Domain Authentication in Zoho Bookings

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Introduction

Domain authentication is the process of verifying that emails sent from your domain are legitimate and secure. When a domain is authenticated, the recipient’s email provider can confirm that the email originates from a trusted source — improving email deliverability and reducing the chances of it being marked as spam or phishing.

Step-by-Step Instructions

Feature Availability

Plan

Availability

Premium Plan

✅ Available

Role

Permissions

Super Admins / Admins / Workspace Admins

Can add custom sender email addresses and validate domains

Managers

Can view domain list and validation status

Staff

❌ No access to view or manage domains

Why Domain Authentication Matters

When using your own custom domain (e.g., yourcompany.com) for sending appointment emails, authentication proves to email providers that you’re a verified sender. Without authentication:

  • Emails may be sent using Zoho’s default address: notification@zohobookings.com
  • Your messages may land in recipients’ spam/junk folders
  • Brand trust and email visibility can suffer

Domain authentication combats spam, spoofing, forgery, and phishing attacks, helping ensure your emails reach the inbox — not the spam folder.

 

Understanding the Authentication Process

Whenever a new sender email is added to Zoho Bookings, its domain is automatically listed in the Domain Authentication section with a Not Validated status.

To validate the domain, you must add SPF and DKIM records to your domain’s DNS settings.

What Are SPF and DKIM?

  • SPF (Sender Policy Framework):
    Ensures that the sender’s email server is authorized to send emails for the domain.
  • DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail):
    Confirms that the message hasn’t been altered in transit and is sent from an authorized server.

Once both records are correctly added and verified, the domain status updates to Validated.

Note: Public domains like gmail.com, yahoo.com, etc. cannot be authenticated and will not appear in the Domain Authentication list.

How to Authenticate a Domain in Zoho Bookings

Step-by-Step Guide:

  1. Click the Settings icon in the top-right of the Zoho Bookings dashboard.
  2. Select General from the dropdown.

3.In the left-hand menu, click Domain Authentication.

4.Locate your custom domain and click Validate.

5.In the Domain Authentication panel:

  • Hover over the SPF and DKIM records and click Copy
  • Paste them into your domain provider’s DNS settings

6.After saving the DNS records, return to Zoho Bookings and click Validate Now.

7.If the records are set correctly, the domain’s status will update to Validated.

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