Email settings for domains
You can change mail-service settings for individual domains as follows: Mail tab > select the domain > Mail Settings.
- Mail service. You can enable or disable the relevant mail service for the domain.
Note: disabling the local mail service for a domain is necessary when you use an external mail service such as Gmail. Disabling the local service helps ensure that mail is routed to the correct destination.
- Mail bounce settings: if someone sends an email to your domain using an address that does not exist, the mail server automatically processes the request and, after determining that the recipient does not exist, returns the message with an error notice. You can:
- Always return such email to the sender (Bounce with message option)
- Forward such messages to a specific address
It is important to note that outgoing-mail controls are enabled by your hosting provider. A forwarding address may need to belong to the same domain whose bounce settings you are changing. If you specifically need an external address, contact your hosting provider.
- Forward such mail to another server using a specific IP address (Redirect to external mail server with IP address option, available only for Windows hosting).
- Reject all such mail. If the sender’s SMTP client is functioning correctly, it will display a message such as “Recipient address rejected: User unknown in virtual mailbox table” (Reject option).
- Webmail. If your service allows you to choose a webmail application for the domain, you can find this option in Mail Settings.
- SSL/TLS certificates for webmail. To access webmail over HTTPS, select an SSL/TLS certificate that protects your webmail service. On Plesk for Windows, HTTP access can redirect automatically to HTTPS. On Plesk for Linux, when webmail is protected with an SSL/TLS certificate, you can enable HTTP-to-HTTPS redirection for webmail through SSL It!.
- Use DKIM spam protection to validate the domain name associated with a message through cryptographic authentication. (www.dkim.org)
If DKIM is enabled for a domain, Plesk adds records such as:
default._domainkey.example.com - contains the public part of the generated key
_domainkey.example.com - contains the DKIM policy
In addition, Plesk can use SPF and DMARC policies for outgoing email. A DMARC policy indicates how a receiving server should handle mail based on DKIM and SPF validation results. Messages that fail validation are not necessarily deleted by default. You can choose a stricter policy, although the receiving server can also enforce its own policy for incoming mail.
You can change SPF and DMARC policies for your domain in the domain’s DNS settings.
Note: some features, such as DKIM, webmail and mailing lists, may not be available depending on your hosting service and Plesk configuration.
How to configure the mail service for an individual domain:
1. Go to “Websites & Domains” and select the domain whose settings you want to change.
2. Click “Mail Settings” under the domain settings.
3. Change the settings and click “OK”.
How to configure the mail service for multiple domains:
1. Go to “Mail” and then “Mail Settings”.
2. Select several domains from the list.
3. Click the relevant action, such as Activate/Deactivate Services, Webmail, Mail for Non-Existent Users, or Limit Outgoing Messages.
All selected domains will receive the same settings.
To change the DMARC or SPF policy for your domain:
Go to “Websites & Domains”, open the domain, then go to “DNS Settings” and edit the DNS records associated with SPF or DMARC. For example, a standard DMARC policy may include:
_dmarc. TXT v=DMARC1; p=none
The above is based on Plesk’s official documentation.
Adding email accounts
Watch the instructions:
To create an email address:
1. Go to “Mail” and click “Create Email Address”.
2. Specify the following mailbox settings:
- Email address. Enter the part of the email address before @. If you have several domain names on your account, choose the domain on which the address should be created.
- Can be used to log in to Plesk. Select this option if you want Plesk to create an additional user for the owner of the email account.
- External email address. Specify an email address that can be used to reset the password if access to the primary mailbox is lost.
- Password. Choose a password for mailbox access. If you select “Can be used to log in to Plesk”, the mailbox password can also be used for Plesk access.
- Maximum number of outgoing messages. This option is visible only when the provider applies a limit to outgoing email. Depending on the configuration, you may be able to set an hourly value or leave the provider’s default.
- Mailbox. Disable this option if you want to use the address only as a mail forwarder.
- If you leave “Mailbox” enabled, specify the mailbox size or use the default quota offered by the provider.
- Description in Plesk. You can add additional information about the email address. This information appears in the list of email addresses in the Mail section of your subscription. The hosting provider may also have access to this information.
Changing the mail-account password
Watch the instructions:
If you want to change the email password:
1. Go to “Mail” and click the email address.
2. Enter the new password, confirm it and click “OK”.
Configuring email forwarding
Watch the video instructions:
To configure email forwarding:
1. Go to “Mail”, click the email address and open “Forwarding”.
2. Select “Switch on mail forwarding”.
3. Specify one or more email addresses to which messages should be forwarded. Separate them with commas, spaces or line breaks.
4. Click “OK”.
5. If you do not want to keep copies of forwarded messages in the mailbox, go to “Mail”, open the email address, disable “Mailbox” and click “OK”.
To disable forwarding:
1. Go to “Mail”, open the email address and then “Forwarding”.
2. Disable mail forwarding and click “OK”.