How can I set up DKIM?

Note that we can only offer the DKIM feature to customers with the Plesk Control Panel. Customers with the Confixx Control Panel must consider changing the Control Panel .

1. First you have to log in to your Plesk Control Panel. You can then select the “Email” menu item on the left-hand side.
2. Then switch to the “Email settings” tab at the top. If necessary, select the domain for which you want to activate the function below.
3. Now you can activate the item “Use DKIM spam protection system to sign outgoing email messages” at the bottom and then click on “Apply“. From now on, emails from this domain will be sent with the DKIM signature.
4. In order for the servers that receive your e-mail to be able to decrypt this signature, they need the corresponding key. This key is communicated using DNS records. If you click on “Configuration of the external DNS” next to the box you have just activated, you will see the two DNS records to be created.

The whole thing looks more cryptic than it actually is. The section between the quotation marks is particularly important. In this case, the section starts with v=DKIM1 and ends with QAB;.

Now you have to create the two DNS records on the name servers that are responsible for your domain. From the two examples, you must then replace “yourdomain.eu” with your own domain and replace the key (v=DKIM1 to QAB;) with your own values.

With certain name server providers, the dot must be specified at the end of the host (not with us).
The leading and trailing characters of the key do not have to be copied.
When copying, also make sure that there are no spaces in between.
The value of the TTL is irrelevant.

Now the server that receives the e-mail can decrypt the signature in the e-mail using the stored key. In this way, it identifies that this email was sent with a correct DKIM signature. Accordingly, he can – if he wishes – classify the e-mail as more trustworthy.

Unfortunately, this is the reason why we cannot provide a 100% guarantee: This is because the receiving server can be set so that DKIM is not checked at all. Then this setting has no influence. However, you are guaranteed not to receive a lower rating with this setting. Accordingly, you can only win with this new function ;-).

If you have any questions, our technical support team will be happy to help. You can find out more about DKIM in our blog post.