# Add your DNS records in Cloudflare

**Category:** [Email Sending](https://help.totalctrl.app/hc/totalctrl/totalctrl-help-center/en-US/categories/email-sending)
**Updated:** 2026-10-04

Cloudflare hides one setting that will quietly break this if you miss it, so it is worth following the steps rather than guessing.

## Before you start

Add your domain in TotalCtrl first, at
**Connections → Email Sending**. That page shows the exact
records to add — this article explains where to put them in Cloudflare. Keep
both windows open; you will copy values across.

## Steps

  
- Sign in to Cloudflare and select your domain.
  
- Open **DNS → Records**.
  
- Click **Add record**.
  
- Set **Type** to match the record TotalCtrl shows
      (`TXT` or `CNAME`).
  
- In **Name**, enter only the part before your domain — see the
      warning below.
  
- Paste the value into **Content** (TXT) or
      **Target** (CNAME).
  
- Click **Save**, and repeat for each record.

  

**The most common mistake:** in the
  *Name* or *Host* field, enter only the part *before* your
  domain. Your DNS provider adds the domain for you. If TotalCtrl shows
  `tc1._domainkey.acme.com` and your domain is `acme.com`,
  you enter `tc1._domainkey` — not the full value. Pasting the whole
  thing creates `tc1._domainkey.acme.com.acme.com`, which will never
  verify.

### If the value looks too long

DKIM values are long — several hundred characters. That is normal. Paste the
whole thing on one line, exactly as shown, with no spaces or line breaks added.
Use the copy button next to each value rather than selecting the text by hand;
a stray leading space is the second most common reason verification fails.

### TTL

Leave TTL on its default (or *Automatic*). A lower TTL means changes
propagate faster if you need to correct a typo, but the default is fine.

  

**Cloudflare-specific:** for any
  `CNAME` record, set the **Proxy status** to
  *DNS only* — the grey cloud, not the orange one. Proxying routes the
  traffic through Cloudflare, which breaks the link-tracking hostname. TXT
  records have no proxy setting and need nothing changed.

### Cloudflare quotes TXT values for you

Paste the value without surrounding quotation marks. Cloudflare adds them
when it stores the record — if you add your own, you end up with doubled quotes
and the record will not match.

## Then verify

Back in TotalCtrl, go to **Connections → Email Sending**
and click **Verify**. Records usually resolve within a few minutes,
though DNS can take up to 48 hours. If it does not verify straight away, wait a
few minutes and try again — nothing is lost by clicking Verify repeatedly.

Until the domain verifies, your email still sends. It just goes out from a
TotalCtrl address with your name and reply-to, so replies still reach you.

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## Related Articles

- [Add your DNS records in GoDaddy](https://help.totalctrl.app/en-US/articles/dns-records-godaddy)
- [Set up email sending from your own domain](https://help.totalctrl.app/en-US/articles/set-up-email-sending)
- [Add your DNS records in Namecheap](https://help.totalctrl.app/en-US/articles/dns-records-namecheap)
- [Link tracking, and why we do not track opens](https://help.totalctrl.app/en-US/articles/link-tracking-and-opens)

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