sending server instead of your domain.
Host:
m1._domainkey.{HOSTNAME}
Example:
m1._domainkey.showpad.com
Values:
k=rsa; t=s; p=MIGfMA0GCSqGSIb3DQEBAQUAA4GNADCBiQKBgQDliDrtiw6YnNN+qhifgfb+U4aurzGRHrQSVcFncvHsxo4GwYvjM+wSvTDOgfIoGnHfBxkq/emhPhtpmIYgtrsZMUlt7Sw6ROJF5Cxg/YHmBAa9koNjPpGyhGTxwa4cPqhTOip2pQdHlX5y9o5fXs7gGRJ2kufr8VJvC902Dr8l4QIDAQAB
If your DNS provider uses 'escaping', meaning you can't use semicolons, use this instead:
k=rsa\; t=s\; p=MIGfMA0GCSqGSIb3DQEBAQUAA4GNADCBiQKBgQDliDrtiw6YnNN+qhifgfb+U4aurzGRHrQSVcFncvHsxo4GwYvjM+wSvTDOgfIoGnHfBxkq/emhPhtpmIYgtrsZMUlt7Sw6ROJF5Cxg/YHmBAa9koNjPpGyhGTxwa4cPqhTOip2pQdHlX5y9o5fXs7gGRJ2kufr8VJvC902Dr8l4QIDAQAB - Adding the MX record is strongly encouraged and is an extra security against being marked as spam.
Some receiving servers will check if there is an MX record to identify if this is spam or not.
Host:
showpad.{HOSTNAME}
Example:
showpad.showpad.com
Values:
mx.sendgrid.net. - An extra Permission (TXT) record needs to be added to your DNS configuration for verification. This is mandatory!
The TXT record is unique for each Showpad instance and ensures that no other Showpad instance will be able to send from your domain. Without the verification record, you will not be able to send from your domain.
Host:
showpad.{HOSTNAME}
Example:
showpad.showpad.com
Values:
Go to your Showpad account as an administrator, Go to Settings/ Sender domains and click "Configure DNS settings" to get the unique TXT record for verification.
Example:
showpad-verification=1234567asdfghjll (fictional)
- Go to Settings, Sender Domain section.
- Change the radio button from "Always use sharing@showpad.com or meetings@showpad.com" to "Use the user's email address, with a verified sender domain".
- Click "Verify DNS Settings" in the right row, for the domain(s) you or your IT department have set up. The buttons in the row for that domain should be green now. At least the "Permission" and either "SPF" or "DKIM" or both. "MX" is optional
Note: To see Sending Domain options for the domain "domain.com" on Showpad's Online Platform, there must be an active user in Showpad with this domain in their email address, e.g. user@domain.com.