How to Set Up MX Records in cPanel

What Are MX Records?

MX records are basically DNS Records that are responsible for sending emails to your email address. They're controlled by the same place your authoritative nameservers are, normally the registration company of your domain(s).

You can change where your email is sent by changing your MX records. This won't affect current or old emails, but all future emails will use the new ones.

They consist of a domain name and a number for priority. The higher the priority, the lower the number should be. Email servers trying to connect to your MX records will use this priority number, and if there's more than one MX record with the same priority value, one will randomly be picked.

How Do I Add MX Records In CPanel?

If you have cPanel, you can add or change your MX records by performing the following steps:

Step 1: Log in to cPanel

Step 2: Go to Zone Editor under the Domains Column

Step 3: Select the domain you want to edit the MX entry form and click on Manage

Step 4: Find your current MX record and click on Edit or Delete to configure or delete the current MX record.  If you want to add an MX record, please continue to step 5.

Step 5: To add an MX Record, select the Add Record drop-down followed by selecting Add MX Record

Step 6: Input the priority of the record

Step 7: Input the fully qualified domain name (no IP) for the destination

Step 8: Click Add New Record

How Do I Set MX Records To Use Gmail?

You can set up your MX records so you can have your email delivered to your Gmail account by first connecting your domain with Google Apps, then use the steps referenced above to add the following MX records in cPanel.

ASPMX.L.GOOGLE.COM 1
ALT1.ASPMX.L.GOOGLE.COM 5
ALT2.ASPMX.L.GOOGLE.COM 5
ALT3.ASPMX.L.GOOGLE.COM 10
ALT4.ASPMX.L.GOOGLE.COM 10

Adding all five ensures that your email will still continue to be delivered if one goes down or there's maintenance.

It can take up to 48 hours for these changes to take effect.

Related Tutorials

• Beginner's Guide to cPanel
• How to Add Email Accounts in cPanel
• Why Can't I Receive Emails in cPanel?