Organization Settings Social Media Public Page (About Sender) Member Directory Companion App

Managing Contact Lists Viewing and Editing Contacts Adding Contacts Manually Importing Contacts from CSV Creating Sign-Up Forms

Writing a Message Proactive Coach Adding Images Understanding the Message Summary Pasting from Other Apps Previewing Your Message Adding Tables

Creating an RSVP event Understanding the Event Summary Understanding the Open Event Summary Guest Check-in Seating Arrangements

OrgPlanner

Getting Started with Form Builder Building and Editing Forms Working with Smart Presets Managing Form Responses

Getting Started with Email Forwarding Adding and Verifying Your Domain Creating and Managing Email Forwarders Replying As Your Forwarded Email Address in Gmail

Activity Dashboard Usage & Limits Usage History

Workflow Automation Overview Bahá'í Feast Announcement Workflow

What Is a Unit? Adding Your Units Assigning Contacts to Units The Primary Contact Star

How an Election Works Election Basics Who Receives the Ballot Email Quorum Settings Positions and Candidates Who Receives a Ballot Launching and Sending Ballots Reusing an Election

Reading the Results When Quorum Is Not Met Announcing Results to Members Exporting and Record Keeping
Sending Messages

Sending From Your Own Domain

Why This Matters

By default, your messages are sent from noreply@formtabulo.us. Your members see your organization's name in their inbox, but the underlying address belongs to a domain they have never heard of. Some will treat it as junk, and some spam filters will agree with them.

Connecting your own domain means messages arrive from an address your members already recognize — noreply@yourorganization.org instead of ours. That improves both trust and the odds that your message lands in the inbox rather than the spam folder.

This is separate from the Email Forwarder. The Forwarder handles mail coming in to your domain. A sending domain handles mail going out. If you want both, you will set each one up separately, even for the same domain name.

What You'll Need

  • A domain your organization owns — purchased from GoDaddy, Namecheap, Cloudflare, Google Domains, or similar
  • Access to that domain's DNS settings — usually the same login you used to buy it
  • About ten minutes, plus up to 72 hours for DNS changes to take effect
No domain? This feature requires one. If your organization sends from a personal Gmail or Yahoo address today, you would need to register a domain first. Many registrars sell them for around $15 a year.

Adding Your Domain

  1. Go to Settings › Sending Domain
  2. Enter your domain — just the domain itself, with no www. and no https://
  3. Click Add domain

Formtabulous immediately generates the DNS records you need and shows them on screen.

Adding the DNS Records

You will see roughly seven records. Every one is required — the domain will not activate until all of them are found.

Ownership TXT record

Purpose: Proves to Formtabulous that you control this domain.

Type: TXT
Host: _formtabulous-sending-verify.yourdomain.org
Value: [unique token shown on screen]

Amazon SES TXT record

Purpose: Proves the same thing to Amazon SES, which actually delivers your mail.

Type: TXT
Host: _amazonses.yourdomain.org
Value: [unique token shown on screen]

Three DKIM CNAME records

Purpose: Cryptographically signs every message so receiving mail servers can confirm it really came from you. All three are required.

Type: CNAME
Host: [token]._domainkey.yourdomain.org
Value: [token].dkim.amazonses.com

Bounce handling MX and TXT records

Purpose: Lets bounce and complaint notices route back correctly, and aligns your domain's sending authorization. Without these, mail still sends, but authentication is weaker.

Type: MX
Host: bounce.yourdomain.org
Value: 10 feedback-smtp.us-east-2.amazonses.com

Type: TXT
Host: bounce.yourdomain.org
Value: v=spf1 include:amazonses.com ~all

Copying the Records

Each record has copy buttons for the host and the value. There is also a Copy all button at the top if your DNS provider supports bulk import.

Common mistake: Many DNS providers want the host without your domain on the end. If Formtabulous shows _amazonses.yourdomain.org, your provider may expect just _amazonses. Check how your provider displays existing records and match that pattern.

Checking Progress

Once the records are saved at your provider, come back and click Re-check now. Three indicators track your progress:

  • Domain ownership confirmed — our TXT record was found
  • Verified with Amazon SES — the SES token was found and accepted
  • DKIM signing enabled — all three CNAME records were found

When all three show a green check, the status badge turns Active and your messages start sending from your domain immediately. No further action needed.

Status Meanings

  • Waiting for DNS — records added on our side, none found yet at your provider
  • Awaiting Amazon SES — we confirmed ownership, but SES has not finished its own check
  • Active — everything verified; your domain is live
  • Failed — Amazon SES rejected the domain. Remove it and try again.
DNS changes usually take effect within 30 minutes, but can take up to 72 hours. If nothing has changed after a day, check for typos — the DKIM tokens are long and easy to truncate.

Reminders

If your setup stalls, we will email the account owner a reminder naming exactly which records are still missing. You will get at most three reminders, spaced a couple of days apart, and then we stop. Your setup stays saved either way — finish it whenever you are ready.

When Your Domain Goes Live

Both the person who completed setup and the account owner receive a confirmation email. From that point, every GroupPost message, RSVP invitation, and automated workflow email sends from your domain.

Replies are separate. Sending from your own domain does not change where replies go. See Setting Your Reply Address.

Removing a Sending Domain

Click the trash icon and type remove domain to confirm. Messages revert to noreply@formtabulo.us immediately.

Keep your DNS records in place while the domain is active. If they are deleted, or the domain expires, sending quietly falls back to the default address.

Troubleshooting

Nothing verifies after 24 hours

  • Check for truncated DKIM tokens — they are long and often get cut off when pasting
  • Make sure no quotes were added around TXT values; most providers add them automatically
  • Confirm the MX priority is 10
  • Try a lookup tool such as MXToolbox to see what is actually published

Some records verify but not others

This is normal mid-setup. Providers publish records at different speeds. Re-check again in a few hours.

I already verified this domain for the Email Forwarder

That verification does not carry over. Inbound and outbound use separate systems in different regions, so each needs its own records. Both sets can coexist on the same domain.

Last updated: August 8, 2026