Custom email and email forwarding on Squarespace

In case you’ve chosen a custom domain for your Squarespace website, Squarespace offers you an option to add a custom email address as well. This means that if your custom domain is www.exampledomain.com, you’ll have an opportunity to use a custom email address that will match your domain - [email protected]. 

There are two ways to add your email to Squarespace:

• If you’ve got a custom email address, you can continue using it with Squarespace.
• If you haven’t got a custom email yet, use the Squarespace integration with Google workspace. 

Keep in mind that custom emails work both with Squarespace domains and third-party domains.

How to get a custom email

You can get your custom email for your domain making use of Squarespace's partnership with Google Workspace. As soon as you sign up for Google Workspace through the use of Squarespace, you’ll get to manage your email account billing via Squarespace, but use Google’s interface while accessing your emails, calendars and other documents.

Using your existing email

As we’ve already mentioned above, you are free to use your existing custom email address with your Squarespace website. In case your email is linked to some third-party domain, connecting your domain to Squarespace won’t affect the way your email is hosted. And if your email is already linked to a Squarespace domain, you are free to continue using your email service by simply changing your domain’s MX (mail exchange) records.

How to set up email forwarding on Squarespace

In case you need to update your MX records with this Domain Name System (DNS) provider, follow these steps:

1. Log in to your Squarespace account.
2. Click Domains at the top of the page, find the domain you need to verify, and then click Advanced Settings on the left. 
3. Delete all current MX records that send email to your previous provider. After you’re done, you’ll get an option to add new MX records.
4. To forward emails to your Email forward account, add new MX records to your domain. You’ll need the following records to be added: mx1.emailforward.mx with Priority 10 and mx2.emailforward.mx. with Priority 20.
5. Save your changes.

Keep in mind that it may take up to 72 hours before all the changes are processed. Time depends on the TTL configured for your records. Until all the records update worldwide, you’ll continue to receive traffic to your old server. 

BONUS: 80+ Elfsight plugins for Squarespace

How to set up email forwarding in Gmail 

If you use email forwarding with Google’s Gmail, you get a chance to create an extra email address (“email alias”) to receive emails. You are free to create up to 100 extra emails for your domain absolutely free of charge.

Step 1: set up your forwarding

Follow these steps to set up an email forwarding:

1. Use your computer to sign in to Google Domains.
2. Click your domain.
3. Open the hamburger menu.
4. Click the Email.
5. Find the “Email Forwarding” section and then click “Add email alias”.
6. Enter the alias email address and the existing recipient's email.
7. Click “Add”.

In case you’re using Google name servers, Google Domains will automatically create the required MX records to initiate the email forwarding. And if you’re using custom name servers, and there’s a need to use Google Domains' email forwarding, you can do it by looking through the corresponding guidelines by Google.

Step 2: activate your email forwarding

In step 1 you’ve entered the recipient email address. Google Domains will send a one-time confirmation email for you. In some cases, you may not receive a confirmation email and the email forwarding will start instantly. Here’s why:

• You’ve already verified the recipient address with Google Domains for some other forwarded email address.
• The recipient address is exactly the same as you use for signing in to Google Domains.

In case your primary email address is Gmail, you’ve got an opportunity to make it appear that you’re sending your emails from one of the aliases you’ve created. And if you prefer to send email from your Gmail account to your domain's custom email address, Gmail will auto-archive your message as the sender and the recipient are the same. If you want to prevent that, you’ll need to use filters in Gmail settings. 

You might also want to consider these helpful tips while working with email forwarding on Gmail:

Test your forwarding

Right after you set up and activate email forwarding, send a test email to the new alias you’ve created. And if you need to see the forwarded email in your primary inbox, send it from some different email or simply check your Sent mail folder.

Forward multiple aliases to a single recipient email

Enter the star symbol “*” instead of your alias email address name rather than entering all email aliases you’d like to have. The star symbol grants that the words before your @domain name must direct to your primary email address.

Forward your emails to multiple people

You can also create a Google group of email addresses and use this group alias as your recipient email address. You also have to set the group’s permissions so that "public" or "everyone" could post emails to the group you’ve created.

How to set up email forwarding in Outlook

In case you’re using Outlook and want to forward your emails to Squarespace, there’s an opportunity for you to automatically forward or redirect your email through setting up Inbox rules in Outlook. This might be useful in situations if you want to customize your work and want to read your messages in Outlook using your Squarespace account or if you want someone to receive your email while you’re absent. 

Follow these easy steps to set up your email forwarding:

1. Open the web version of the Outlook. At the top of the page, find the Settings sign, click it and select View all Outlook Settings.
2. Click Mail and then - Forwarding.
3. To turn your forwarding on, click Start forwarding, enter your Squarespace (or any other) email address, and click Save button.
4. If you want a copy of the original message to stay in your box, select the Keep a copy of forwarded messages option.
5. If you need to turn off the forwarding, find Stop forwarding option, select it and then click Save.

If you’re using classic Outlook version, here’s the guide for you:

1. Find the Settings sign at the top of the page and click it. 
2. Go to the options menu, click Mail, go to the Accounts and then Forwarding.
3. To turn on Forwarding, click Start Forwarding, then enter the forwarding email address and click Save.
4. In order to turn the Forwarding off, find Stop forwarding option, select it and then click Save.

Now let’s proceed to the next steps. 

How to set up email forwarding in Office 365

There are several ways to set up email forwarding for Squarespace on Office 365. You can do it by using the new Exchange admin center (EAC) or by applying the Classic Exchange admin center. 

Using the Exchange admin center (EAC)

According to Microsoft, the new Exchange admin center (EAC) can be used to customize email forwarding to a single internal recipient, a single external recipient (using a mail contact), or multiple recipients (using a distribution group).

A user needs to be assigned permissions before performing this process. After that, follow these steps:

1. Open the Recipients in the new EAC and then click “Mailboxes”.
2. Select the mailbox you want to set up email forwarding for from the list of user mailboxes.
3. Look under the Mailbox settings and find Mail flow settings, and after that click the Manage mail flow settings link.
4. In the Manage mail flow settings panel, find the Email forwarding option. Click the Edit button to perform any changes you need.
5. Now you’ll see the Manage email forwarding pane. You’ll need to turn on the setting “Forward all emails sent to this mailbox”. 
6. Under the Forwarding address text box you’ll need to paste your forwarding email address. Keep in mind that here you can search email addresses by partially entering keywords.
7. In case you want the copy of forwarded email to be saved in your mailbox, turn on the option “Keep a copy of forwarded email in this mailbox”.
8. Save your changes.

To leave the Manage mail flow settings display pane, simply click “Close”.

Using the Classic Exchange admin center

You are free to use the Classic Exchange admin center (EAC) if you need to set up your email forwarding for Squarespace for a single internal recipient, external recipient (applying email contact) and for multiple recipients (by means of distribution group).

Like in the previous step, you need to be assigned permissions in order to perform this procedure. After you’re done, follow these steps:

1. Find “Recipients” in the EAC and then click “Mailboxes”.
2. Look through the list of mailboxes and select the one that you want to configure email forwarding for. Click Edit.
3. Go to the mailbox properties page and click Mailbox Settings there.
4. Find Mail flow and select the View details option to alter the settings for forwarding email messages.
5. Select the Enable forwarding check box and click Browse.
6. On your Select Recipient page, choose the user you need to forward all your emails to.  In case you want both the recipient and the forwarding email address to get copies of the emails, choose the Deliver message to both forwarding address and mailbox option.

Keep in mind that there’s also an option to forward mail to an address outside your organization. 

How to set up email forwarding in Yahoo

If you need to select the Squarespace email account to which you will forward your Yahoo emails, follow these easy steps:

1. Log in to your Yahoo mail account.
2. Click the gear icon in the upper right corner of the page, right next to your name.
3. Select “More settings” in the right sidebar. 
4. Select Mailboxes.
5. Choose your primary email mailbox.
6. In the right panel, find the Forwarding field by scrolling down, and paste the email address you need your Yahoo mail forwarded. Then click “Verify”.
7. Log in to this email account and see the message from Yahoo. Follow the steps from that mail to verify the account.

Forwarding Yahoo email might be useful for those who prefer some other email interfaces over Yahoo. Or maybe you don’t use Yahoo mail as your primary email address but still need to receive emails for that mailbox. And if you prefer to use Yahoo for some personal purposes like shopping, it might be useful to keep your emails separated but accessible through your primary mailbox.

About email hosting on Squarespace

Your email is not hosted by Squarespace. Email on Squarespace is hosted externally, even if your website is hosted by Squarespace. And if your domain is hosted by Squarespace, your email account remains separate. When you start using the Squarespace integration with Google Workspace, you’ll have an option to manage your Google Workspace billing through Squarespace, but Google will host your email address.

See how these elements interact with your Squarespace website:

• Your site is always hosted by Squarespace.
• Your Custom Domain can be hosted by either Squarespace or a third-party provider. 
• Your email is always hosted by a third-party.

Keep in mind that when you send a message from some custom address, the receiving provider might mark it as spam. If you want to avoid this situation, add DKIM and SPF records to your domain.

In case you have some custom address through Google Workspace, look at the Google documentation on using DKIM and SPF records. If your custom email is provided by some other third-party, contact them to get info about using DKIM and SPF records.

Try Squarespace Google Reviews plugin for free!