If you are not comfortable changing DNS entries we strongly advise you to contact your website host to make this change on your behalf.  Mistakes in your DNS settings can prevent people from accessing your website.

Your domain host may be different to your website host. 


What needs to be done: 


Adding an SPF record is something that is controlled by your hosting company or the domain registration company.  It is not something we can do on your behalf.  The SPF record that needs to be added is:


v=spf1 include:mailgun.org ~all


If you already have an SPF record set you will need to combine what you already have with the above. 




More information as to why we do this: 


We utilise Mailgun to send email on your behalf to your patients.  We address this email as coming from your email address based on the default email address you have specified in Business Setup -> Your Clinic -> Email & SMS Identity -> Default Email Address.


This may lead to email deliverability problems where the patient's mail host is using SPF check as part of their spam prevention and security checks.  SPF stands for Sender Policy Framework.  It is designed to protect from spam and phishing attempts by requiring domains to explicitly specify which originating servers can send email on your domains behalf.  It is essentially a list you control of which other servers (like SimpleClinic) should be able to send mail on your behalf.


When a recipient's mail server is checking your domains SPF record as part of it's mail filtering policy email will often be silently discarded.  Mailgun will show a successful delivery for that email message, as it was in fact delivered but then silently discarded by the recipient server.


To improve email deliverability we recommend adding mailgun.org to your domain's SPF record.  This will inform mail servers that use this as part of their mail filtering that mailgun.org is allowed to deliver email on behalf of your domain.


Some examples of instructions from common hosting companies: 



v=spf1 include:mailgun.org ~all


If you are not comfortable changing DNS entries we strongly advise you to contact your host to make this change on your behalf.  Mistakes in your DNS settings can prevent people from accessing your website.



Advanced Instructions for Cpanel


These advanced instructions are for users with good technical experience and comfortable making changes by their hosting providers cpanel interface.  This is not a part of SimpleClinic - for additional support or information needed please contact your host.


If you are using cpanel you can add this using the  DNS Zone Editor (search for dns) in your cpanel search bar.  



Then select Manage from the right hand side next to the domain you wish to add the SPF record for.





WHM/CPanel will often automatically include an existing SPF record like in the attached.  In this case you can add Mailgun to the existing record.






Multiple services can be added to an existing record by adding another include:mailgun.org after any existing servers and before the ?all


Once you have made your changes click Save Record to the right of the line.



Modifying SPF records is much like any other DNS change and can take up to 24 hours or longer to propagate depending on any caching performed by the recipient mail server, your hosting provider and their DNS provider.