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Gmail with personal custom domain
Gmail with personal custom domain
The end result should lead you to being able to add a Branded domain within your Personal Gmail account. This is different from Google Workspace as the Mail Server is hosted with Cloudflare rather than using the paid subscription for GWS.
This guide covers setting up of MX Forwarding from Cloudflare.
For our example, the DNS will be hosted with Cloudflare.
You will be able to use "Add another email address" within Personal Gmail to add it, which will allow you to click on the triangle drop down menu button to select personal or branded email when sending.
When receiving an email with this configuration, recipients will be able to view the "mailed-by" as gmail.com rather than a domain name.
If you require it to show as your domain, you may consider using a paid subscription to a SaaS Email or webhost email solution instead.
Cloudflare Email Configuration
Cloudflare Email Configuration
Within Cloudflare for the website in question, there is an Email tab. Click to continue.
Fill in the name of email you would like to send/receive email with and the destination email as your personal webmail.
Click "Create and continue".
You will receive an email notification asking for confirmation, click on the button provided in Cloudflare's email.
You should be redirected back to Cloudflare and can view that your email address has been verified.
In the case where you are unable to continue, you might need to wait a while for the system to detect verification. You can click on "Previous" and "Create and continue" again after typing the custom address.
It should automatically move you to the next page.
It should have the ability to provision the required MX records automatically.
If you already have MX(Mail Exchange) records set up, it will show you the MX records required by Cloudflare to enable forwarding.
Click on "Edit records on DNS" to change your MX records and TXT SPF record.
In terms of SPF records, a domain should have one of these and additional content should be added with a space.
In the case where you would need to do so, it would look something like this:
v=spf1 include:_spf.mx.cloudflare.net include:_spf.google.com include:spf.improvmx.com ~all
Refresh and click Finish after you have entered the required records under "Edit records on DNS".
You have successfully configured email routing from your webdomain to your personal email account one the status is active.
If you want to test send an email, make sure it's not the same email you have used as the forward but another account somewhere else.
You can also enable the "Catch-All" function as by default, Cloudflare will drop all unknown emails linked to your domain.
If you don't want mails to be dropped, you can have the "Catch-All" to an email address you have enabled forwarding to.
Google Less Secured Application Password
Google Less Secured Application Password
Within Gmail.com, click on the Gear Settings icon on the top right and click "See All Settings" and go to "Accounts and Import".
In the row for "Send mail as:", you should be able to see "Add another email address".
Personal Gmail Settings
Personal Gmail Settings
Within Gmail.com, click on the Gear Settings icon on the top right and click "See All Settings" and go to "Accounts and Import".
In the row for "Send mail as:", you should be able to see "Add another email address".
Enter the name and email address of the alias you want to create for your webdomain.
Make sure "Treat as an alias" is unchecked.
Click Next Step >.
Under
SMTP Server : smtp.gmail.com
Username : [email protected]
Password : Your Application Password
Refer to the following link for info about Less secure apps here.
By doing so, you should have successfully added an email forwarding from your Cloudflare over to Gmail.
After which, you would be able to accept the verification email coming from Cloudflare which allows you to send email using your domain from Gmail.
This is a good enough solution if you have minimal usage but want to get started on your own personal/corporate branding.
Later in the process, you may consider upgrading to Google Workspace for the benefits such as:
Larger storage and Shared Drives
Admin Console for User Management, Onboarding/Offboarding/Email Forwarding/
Advanced Search Functions (very needed once your drive size increases loads, search is different from Personal Google Drive)
Group Emails for distribution lists
Google Meet additional functions like Noise Cancellation and Webinars
Google Vault for E-Discovery and Data Loss Protection
Data Location Regions for audit requirements like GDPR/HIPAA/PDPA /etc
Security Center for Dashboard/Audit/Reporting
BigQuery integration for Sheets/Data
Device Management
The list could go on but this post isn't to upsell GWS.
You can refer to this publicly available spreadsheet for comparison between various licenses tiers.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1UNOdtbKLqD7r9-ddGwaJk0SgnVPPHDA_OV6pBlISgxY/edit#gid=0
Update May 2022:
Starting May 30, 2022, Google will no longer support the use of third-party apps or devices which ask you to sign in to your Google Account using only your username and password. This method of email forwarding may not work with Google accounts unless you set up Cloud Identity or Google Workspace.
As such, you may look into alternative email services or refer to the following link for setting up Cloud Identity.
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