I'm switching from Gmail to Microsoft 365/Outlook. I have my own domain. I have found some directions for getting this information using the Admin link at the Microsoft 365 website (gear icon among all the Apps icons), but that link isn't there for me. I'm guessing it's just for Microsoft 365 Business and not Microsoft 365 Home. So, does anyone know what MX records I need to use in my DNS settings (hosted at Hover.com) to point mail to Microsoft 365 instead of Google's mail servers? I may need to change the CNAME and A records, too, but I imagine all that info would normally be found in one place. I just can't find it.
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If you can't access the admin link – how did you configure the domain in Microsoft 365? (The system needs to be set up to accept mail before you can do anything with MX.)– user1686Aug 16 at 6:27
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1"change the CNAME" no "and A records, too" no, at least not for SMTP - that's just the MX, SPF, DKIM and DMARC records.– symcbeanAug 16 at 13:45
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@user1686 I DIDN'T configure the domain in Microsoft 365. So far, I just filled in my username/password for my Gmail account when opening Outlook for the first time, so Outlook uses Gmail for sending/receiving e-mail (via IMAP, I guess). I'm trying to get Gmail out of the loop.– birdusAug 16 at 14:57
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1 Answer
Much like any other type of hosting service, pointing DNS records to the new server is only the second step after that server has been configured to expect the service for that particular domain to be hosted there. If you only point MX records at M365, it will just bounce all messages as undeliverable.
Although M365 Home supports a "custom domain" feature where addresses in your domain are associated to an existing @outlook.com mailbox, it is a somewhat weird partnership with GoDaddy specifically where Outlook.com automatically configures the records – it doesn't accept other registrars – and Microsoft is planning to discontinue this feature for Personal/Family subscribers, so whatever answer you find won't be useful for long.
So you really need the Business plan for this (or another mail provider entirely).
(If I understand things correctly, M365 "Home" and "Business" are completely different things behind the scenes; the latter hosts a separate Exchange Online instance dedicated to your domain, while the Home edition is just an account in the shared Outlook.com instance, with the "custom domain" feature rather bodged on top. So it's not just the admin panel that is inaccessible – it is inaccessible because the actual features behind it are not available to you either.)
