GuidesCloudflare
Email on your own domain, at Cloudflare.
Five DNS records in your Cloudflare dashboard and you will be sending from you@yourdomain.com, through the Gmail you already use. Here is exactly where to click, and what to watch for on Cloudflare.
Where to click
Find the DNS editor in Cloudflare.
- Sign in at dash.cloudflare.com and pick your domain
- Open DNS → Records in the left sidebar
- Click "Add record" for each record below
- Choose the type (TXT or MX), fill in the name and value, then Save
Worth knowing on Cloudflare
- If Cloudflare Email Routing is enabled on this domain, disable it first. It installs its own MX records and they will compete with JULY Email's.
- MX and TXT records are never proxied, so the orange-cloud toggle doesn't apply to any of these.
- Cloudflare's DNS changes propagate almost immediately, so verification usually goes green within a minute.
The records
The five records to add.
In Cloudflare the host field is called Name; for the root domain enter @ (Cloudflare will display it as your domain). The dashboard shows your exact values with copy buttons and checks each record live until it turns green.
| Record | Type | Name | Value |
|---|---|---|---|
Ownership Proves you control the domain. | TXT | @ (Cloudflare will display it as your domain) | july-verify=… (made when you add the domain) |
MX Points inbound mail at JULY Email. Remove any other MX records first. | MX | @ (Cloudflare will display it as your domain) | 10 mx.julyemail.com |
SPF Lets JULY Email send for the domain. A domain may have only one SPF record, so merge the include into an existing one. | TXT | @ (Cloudflare will display it as your domain) | v=spf1 include:amazonses.com ~all |
DKIM Signs your outbound mail. Made for each domain in the dashboard. | TXT | july._domainkey | v=DKIM1; k=rsa; p=… (your own 2048-bit key) |
DMARC Recommended. Tells receivers what to do with mail that fails authentication. | TXT | _dmarc | v=DMARC1; p=quarantine; rua=mailto:julyrealestategroup@gmail.com |
DNS changes usually appear within minutes and can take up to 48 hours. The wizard recognizes Cloudflare from your nameservers and checks again every 20 seconds while it is open.
How it works
After the Cloudflare records are in.
The rest happens in the dashboard, once.
Verify your domain
Add a handful of records where your domain lives. JULY Email detects your provider, gives you the exact values with copy buttons, and checks each record live until everything turns green.
Create your addresses
Your own name, support@ or a catch-all. Every address forwards to the Gmail inbox you already read: nothing to migrate and nothing new to check.
Reply from Gmail as your domain
Press reply in Gmail as always. The reply goes out from your domain, signed with your domain's own key, with the thread intact and your personal address never shown.
Questions
Cloudflare setup questions.
Will my mail actually deliver?
Yes. That is most of what you pay for: every domain is set up with SPF, its own 2048-bit DKIM key and a recommended DMARC policy, each one checked live in the dashboard before mail flows, and mail you send goes out through Amazon SES.
Is my mail stored on your servers?
No. JULY Email is not a mailbox: messages pass through to your Gmail. To deliver reliably, a raw copy of each message is kept in encrypted storage for up to 7 days and then deleted automatically. Gmail stays your inbox and your archive; JULY Email never builds a second copy of it.
Do I need to change email apps?
No. Keep Gmail: the app, the search, the filters, everything. JULY Email sits in front of your domain. Mail for your domain is forwarded to Gmail, and your replies route back through JULY Email so they go out as your domain. There is no new inbox to check.
How do replies come from my domain and not my Gmail address?
Each contact gets a stable reply address on JULY Email's reply domain. When you reply to it from Gmail, JULY Email checks that the reply really comes from you, swaps in your address, signs it with your domain's key and sends it. Because the reply address stays the same for each contact, Gmail keeps the thread together.
What about spam?
Every message for your domain is forwarded to your Gmail, where Gmail's own spam filtering sorts it the way it sorts all your mail, with your filters on top. JULY Email does not score or drop mail on its own today.
What happens on the free plan?
Everything routes the same, on one domain with three addresses, and mail you send carries one line: "Sent securely with JULY Email." Paid plans remove it. Sending as your domain on any plan unlocks after a payment check, which keeps abuse off the network; forwarding to your Gmail always works.
What does the AI do, and is it on?
Nothing until you turn it on. On the AI plans, JULY AI can draft a short summary of a long message into the thread and a suggested reply into your Gmail drafts, in your tone and from your playbook. It never sends anything: you read, edit and send. Your mail is never used to train AI models.
Which Gmail permissions does it ask for?
Only if you connect Google, and then three: creating drafts, reading message headers to find the right conversation, and managing Send mail as. Forwarding itself needs no Google permission. The Privacy Policy explains each one.
Other providers
Guides for other DNS providers.
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